Air/Sea Transfer of Highly Soluble Gases Over Coastal Waters

Authors

J. G. Porter, University of California, Irvine
Warren J. de Bruyn, Chapman UniversityFollow
S. D. Miller, State University of New York at Albany
E. S. Saltzman, University of California, Irvine

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-7-2020

Abstract

The deposition of soluble trace gases to the sea surface is not well studied due to a lack of flux measurements over the ocean. Here we report simultaneous air/sea eddy covariance flux measurements of water vapor, sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and momentum from a coastal North Atlantic pier. Gas transfer velocities were on average about 20% lower for SO₂ than for H₂O. This difference is attributed to the difference in molecular diffusivity between the two molecules (D _{SO 2}/D _{H 2O} = 0.5), in reasonable agreement with bulk parameterizations in air/sea gas models. This study demonstrates that it is possible to observe the effect of molecular diffusivity on air‐side resistance to gas transfer. The slope of observed relationship between gas transfer velocity and friction velocity is slightly smaller than predicted by gas transfer models, possibly due to wind/wave interactions that are unaccounted for in current models.

Comments

This article was originally published in Geophysical Research Letters, volume 47, in 2020. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085286

Recommended Citation

Porter, J. G., de Bruyn, W. J., Miller, S. D., & Saltzman, E. S. (2020). Air/Sea Transfer of Highly Soluble Gases Over Coastal Waters. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2019GL085286. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085286

Copyright

American Geophysical Union