Affiliation:
1. Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl Von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, 26382 Wilhelmshaven,
Germany
2. Center for Marine Sensors, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment,
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Abstract
For decades, the effect of surfactants in the sea-surface microlayer (SML) on gas
transfer velocity (
k
) has been recognized; however, it has not
been quantified under natural conditions due to missing coherent data on
in situ k
of carbon dioxide (CO
2
) and
characterization of the SML. Moreover, a sea-surface phenomenon of
wave-dampening, known as slicks, has been observed frequently in the ocean and
potentially reduces the transfer of climate-relevant gases between the ocean and
atmosphere. Therefore, this study aims to quantify the effect of natural
surfactant and slicks on the
in situ k
of CO
2
. A
catamaran, Sea Surface Scanner (S
3
), was deployed to sample the SML
and corresponding underlying water, and a drifting buoy with a floating chamber
was deployed to measure the
in situ k
of CO
2
. We
found a significant 23% reduction of
k
above surfactant
concentrations of 200 µg Teq l
−1
,
which were common in the SML except for the Western Pacific. We conclude that an
error of approximately 20% in CO
2
fluxes for the Western
Pacific is induced by applying wind-based parametrization not developed in low
surfactant regimes. Furthermore, we observed an additional 62% reduction
in natural slicks, reducing global CO
2
fluxes by 19%
considering known frequency of slick coverage. From our observation, we
identified surfactant concentrations with two different end-members which lead
to an error in global CO
2
flux estimation if ignored.
Funder
H2020 European Research Council
Subject
General Physics and Astronomy,General Engineering,General Mathematics
Cited by
28 articles.
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