Influence of gas exchange coefficient parameterisation on seasonal and regional variability of CO 2 air‐sea fluxes

We examine the consequences of using four exchange coefficient versus wind speed parameterisations on the air‐sea CO 2 flux estimation, using one year of satellite wind speed measurements at global scale. Estimates of the global net CO 2 flux to the ocean vary from 1.2 to 2.7 GtC yr −1 . Additionnaly, we show 1) that the relative importance of outgassing and absorption fluxes is dependent on the form of the relationships due to a correlation between the direction of the flux and wind speed and 2) that differences on global net air‐sea flux deduced from different K parameterisations are primarily due to parameterisation differences in the wind speed range between 4 and 17 ms −1 .