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Biogeochemical ocean‐atmosphere transfers
Author(s) -
Prinn Ronald,
Liss Peter,
BautMenard Patrick
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/93gb00870
Subject(s) - biogeochemical cycle , atmosphere (unit) , environmental science , trace gas , carbon dioxide in earth's atmosphere , carbon cycle , cloud condensation nuclei , biological pump , carbonyl sulfide , atmospheric carbon cycle , carbon dioxide , atmospheric sciences , oceanography , environmental chemistry , chemistry , aerosol , carbon sequestration , ecosystem , meteorology , ecology , geology , sulfur , physics , organic chemistry , biology
The exchange of trace gases and aerosols between the atmosphere and the ocean is an important process in the biogeochemical cycling of both biologically important elements and radiatively important compounds. This exchange process thus plays a significant role in both sustaining life in the ocean and determining the global radiative balance. These exchanges are complex involving biological and chemical processes in the sea, chemical and radiative processes in the air, and transport processes in both the atmosphere and the ocean. To give three specific examples: biological production followed by emissions of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) from the ocean leads to production of acidic cloud condensation nuclei with important implications for global marine cloud cover and thus albedo; atmospheric transport followed by deposition of iron‐containing atmospheric aerosols into the ocean leads to fertilization with possible important effects on net carbon dioxide removal through the biological planktonic pump; and, transfer of carbon compounds between atmosphere and ocean is a critical process in determining global atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and marine atmospheric levels of reactive hydrocarbons.