Premium
Relationship between wind speed and gas exchange over the ocean revisited
Author(s) -
Wanninkhof Rik
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography: methods
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.898
H-Index - 72
ISSN - 1541-5856
DOI - 10.4319/lom.2014.12.351
Subject(s) - wind speed , meteorology , environmental science , flux (metallurgy) , atmospheric sciences , carbon dioxide , climatology , chemistry , physics , geology , organic chemistry
The relationship between gas exchange and wind speed is used extensively for estimating bulk fluxes of atmospheric gases across the air‐sea interface. Here, I provide an update on the frequently used method of Wanninkhof (1992). The update of the methodology reflects advances that have occurred over the past two decades in quantifying the input parameters. The general principle of obtaining a relationship constrained by the globally integrated bomb‐ 14 CO 2 flux into the ocean remains unchanged. The improved relationship is created using revised global ocean 14 C inventories and improved wind speed products. Empirical relationships of the Schmidt number, which are necessary to determine the fluxes, are extended to 40°C to facilitate their use in the models. The focus is on the gas exchange of carbon dioxide, but the suggested functionality can be extended to other gases at intermediate winds (≈4−15 m s −1 ). The updated relationship, expressed as k = 0.251 (Sc/660) −0.5 where k is the gas transfer velocity, is the average squared wind speed, and Sc is the Schmidt number, has a 20% uncertainty. The relationship is in close agreement with recent parameterizations based on results from gas exchange process studies over the ocean.