TY - JOUR
T1 - Uncertainties in gas exchange parameterization during the SAGE dual-tracer experiment
AU - Smith, Murray J.
AU - Ho, David T.
AU - Law, Cliff S.
AU - McGregor, John
AU - Popinet, Stéphane
AU - Schlosser, Peter
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the SAGE team and the crew of the RV Tangaroa who all contributed to the success of the SAGE voyage. We thank J. Trinanes for providing the QuikSCAT data, R. Gorman for providing the NCEP/WaveWatch III data, S. Nichol and M. Harvey for generating the back trajectories, and the referees for useful comments. Funding was provided by the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology through contracts CO1X0204 and CO1X0703 , and by the US National Science Foundation through OCE-0327779 .
PY - 2011/3/15
Y1 - 2011/3/15
N2 - A dual tracer experiment was carried out during the SAGE experiment using the inert tracers SF6 and 3He, in order to determine the gas transfer velocity, k, at high wind speeds in the Southern Ocean. Wind speed/gas exchange parameterization is characterised by significant variability and we examine the major measurement uncertainties that contribute to that scatter. Correction for the airflow distortion over the research vessel, as determined by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling, had the effect of increasing the calculated value of k by 30%. On the short time scales of such experiments, the spatial variability of the wind field resulted in differences between ship and satellite QuikSCAT winds, which produced significant differences in transfer velocity. With such variability between wind estimates, the comparison between gas exchange parameterizations from diverse experiments should clearly be made on the basis of the same wind product. Uncertainty in mixed layer depth of ~10% arose from mixed layer deepening at high wind speed and limited resolution of vertical sampling. However the assumption of equal mixing of the two tracers is borne out by the experiment. Two dual tracer releases were carried out during SAGE, and showed no significant difference in transfer velocities using QuikSCAT winds, despite the differences in wind history. In the SAGE experiment, duration limitation on the development of waves was shown to be an important factor for Southern Ocean waves, despite the presence of long fetches.
AB - A dual tracer experiment was carried out during the SAGE experiment using the inert tracers SF6 and 3He, in order to determine the gas transfer velocity, k, at high wind speeds in the Southern Ocean. Wind speed/gas exchange parameterization is characterised by significant variability and we examine the major measurement uncertainties that contribute to that scatter. Correction for the airflow distortion over the research vessel, as determined by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling, had the effect of increasing the calculated value of k by 30%. On the short time scales of such experiments, the spatial variability of the wind field resulted in differences between ship and satellite QuikSCAT winds, which produced significant differences in transfer velocity. With such variability between wind estimates, the comparison between gas exchange parameterizations from diverse experiments should clearly be made on the basis of the same wind product. Uncertainty in mixed layer depth of ~10% arose from mixed layer deepening at high wind speed and limited resolution of vertical sampling. However the assumption of equal mixing of the two tracers is borne out by the experiment. Two dual tracer releases were carried out during SAGE, and showed no significant difference in transfer velocities using QuikSCAT winds, despite the differences in wind history. In the SAGE experiment, duration limitation on the development of waves was shown to be an important factor for Southern Ocean waves, despite the presence of long fetches.
KW - 3He
KW - Air-flow distortion
KW - Dual tracer experiment
KW - Gas transfer velocity
KW - SF6 tracer
KW - Wind speed
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U2 - 10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.10.025
DO - 10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.10.025
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79952489756
SN - 0967-0645
VL - 58
SP - 869
EP - 881
JO - Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
JF - Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
IS - 6
ER -