Date of Award

1-1-2016

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences

Content Description

1 online resource (iii, 133 pages) : PDF file, illustrations (some color), maps (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Scott D Miller

Committee Members

David R Fitzjarrald, Jiping Liu, Jeffrey M Freedman, Christopher J Zappa, Eric S Saltzman

Keywords

air-sea flux, carbon dioxide, eddy covariance, gas transfer velocity, piston velocity, sea ice, Atmospheric carbon dioxide, Carbon cycle (Biogeochemistry), Ocean-atmosphere interaction, Carbon dioxide sinks

Subject Categories

Atmospheric Sciences

Abstract

The Southern Ocean is an important part of the global carbon cycle, responsible for roughly half of the carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed by the global ocean. The air-sea CO2 flux (Fc) can be expressed as the product of the water-air CO2 partial pressure difference (ΔpCO2) and the gas transfer velocity (k), an exchange coefficient which represents the efficiency of gas exchange. Generally, Fc is negative (a sink) throughout the Southern Ocean and Antarctic sea ice zone (SIZ), but uncertainty in k has made it difficult to develop an accurate regional carbon budget. Constraining the functional dependence of k on wind speed in open water environments, and quantifying the effect of sea ice on k, will reduce uncertainty in the estimated contribution of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic SIZ to the global carbon cycle.

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