Preliminary and novel estimates of CO2 gas transfer using a satellite scatterometer during the 2001GasEx experiment
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
1-1-2010
Abstract
The ocean takes up approximately 30% of the annual anthropogenic emissions of CO2. However, the air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide varies by a factor of 2 depending on the formulation of the exchange process. This considerable uncertainty is due in part to the difficulty in parameterizing the gas transfer velocity, k660, usually given as a function of wind speed. Recent field data showed that parametrization using the mean square slope of small scale surface waves provides a more robust strategy to estimate gas transfer (Frew et al. 2004). Here we present a preliminary estimation of the gas transfer velocity as a function of upwind Normalized Radar Cross-Section (NRCS) as measured by the scatterometer QuikSCAT. The gas transfer velocity calculated from upwind NRCS exhibits a quadratic-like dependence at low and intermediate wind speeds (≃6 ms-1). This approach represents a promising new tool to obtain global quasi-synoptic estimates of oceanic uptake of CO2. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
International Journal of Remote Sensing
Volume
31
Issue
1
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Bogucki, Darek, Mary E. Carr, William M. Drennan, Peter Woiceshyn, Tetsu Hara, and Marjorie Schmeltz. "Preliminary and novel estimates of CO2 gas transfer using a satellite scatterometer during the 2001GasEx experiment." International Journal of Remote Sensing 31, 1 (2010). doi: 10.1080/01431160902882546.