1. |
- Blomquist, B. W., et al.
(author)
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Wind Speed and Sea State Dependencies of Air-Sea Gas Transfer : Results From the High Wind Speed Gas Exchange Study (HiWinGS)
- 2017
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans. - 2169-9275 .- 2169-9291. ; 122:10, s. 8034-8062
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A variety of physical mechanisms are jointly responsible for facilitating air-sea gas transfer through turbulent processes at the atmosphere-ocean interface. The nature and relative importance of these mechanisms evolves with increasing wind speed. Theoretical and modeling approaches are advancing, but the limited quantity of observational data at high wind speeds hinders the assessment of these efforts. The HiWinGS project successfully measured gas transfer coefficients (k(660)) with coincident wave statistics under conditions with hourly mean wind speeds up to 24 m s(-1) and significant wave heights to 8 m. Measurements of k(660) for carbon dioxide (CO2) and dimethylsulfide (DMS) show an increasing trend with respect to 10 m neutral wind speed (U-10N), following a power law relationship of the form: k660CO2 approximate to U10N1.68 and k660dms approximate to U10N1.33. Among seven high wind speed events, CO2 transfer responded to the intensity of wave breaking, which depended on both wind speed and sea state in a complex manner, with k660CO2 increasing as the wind sea approaches full development. A similar response is not observed for DMS. These results confirm the importance of breaking waves and bubble injection mechanisms in facilitating CO2 transfer. A modified version of the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment Gas transfer algorithm (COAREG ver. 3.5), incorporating a sea state-dependent calculation of bubble-mediated transfer, successfully reproduces the mean trend in observed k(660) with wind speed for both gases. Significant suppression of gas transfer by large waves was not observed during HiWinGS, in contrast to results from two prior field programs.
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2. |
- Prytherch, John, et al.
(author)
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Air-sea CO2 and CH4 gas transfer velocity in Arctic sea-ice regions from eddy covariance flux measurements onboard Icebreaker Oden
- 2017
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In: Geophysical Research Abstracts. - 1029-7006 .- 1607-7962. ; 19
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Arctic Ocean is an important sink for atmospheric CO2, and there is ongoing debate on whether seafloor seeps in the Arctic are a large source of CH4 to the atmosphere. The impact of warming waters, decreasing sea-ice extent and expanding marginal ice zones on Arctic air-sea gas exchange depends on the rate of gas transfer in the presence of sea ice. Sea ice acts as a near-impermeable lid to air-sea gas exchange, but is also hypothesised to enhance gas transfer rates through physical processes such as increased surface-ocean turbulence from ice-water shear and ice-edge form drag. The dependence of the gas transfer rate on sea-ice concentration remains uncertain due to a lack of in situ measurements. Here we present the first direct estimates of gas transfer rate in a wide range of Arctic sea-ice conditions. The estimates were derived from eddy covariance CO2 and CH4 fluxes, measured from the Swedish Icebreaker Oden during two expeditions: the 3-month duration Arctic Clouds in Summer Experiment (ACSE) in 2014, a component of the Swedish-Russian-US Arctic Ocean Investigation on Climate-Cryosphere-Carbon Interactions (SWERUS-C3) in the eastern Arctic Ocean shelf region; and the Arctic Ocean 2016 expedition to the high latitude Arctic Ocean. Initial CO2 results from ACSE showed that the gas transfer rate has a near-linear dependence on sea-ice concentration, and that some previous indirect measurements and modelling estimates overestimate gas transfer rates in sea-ice regions. This supports a linear sea-ice scaling approach for assessments of polar ocean carbon fluxes. Air-sea gas transfer model assumptions (e.g. Schmidt number dependence) will be examined using simultaneous CO2 and CH4 measurements, and observations in different ice conditions (e.g. summer melt, autumn freeze up, central Arctic and marginal ice zones) will be compared.
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3. |
- Prytherch, John, et al.
(author)
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Direct determination of the air-sea CO2 gas transfer velocity in Arctic sea ice regions
- 2017
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 44:8, s. 3770-3778
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Arctic Ocean is an important sink for atmospheric CO2. The impact of decreasing sea ice extent and expanding marginal ice zones on Arctic air-sea CO2 exchange depends on the rate of gas transfer in the presence of sea ice. Sea ice acts to limit air-sea gas exchange by reducing contact between air and water but is also hypothesized to enhance gas transfer rates across surrounding open-water surfaces through physical processes such as increased surface-ocean turbulence from ice-water shear and ice-edge form drag. Here we present the first direct determination of the CO2 air-sea gas transfer velocity in a wide range of Arctic sea ice conditions. We show that the gas transfer velocity increases near linearly with decreasing sea ice concentration. We also show that previous modeling approaches overestimate gas transfer rates in sea ice regions.
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4. |
- Sotiropoulou, Georgia, et al.
(author)
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Atmospheric conditions during the Arctic Clouds in Summer Experiment (ACSE) : Contrasting open-water and sea-ice surfaces during melt and freeze-up seasons
- 2016
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In: Journal of Climate. - 0894-8755 .- 1520-0442. ; 29:24, s. 8721-8744
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Arctic Clouds in Summer Experiment (ACSE) was conducted during summer and early autumn 2014, providing a detailed view of the seasonal transition from ice melt into freeze-up. Measurements were taken over both ice-free and ice-covered surfaces, near the ice edge, offering insight to the role of the surface state in shaping the atmospheric conditions. The initiation of the autumn freeze-up was related to a change in air mass, rather than to changes in solar radiation alone; the lower atmosphere cooled abruptly leading to a surface heat loss. During melt season, strong surface inversions persisted over the ice, while elevated inversions were more frequent over open water. These differences disappeared during autumn freeze-up, when elevated inversions persisted over both ice-free and ice-covered conditions. These results are in contrast to previous studies that found a well-mixed boundary layer persisting in summer and an increased frequency of surface-based inversions in autumn, suggesting that our knowledge derived from measurements taken within the pan-Arctic area and on the central ice-pack does not necessarily apply closer to the ice-edge. This study offers an insight to the atmospheric processes that occur during a crucial period of the year; understanding and accurately modeling these processes is essential for the improvement of ice-extent predictions and future Arctic climate projections.
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5. |
- Tjernström, Michael, et al.
(author)
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Arctic Summer Airmass Transformation, Surface Inversions, and the Surface Energy Budget
- 2019
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In: Journal of Climate. - 0894-8755 .- 1520-0442. ; 32:3, s. 769-789
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- During the Arctic Clouds in Summer Experiment (ACSE) in summer 2014 a weeklong period of warm-air advection over melting sea ice, with the formation of a strong surface temperature inversion and dense fog, was observed. Based on an analysis of the surface energy budget, we formulated the hypothesis that, because of the airmass transformation, additional surface heating occurs during warm-air intrusions in a zone near the ice edge. To test this hypothesis, we explore all cases with surface inversions occurring during ACSE and then characterize the inversions in detail. We find that they always occur with advection from the south and are associated with subsidence. Analyzing only inversion cases over sea ice, we find two categories: one with increasing moisture in the inversion and one with constant or decreasing moisture with height. During surface inversions with increasing moisture with height, an extra 10-25 W m(-2) of surface heating was observed, compared to cases without surface inversions; the surface turbulent heat flux was the largest single term. Cases with less moisture in the inversion were often cloud free and the extra solar radiation plus the turbulent surface heat flux caused by the inversion was roughly balanced by the loss of net longwave radiation.
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6. |
- Tjernström, Michael, et al.
(author)
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Warm-air advection, air mass transformation and fog causes rapid ice melt
- 2015
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 42:13, s. 5594-5602
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Direct observations during intense warm-air advection over the East Siberian Sea reveal a period of rapid sea-ice melt. A semistationary, high-pressure system north of the Bering Strait forced northward advection of warm, moist air from the continent. Air-mass transformation over melting sea ice formed a strong, surface-based temperature inversion in which dense fog formed. This induced a positive net longwave radiation at the surface while reducing net solar radiation only marginally; the inversion also resulted in downward turbulent heat flux. The sum of these processes enhanced the surface energy flux by an average of similar to 15Wm(-2) for a week. Satellite images before and after the episode show sea-ice concentrations decreasing from > 90% to similar to 50% over a large area affected by the air-mass transformation. We argue that this rapid melt was triggered by the increased heat flux from the atmosphere due to the warm-air advection.
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