DOGEE-SOLAS: The Role of Surfactants in Air-Sea Gas Exchange
Abstract
One of the major aims of DOGEE-SOLAS was to improve our understanding of the role of surfactants in air- sea gas exchange. With this in mind we carried out a number of artificial surfactant releases on a research cruise in the North Atlantic (D320), during June-July of 2007. We used oleyl alcohol, a surrogate for natural surfactants which is relatively cheap and easy to obtain (it is used in the manufacture of cosmetics). The main release overlaid a dual tracer "patch" of SF6 and 3He; our aim was to directly compare values of the gas transfer velocity, kw, estimated within the surfactant covered patch with those estimated quasi- simultaneously in a second, surfactant-free patch about 20km away. A second release in conjunction with colleagues from the University of Hawaii had the aim of measuring DMS fluxes by eddy correlation both inside and outside a surfactant slick, and a third was undertaken in the path of one of two 14m ASIS (Air-Sea Interaction Spar) buoys operated by the University of Miami for direct comparison of surfactant effects on the fluxes of CO2, H2O, heat and momentum (eddy correlation) etc. We present here some preliminary findings from the work.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008AGUFMOS22B..03S
- Keywords:
-
- 3339 Ocean/atmosphere interactions (0312;
- 4504);
- 4504 Air/sea interactions (0312;
- 3339)