Evaluating transfer velocity-wind speed relationship using a long-term series of direct eddy correlation CO2 flux measurements

Long-term observations of the marine atmospheric boundary layer were performed by an eddy correlation system, which was set-up on a platform in the Baltic Sea. In this experiment the three-dimensional wind vector and the turbulent fluxes of momentum, sensible and latent heat and CO₂ were measured for one and a half years. Simultaneously the CO₂ partial pressure p_CO2 in surface water was measured by a submersible autonomous moored instrument for CO₂ at the platform in 7-m depth. The high-resolution eddy correlation measurements of the atmospheric CO₂ flux F_CO2, together with the measurements of the CO₂ partial pressure differences between air and sea Δp_CO2 led to a long-term data set which provided the possibility to investigate the parameterization of the CO₂ transfer velocity k as a function of 10-m wind speed u in a statistical manner. From half-hour mean CO₂ fluxes and CO₂ partial pressure differences, k was calculated using k = F_CO2 / (K₀Δp_CO2), with K₀ the CO₂ solubility. The half-hour mean data points, used for the determination of the k–u parameterization, show large scatter. However, assuming a linear, quadratic dependency the analysis yields: k₆₆₀ = 0.365u² + 0.46u (k at 20 °C and salinity 35 psu) with a correlation coefficient of r² = 0.81. The large scatter indicates that the kinetics of the air–sea CO₂ transfer velocity is not only a function of the wind speed alone, but might also be controlled by other environmental parameters and mechanisms, such as sea state and surface coverage with surfactants.