Direct measurements of the CO_2flux over the ocean: Development of a novel method

摘要

Over the ocean, eddy correlation measurements of theair-sea CO2 flux obtained with open-path sensors havetypically been an order of magnitude larger than thoseestimated by other techniques or sensors. It is shown herethat this discrepancy is due to cross sensitivity to water vaporfluctuations: a novel correction procedure is demonstrated,tested against an independent data set and proved to berobust. After correction, the observed gas transfer velocitiesare in reasonable agreement with published values obtainedusing closed-path sensors or by tracer techniques. Datafrom open-path sensors may now be used for air-sea CO2flux estimation, greatly increasing the information availableon air-sea gas transfer velocity.