The Gas Transfer through Polar Sea ice experiment: Insights into the rates and pathways that determine geochemical fluxes

Sea ice is a defining feature of the polar marine environment. It is a critical domain for marine biota and it regulates ocean-atmosphere exchange, including the exchange of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and CH4. In this study, we determined the rates and pathways that govern gas transport through a...

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Main Authors: Lovely, Ann, Loose, Brice, Schlosser, Peter, McGillis, Wade R., Zappa, Christopher J., Perovich, Donald, Brown, Scott, Morell, T., Hsueh, D., Friedrich, R.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.7916/tde5-hr08
id ftcolumbiauniv:oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/tde5-hr08
record_format openpolar
spelling ftcolumbiauniv:oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/tde5-hr08 2023-05-15T18:16:25+02:00 The Gas Transfer through Polar Sea ice experiment: Insights into the rates and pathways that determine geochemical fluxes Lovely, Ann Loose, Brice Schlosser, Peter McGillis, Wade R. Zappa, Christopher J. Perovich, Donald Brown, Scott Morell, T. Hsueh, D. Friedrich, R. 2015 https://doi.org/10.7916/tde5-hr08 English eng https://doi.org/10.7916/tde5-hr08 Sea ice Ocean-atmosphere interaction Geochemistry Oceanography Articles 2015 ftcolumbiauniv https://doi.org/10.7916/tde5-hr08 2022-01-15T23:21:11Z Sea ice is a defining feature of the polar marine environment. It is a critical domain for marine biota and it regulates ocean-atmosphere exchange, including the exchange of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and CH4. In this study, we determined the rates and pathways that govern gas transport through a mixed sea ice cover. N2O, SF6, 3He, 4He, and Ne were used as gas tracers of the exchange processes that take place at the ice-water and air-water interfaces in a laboratory sea ice experiment. Observation of the changes in gas concentrations during freezing revealed that He is indeed more soluble in ice than in water; Ne is less soluble in ice, and the larger gases (N2O and SF6) are mostly excluded during the freezing process. Model estimates of gas diffusion through ice were calibrated using measurements of bulk gas content in ice cores, yielding gas transfer velocity through ice (kice) of ∼5 × 10−4 m d−1. In comparison, the effective air-sea gas transfer velocities (keff) ranged up to 0.33 m d−1 providing further evidence that very little mixed-layer ventilation takes place via gas diffusion through columnar sea ice. However, this ventilation is distinct from air-ice gas fluxes driven by sea ice biogeochemistry. The magnitude of keff showed a clear increasing trend with wind speed and current velocity beneath the ice, as well as the combination of the two. This result indicates that gas transfer cannot be uniquely predicted by wind speed alone in the presence of sea ice. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sea ice Columbia University: Academic Commons
institution Open Polar
collection Columbia University: Academic Commons
op_collection_id ftcolumbiauniv
language English
topic Sea ice
Ocean-atmosphere interaction
Geochemistry
Oceanography
spellingShingle Sea ice
Ocean-atmosphere interaction
Geochemistry
Oceanography
Lovely, Ann
Loose, Brice
Schlosser, Peter
McGillis, Wade R.
Zappa, Christopher J.
Perovich, Donald
Brown, Scott
Morell, T.
Hsueh, D.
Friedrich, R.
The Gas Transfer through Polar Sea ice experiment: Insights into the rates and pathways that determine geochemical fluxes
topic_facet Sea ice
Ocean-atmosphere interaction
Geochemistry
Oceanography
description Sea ice is a defining feature of the polar marine environment. It is a critical domain for marine biota and it regulates ocean-atmosphere exchange, including the exchange of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and CH4. In this study, we determined the rates and pathways that govern gas transport through a mixed sea ice cover. N2O, SF6, 3He, 4He, and Ne were used as gas tracers of the exchange processes that take place at the ice-water and air-water interfaces in a laboratory sea ice experiment. Observation of the changes in gas concentrations during freezing revealed that He is indeed more soluble in ice than in water; Ne is less soluble in ice, and the larger gases (N2O and SF6) are mostly excluded during the freezing process. Model estimates of gas diffusion through ice were calibrated using measurements of bulk gas content in ice cores, yielding gas transfer velocity through ice (kice) of ∼5 × 10−4 m d−1. In comparison, the effective air-sea gas transfer velocities (keff) ranged up to 0.33 m d−1 providing further evidence that very little mixed-layer ventilation takes place via gas diffusion through columnar sea ice. However, this ventilation is distinct from air-ice gas fluxes driven by sea ice biogeochemistry. The magnitude of keff showed a clear increasing trend with wind speed and current velocity beneath the ice, as well as the combination of the two. This result indicates that gas transfer cannot be uniquely predicted by wind speed alone in the presence of sea ice.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Lovely, Ann
Loose, Brice
Schlosser, Peter
McGillis, Wade R.
Zappa, Christopher J.
Perovich, Donald
Brown, Scott
Morell, T.
Hsueh, D.
Friedrich, R.
author_facet Lovely, Ann
Loose, Brice
Schlosser, Peter
McGillis, Wade R.
Zappa, Christopher J.
Perovich, Donald
Brown, Scott
Morell, T.
Hsueh, D.
Friedrich, R.
author_sort Lovely, Ann
title The Gas Transfer through Polar Sea ice experiment: Insights into the rates and pathways that determine geochemical fluxes
title_short The Gas Transfer through Polar Sea ice experiment: Insights into the rates and pathways that determine geochemical fluxes
title_full The Gas Transfer through Polar Sea ice experiment: Insights into the rates and pathways that determine geochemical fluxes
title_fullStr The Gas Transfer through Polar Sea ice experiment: Insights into the rates and pathways that determine geochemical fluxes
title_full_unstemmed The Gas Transfer through Polar Sea ice experiment: Insights into the rates and pathways that determine geochemical fluxes
title_sort gas transfer through polar sea ice experiment: insights into the rates and pathways that determine geochemical fluxes
publishDate 2015
url https://doi.org/10.7916/tde5-hr08
genre Sea ice
genre_facet Sea ice
op_relation https://doi.org/10.7916/tde5-hr08
op_doi https://doi.org/10.7916/tde5-hr08
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