Southern Ocean Gas Exchange Experiment: Setting the stage

[1] The Southern Ocean Gas Exchange Experiment (SO GasEx) is the third in a series ofU.S.‐led open ocean process studies aimed at improving the quantification of gas transfervelocities and air‐sea CO2 fluxes. Two deliberate 3He/SF6 tracer releases into relativelystable water masses selected for larg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research
Main Authors: Ho, DT, Sabine, CL, Hebert, D, Ullman, DS, Wanninkhof, R, Hamme, RC, Strutton, PG, Hales, B, Edson, JB, Hargreaves, BR
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Amer Geophysical Union 2011
Subjects:
Earth Sciences
Oceanography
Biological Oceanography
Austral
Southern Ocean
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JC006852
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/76101
Description
Summary:[1] The Southern Ocean Gas Exchange Experiment (SO GasEx) is the third in a series ofU.S.‐led open ocean process studies aimed at improving the quantification of gas transfervelocities and air‐sea CO2 fluxes. Two deliberate 3He/SF6 tracer releases into relativelystable water masses selected for large DpCO2 took place in the southwest Atlantic sectorof the Southern Ocean in austral fall of 2008. The tracer patches were sampled in aLagrangian manner, using observations from discrete CTD/Rosette casts, continuoussurface ocean and atmospheric monitoring, and autonomous drifting instruments to studythe evolution of chemical and biological properties over the course of the experiment. CO2and DMS fluxes were directly measured in the marine air boundary layer withmicrometeorological techniques, and physical, chemical, and biological processescontrolling air‐sea fluxes were quantified with measurements in the upper ocean andmarine air. Average wind speeds of 9 m s−1 to a maximum of 16 m s−1 were encounteredduring the tracer patch observations, providing additional data to constrain wind speed/gasexchange parameterizations. In this paper, we set the stage for the experiment by detailingthe hydrographic observations during the site surveys and tracer patch occupations thatform the underpinning of observations presented in the SO GasEx special section.Particular consideration is given to the mixed layer depth as this is a critical variable forestimates of fluxes and biogeochemical transformations based on mixed layer budgets.

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