On physical mechanisms enhancing air-sea CO2 exchange

Reducing uncertainties in the air–sea CO2 flux calculations is one of the major challenges when addressing the oceanic contribution in the global carbon balance. In traditional models, the air–sea CO2 flux is estimated using expressions of the gas transfer velocity as a function of wind speed. However, other mechanisms affecting the variability in the flux at local and regional scales are still poorly understood. The uncertainties associated with the flux estimates become particularly large in heterogeneous environments such as coastal and marginal seas. Here, we investigated the air–sea CO2 exchange at a coastal site in the central Baltic Sea using nine years of eddy covariance measurements. Based on these observations we were able to capture the temporal variability of the air–sea CO2 flux and other parameters relevant for the gas exchange. Our results show that a wind-based model with similar pattern to those developed for larger basins and open sea condition can, on average, be a good approximation for k. However, in order to reduce the uncertainty associated to these averages and produce reliable short-term k estimates, additional physical processes must be considered. Using a normalized gas transfer velocity, we identified conditions associated to enhanced exchange (large k values). During high and intermediate wind speeds (above 6–8 m s−1),conditions on both sides of the air–water interface were found to be relevant for the gas exchange. Our findings further suggest that at such relatively high wind speeds, sea spray is an efficient mechanisms for air–sea CO2 exchange. During low wind speeds (