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Modulation of Bubble-Mediated CO2 Gas Transfer due to Wave-Current Interactions
  • Youngmi Shin,
  • Luc Deike,
  • Leonel Romero
Youngmi Shin
University of Connecticut
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Luc Deike
Princeton University
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Leonel Romero
University of Connecticut

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

Wave breaking modulates air-sea fluxes of energy, momentum, heat, and gases. Building on recent advances in the modeling of CO2 gas exchange and wave breaking, we investigate the variability of bubble-mediated gas transfer coefficients due to wave-current interactions. Submesoscale current gradients strongly modulate wave breaking, which can enhance the bubble-mediated gas transfer coefficient by up 80% along temperature fronts and cold filaments. An empirical scaling based on the mean wave period, root-mean-square current gradients, and friction velocity can explain the root-mean-square differences of gas transfer coefficients computed from solutions with and without current forcing. We also describe the development of an optimization method to compute the physics-based model of the bubble-mediated gas transfer coefficient. The optimization method significantly reduces the computational cost twentyfold, providing a tractable pathway to investigate air-sea CO2 exchange with coupled models realistically accounting for wave-current interactions and sea state effects.