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The Effect of Breaking Waves on \(\hbox {CO}_2\) Air–Sea Fluxes in the Coastal Zone

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Abstract

The influence of wave-associated parameters controlling turbulent \(\hbox {CO}_2\) fluxes through the air–sea interface is investigated in a coastal region. A full year of high-quality data of direct estimates of air–sea \(\hbox {CO}_2\) fluxes based on eddy-covariance measurements is presented. The study area located in Todos Santos Bay, Baja California, Mexico, is a net sink of \(\hbox {CO}_2\) with a mean flux of \(-1.3\, \upmu \hbox {mol m}^{-2}\hbox {s}^{-1}\) (\(-41.6\hbox { mol m}^{-2}\hbox {yr}^{-1}\)). The results of a quantile-regression analysis computed between the \(\hbox {CO}_2\) flux and, (1) wind speed, (2) significant wave height, (3) wave steepness, and (4) water temperature, suggest that the significant wave height is the most correlated parameter with the magnitude of the flux but the behaviour of the relation varies along the probability distribution function, with the slopes of the regression lines presenting both positive and negative values. These results imply that the presence of surface waves in coastal areas is the key factor that promotes the increase of the flux from and into the ocean. Further analysis suggests that the local characteristics of the aqueous and atmospheric layers might determine the direction of the flux.

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Acknowledgements

This study was part of the “Sea surface roughness as air–sea interaction control” (RugDiSmarCTRLo-a) CONACyT project (155793). We thank the CICESE’s Physical Oceanography Department the financial support all along this investigation. To J Martínez, R Alcaraz and E Rivera for technical help related to the experimental set-up and maintenance of instruments. To P Osuna for his advice and support, and to the rest of the CICESE’s Waves Research Group for their contributions to this work. We are grateful for the support provided by Ms. Julieta Castro and Ms. Alondra Preciado in logistics and administrative procedures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Oceanografía Física, CICESE, 22860, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

    Lucía Gutiérrez-Loza & Francisco J. Ocampo-Torres

  2. Instituto de Invesigaciones Oceanológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, 22860, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

    Héctor García-Nava

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, 75236, Uppsala, Sweden

    Lucía Gutiérrez-Loza

Authors
  1. Lucía Gutiérrez-Loza
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  2. Francisco J. Ocampo-Torres
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  3. Héctor García-Nava
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Correspondence to Lucía Gutiérrez-Loza.

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Gutiérrez-Loza, L., Ocampo-Torres, F.J. & García-Nava, H. The Effect of Breaking Waves on \(\hbox {CO}_2\) Air–Sea Fluxes in the Coastal Zone. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 168, 343–360 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-018-0342-x

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