Wave-Related Reynolds Number Parameterizations of CO2 and DMS Transfer Velocities

Predicting future climate hinges on our understanding of and ability to quantify air-sea gas transfer. The latter relies on parameterizations of the gas transfer velocity k, which represents physical mass transfer mechanisms and is usually parameterized as a nonlinear function of wind forcing. In an attempt to reduce uncertainties in k, this study explores empirical parameterizations that incorporate both wind speed and sea state dependence via wave-wind and breaking Reynolds numbers, R-H and R-B. Analysis of concurrent eddy covariance gas transfer and measured wavefield statistics supplemented by wave model hindcasts shows for the first time that wave-related Reynolds numbers collapse four open ocean data sets that have a wind speed dependence of CO2 transfer velocity ranging from lower than quadratic to cubic. Wave-related Reynolds number and wind speed show comparable performance for parametrizing dimethyl sulfide (DMS) which, because of its higher solubility, is less affected by bubble-mediated exchange associated with wave breaking.