Beale R

Nightingale PD

Pereira R

Sabbaghzadeh B

Upstill-Goddard RC

We report the first measurements of surfactant activity (SA) in the sea surface microlayer (SML) and in sub-surface waters (SSW) at the ocean basin scale, for two Atlantic Meridional Transects (AMT) from 50\ub0N to 50\ub0S during 2014 and 2015. Northern hemisphere (NH) SA was significantly higher than southern hemisphere (SH) SA in the SML and in the SSW. SA enrichment factors (EF = SASML/SASSW) were also higher in the NH, for wind speeds up to ~13 m s-1, questioning a prior assertion that Atlantic Ocean wind speeds &gt; 12 m s-1 poleward of 30\ub0N and 30\ub0S would preclude high EFs and showing the SML to be self-sustaining with respect to SA. Our results imply that surfactants exert a control on air-sea CO2 exchange across the whole North Atlantic CO2 sink region and that the contribution made by high wind, high latitude oceans to air-sea gas exchange globally should be re-examined

The Atlantic Ocean surface microlayer from 50\ub0N to 50\ub0S is ubiquitously enriched in surfactants at wind speeds up to 13m s<sup>-1</sup>

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Newcastle University E-Prints