Evaluating momentum and CO₂ fluxes over the ocean surface by the combined use of eddy correlation and inertial dissipation methods

Abstract

Field measurements of momentum and CO₂ fluxes over the ocean surface were made at a sea observation tower by means of the eddy correlation and inertial dissipation methods. Under ideal surface layer conditions, the good agreement may be seen between the fluxes obtained from both methods. The combined use allows us to identify efficiently reliable flux data. The values of these fluxes are found to vary depending on wave-field conditions, i. e., the presence of swell. On the ocean surface, the change in the air density becomes so relatively large that corrections concerning sensible and latent heat fluxes, i. e., the Webb corrections, should be made for evaluating the flux of CO₂. The present data show that the corrections are very important to estimate accurately the total CO₂ flux across the air-sea interface.