Abstract
The currently available oceanic piston velocities, based on radon profiles, and the Galway climatological atlas of world ocean whitecap coverage, have been combined to demonstrate that a statistically significant correlation exists between piston velocity and whitecap coverage. This result is in accord with a simple model of gas transfer in which the sole effective path for sea-to-air gas transfer is via isolated turbulent whitecap vents. The effective piston velocity was found to be equal to 2.3 + 1.25 × 10−3U3 m/day, where U is the 1Om-elevation wind speed in ms−1.
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Monahan, E.C., Spillane, M.C. (1984). The Role of Oceanic Whitecaps in Air-Sea Gas Exchange. In: Brutsaert, W., Jirka, G.H. (eds) Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1660-4_45
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1660-4_45
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