Air–sea gas exchange

Air–sea gas exchange is the transfer of gases across the ocean surface, driven by differences in gas concentrations and shaped by turbulence, chemistry, and biology.

Two-film theory: A model of mass transfer that treats exchange as diffusion through thin boundary layers on either side of an interface. It explains how stagnant layers in air and water limit transfer across the sea surface.
Ocean carbon sink: The net removal and storage of carbon by the ocean from the atmosphere and other sources. Carbon dioxide exchange at the surface determines much of the ocean's atmospheric carbon uptake.
Henry's law: A relationship stating that a gas's equilibrium concentration in a liquid is proportional to its partial pressure above the liquid. It sets the equilibrium dissolved concentration toward which surface waters exchange gases.
Carbon dioxide: A colorless gas composed of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms, produced by respiration and combustion and used in photosynthesis. Its exchange with seawater strongly influences atmospheric carbon and ocean acidity.
Gas transfer velocity: A rate parameter relating a gas's concentration difference across an interface to its flux. It expresses the ocean-surface exchange rate after accounting for turbulence and gas properties.
Ocean acidification: The decrease in seawater pH caused mainly by uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Airborne carbon dioxide entering seawater changes carbonate chemistry and lowers pH.
Partial pressure: The pressure exerted by one gas in a mixture, equal to its share of the mixture's total pressure. Gas partial pressures help determine the atmospheric-to-ocean concentration gradient.
Oxygen: A reactive chemical element that forms about one-fifth of Earth's atmosphere and is essential to aerobic respiration. Photosynthesis and respiration can reverse the direction of its net surface exchange.
Schmidt number: A dimensionless ratio of momentum diffusivity to molecular diffusivity in a fluid. It adjusts transfer estimates for differences in how rapidly gases diffuse through water.
Ocean deoxygenation: The decline of dissolved oxygen in ocean waters over time. Oxygen exchange with the atmosphere replenishes the surface ocean, though mixing and biology also matter.

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