Does marine surface tension have global biogeography? Addition for the OCEANFILMS package

Scott Elliott, Susannah Burrows, Philip Cameron-Smith, Forrest Hoffman, Elizabeth Hunke, Nicole Jeffery, Yina Liu, Mathew Maltrud, Zachary Menzo, Oluwaseun Ogunro, Luke Van Roekel, Shanlin Wang, Michael Brunke, Meibing Jin, Robert Letscher, Nicholas Meskhidze, Lynn Russell, Isla Simpson, Dale Stokes, Oliver Wingenter

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

We apply principles of Gibbs phase plane chemistry across the entire ocean-atmosphere interface to investigate aerosol generation and geophysical transfer issues. Marine surface tension differences comprise a tangential pressure field controlling trace gas fluxes, primary organic inputs, and sea spray salt injections, in addition to heat and momentum fluxes. Mapping follows from the organic microlayer composition, now represented in ocean system models. Organic functional variations drive the microforcing, leading to (1) reduced turbulence and (by extension) laminar gas-energy diffusion; plus (2) altered bubble film mass emission into the boundary layer. Interfacial chemical behaviors are, therefore, closely reviewed as the background. We focus on phase transitions among two dimensional "solid, liquid, and gaseous" states serving as elasticity indicators. From the pool of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) only proteins and lipids appear to occupy significant atmospheric interfacial areas. The literature suggests albumin and stearic acid as the best proxies, and we distribute them through ecodynamic simulation. Consensus bulk distributions are obtained to control their adsorptive equilibria. We devise parameterizations for both the planar free energy and equation of state, relating excess coverage to the surface pressure and its modulus. Constant settings for the molecular surrogates are drawn from laboratory study and successfully reproduce surfactant solid-to-gas occurrence in compression experiments. Since DOC functionality measurements are rare, we group them into super-ecological province tables to verify aqueous concentration estimates. Outputs are then fed into a coverage, tension, elasticity code. The resulting two dimensional pressure contours cross a critical range for the regulation of precursor piston velocity, bubble breakage, and primary aerosol sources plus ripple damping. Concepts extend the water-air adsorption theory currently embodied in our OCEANFILMS aerosol emissions package, and the two approaches could be inserted into Earth System Models together. Uncertainties in the logic include kinetic and thermochemical factors operating at multiple scales.

Original languageEnglish
Article number216
JournalAtmosphere
Volume9
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 4 2018

Funding

Acknowledgments: The authors acknowledge funding support from the U.S. Department of Energy Earth System Modeling (ESM) and Regional to Global Climate Modeling (RGCM) programs. Specifically we thank the E3SM (formerly ACME), HiLAT and Rubisco projects. PCS contributed with funding from DOE to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, and thanks the earlier Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing program (SciDAC). Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is managed by UT-Battelle for DOE under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725.

FundersFunder number
U.S. Department of Energy Earth System Modeling
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
U.S. Department of Energy
UT-BattelleDE-AC05-00OR22725
Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryDE-AC52-07NA27344
ESM

    Keywords

    • Biogeochemical mapping
    • Compression
    • Elasticity
    • Gas precursors
    • Heat and momentum flux
    • Interfacial surface tension and pressure
    • Lipids
    • Organic macromolecules
    • Primary aerosol
    • Proteins
    • Surfactants
    • Two dimensional equation of state

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