Ocean Sciences

Beyond wind speed: what really controls air-sea gas exchange?

Yuanxu Dong April 23, 2026

Fig. 1 Limited fetch and elevated surfactant concentrations suppressed the CO2 transfer velocity by ~30% in the central Baltic Sea during the CenBASE cruise. Although illustrated here for CO2, the processes are broadly applicable to other greenhouse gases. Figure created with the assistance of ChatGPT 5.

When we think about what drives air-sea gas exchange (such as CO2), wind usually gets all the credit. Strong winds stir the surface, enhance turbulence, and speed up gas transfer. But a new study in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics shows there is more to the story: CO2 exchange does not just follow the wind, it is also directly affected by surface conditions (Fig. 1). Using the eddy covariance te ...[Read More]

New Unified Interface for Existing Ocean Carbonate Chemistry Data Products

Li-Qing Jiang April 16, 2026

Here is a great resource for anyone working on ocean carbon: Jiang et al. (2026) compiled a comprehensive synthesis of data products for ocean carbonate chemistry — all in one place for you! The paper provides a comprehensive synthesis of 68 existing ocean carbonate chemistry data products and data product sets, including: 🛳️ Cruise-based Compilations 📈 Time-series Datasets 🗂️ Gap-filled Observati ...[Read More]

How atmospheric circulation patterns high above the Southern Ocean influence the deepest layers of the global ocean

Matthis Auger March 27, 2026

The winter meridional wind anomaly associated with a Zonal Wave-3-like perturbation.

The ocean surrounding Antarctica plays a crucial role in the climate system. Along parts of the Antarctic coast, very cold and salty water becomes dense enough to sink all the way to the ocean floor. This process forms Antarctic Bottom Water: the deepest water mass in the global ocean, representing about 40% of its total volume. As this dense water sinks into the abyss, it helps trap heat and carb ...[Read More]

A synergy of observations: Filling the gaps in an ocean colour chlorophyll-a record

Daniel J. Ford February 20, 2026

Satellite ocean colour chlorophyll-a provides synoptic scale observations that highlight the turbulent and dynamic nature of the oceans (Credit: Daniel Ford generated from ESA OC-CCI data).

Chlorophyll-a (chl-a), as the dominant photosynthetic pigment within phytoplankton, provides an indication of the phytoplankton biomass and are essential for understanding global and regional changes in primary production in the oceans. Multiple ocean colour satellites have unlocked routine synoptical scale observations of chl-a which now extends from 1997 to the present day. Differing numbers of ...[Read More]