Gas transfer to and across an air-water interface
Open Access
- 1 August 1977
- journal article
- Published by Stockholm University Press in Tellus
- Vol. 29 (4), 363-374
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2153-3490.1977.tb00746.x
Abstract
A treatment based on Reichardt's formulation of the velocity profile in turbulent flow over a smooth plane surface is shown to give good agreement with published data on the boundary layer transfer of heat and mass over a wide range of Prandtl (or Schmidt) number, s̀. Applied to transfer to a water surface, agreement with published laboratory results is also good for low air speeds (smooth water). Comparison with observations for the sea shows there is little difference between the calculated evaporation coefficient and those reported for the sea with winds of ∼7 m s-1. This is consistent with sea trials having so far detected little increase of evaporation and heat transfer coefficients with wind speed over the range 4–10 m s-1. The air/water transfer of non-reactive gas is governed by the resistance of the viscous sublayer of water, and the smooth surface treatment gives the transfer velocity (VL) on a liquid phase basis as VL = 0.082 (pa/pw)1/2s̀-2/3u* where papw is the density ratio, air/water, and u* = friction velocity of the surface air flow. The agreement between this formula and published wind tunnel results is good for the smooth water condition. At higher wind speeds transfer exceeds the calculated value and appears then to increase roughly in proportion to the square of the wind speed. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1977.tb00746.xKeywords
This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit:
- Turbulent fluxes of momentum, heat and water vapor in the atmospheric surface layer at sea during ATEXBoundary-Layer Meteorology, 1974
- Gas exchange rates between air and sea1Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, 1974
- Determination experimentale du nombre de prandtl turbulent pres d'une paroi lisseInternational Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 1973
- Flux-Profile Relationships in the Atmospheric Surface LayerJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 1971
- Flux‐gradient relationships in the constant flux layerQuarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 1970
- Equilibration of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide with Sea Water: Possible Enzymatic Control of the RateScience, 1969
- Transport of gases to and from surfaces with bluff and wave‐like roughness elementsQuarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 1968
- Dependence of air-sea transfer coefficients on bulk stabilityJournal of Geophysical Research, 1968
- On the Exchange of Carbon Dioxide between the Atmosphere and the SeaTellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, 1960
- On phase equilibrium at the gas‐liquid interface during absorptionAIChE Journal, 1958