A careful analysis of upper ocean field data collected during two cruises (1995 and 1997) funded under the Coastal Ocean Process (CoOP) program will be conducted to estimate air-sea gas exchanges. A focus of the investigation will be on the interactive role that atmospheric forcing and surfactants play generating and damping small waves and near-surface turbulence, and how the modification of these processes affects the transfer velocity and therefore the turbulent gas flux. The expected outcome of the analyses is an improved parameterization of the air-sea gas transfer velocity which incorporates all the relevant physical and chemical processes, and is applicable to wide range of environmental conditions.
