Estimate of Global Sea-Air CO2 Flux with Sea-State-Dependent Parameterization

Although the annual global sea-air CO2 flux has been estimated extensively with various wind-dependent-k parameterizations,uncertainty still exists in the estimates. The sea-state-dependent-k parameterization is expected to improve the uncertainty existing in these estimates. In the present study,the annual global sea-air CO2 flux is estimated with the sea-state-dependent-k parameterization proposed by Woolf(2005) ,using NOAA/NCEP reanalysis wind speed and hindcast wave data from 1998 to 2006,and a new estimate,-2.18 Gt C year-1,is obtained,which is comparable with previous estimates with biochemical methods. It is interesting to note that the averaged value of previous estimates with various wind-dependent-k parameterizations is almost identical to that of previous estimates with biochemical methods by various authors,and that the new estimate is quite consistent with these averaged estimates.