Bell Tom G.

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Bell
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Tom G.
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  • Article
    Global oceanic emission of ammonia : constraints from seawater and atmospheric observations
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2015-08-13) Paulot, Fabien ; Jacob, Daniel J. ; Johnson, Martin T. ; Bell, Tom G. ; Baker, Alexander R. ; Keene, William C. ; Lima, Ivan D. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Stock, Charles A.
    Current global inventories of ammonia emissions identify the ocean as the largest natural source. This source depends on seawater pH, temperature, and the concentration of total seawater ammonia (NHx(sw)), which reflects a balance between remineralization of organic matter, uptake by plankton, and nitrification. Here we compare [NHx(sw)] from two global ocean biogeochemical models (BEC and COBALT) against extensive ocean observations. Simulated [NHx(sw)] are generally biased high. Improved simulation can be achieved in COBALT by increasing the plankton affinity for NHx within observed ranges. The resulting global ocean emissions is 2.5 TgN a−1, much lower than current literature values (7–23 TgN a−1), including the widely used Global Emissions InitiAtive (GEIA) inventory (8 TgN a−1). Such a weak ocean source implies that continental sources contribute more than half of atmospheric NHx over most of the ocean in the Northern Hemisphere. Ammonia emitted from oceanic sources is insufficient to neutralize sulfate aerosol acidity, consistent with observations. There is evidence over the Equatorial Pacific for a missing source of atmospheric ammonia that could be due to photolysis of marine organic nitrogen at the ocean surface or in the atmosphere. Accommodating this possible missing source yields a global ocean emission of ammonia in the range 2–5 TgN a−1, comparable in magnitude to other natural sources from open fires and soils.
  • Article
    Air-Sea trace gas fluxes: direct and indirect measurements
    (Frontiers Media, 2022-07-29) Fairall, Christopher W. ; Yang, Mingxi ; Brumer, Sophia E. ; Blomquist, Byron ; Edson, James B. ; Zappa, Christopher J. ; Bariteau, Ludovic ; Pezoa, Sergio ; Bell, Tom G. ; Saltzman, Eric
    The past decade has seen significant technological advance in the observation of trace gas fluxes over the open ocean, most notably CO2, but also an impressive list of other gases. Here we will emphasize flux observations from the air-side of the interface including both turbulent covariance (direct) and surface-layer similarity-based (indirect) bulk transfer velocity methods. Most applications of direct covariance observations have been from ships but recently work has intensified on buoy-based implementation. The principal use of direct methods is to quantify empirical coefficients in bulk estimates of the gas transfer velocity. Advances in direct measurements and some recent field programs that capture a considerable range of conditions with wind speeds exceeding 20 ms-1 are discussed. We use coincident direct flux measurements of CO2 and dimethylsulfide (DMS) to infer the scaling of interfacial viscous and bubble-mediated (whitecap driven) gas transfer mechanisms. This analysis suggests modest chemical enhancement of CO2 flux at low wind speed. We include some updates to the theoretical structure of bulk parameterizations (including chemical enhancement) as framed in the COAREG gas transfer algorithm.
  • Working Paper
    US SOLAS Science Report
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2021-12) Stanley, Rachel H. R. ; Bell, Tom G. ; Gao, Yuan ; Gaston, Cassandra J. ; Ho, David T. ; Kieber, David J. ; Mackey, Katherine R. M. ; Meskhidze, Nicholas ; Miller, William L. ; Potter, Henry ; Vlahos, Penny ; Yager, Patricia L. ; Alexander, Becky ; Beaupre, Steven R. ; Craig, Susanne E. ; Cutter, Gregory A. ; Emerson, Steven ; Frossard, Amanda A. ; Gasso, Santiago ; Haus, Brian K. ; Keene, William C. ; Landing, William M. ; Moore, Richard H. ; Ortiz-Suslow, David ; Palter, Jaime B. ; Paulot, Fabien ; Saltzman, Eric ; Thornton, Daniel ; Wozniak, Andrew S. ; Zamora, Lauren M. ; Benway, Heather M.
    The Surface Ocean – Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) (http://www.solas-int.org/) is an international research initiative focused on understanding the key biogeochemical-physical interactions and feedbacks between the ocean and atmosphere that are critical elements of climate and global biogeochemical cycles. Following the release of the SOLAS Decadal Science Plan (2015-2025) (Brévière et al., 2016), the Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction Committee (OAIC) was formed as a subcommittee of the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) Scientific Steering Committee to coordinate US SOLAS efforts and activities, facilitate interactions among atmospheric and ocean scientists, and strengthen US contributions to international SOLAS. In October 2019, with support from OCB, the OAIC convened an open community workshop, Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions: Scoping directions for new research with the goal of fostering new collaborations and identifying knowledge gaps and high-priority science questions to formulate a US SOLAS Science Plan. Based on presentations and discussions at the workshop, the OAIC and workshop participants have developed this US SOLAS Science Plan. The first part of the workshop and this Science Plan were purposefully designed around the five themes of the SOLAS Decadal Science Plan (2015-2025) (Brévière et al., 2016) to provide a common set of research priorities and ensure a more cohesive US contribution to international SOLAS.