Ho David T.

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Ho
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David T.
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  • Preprint
    The SOLAS air-sea gas exchange experiment (SAGE) 2004
    ( 2010-03-11) Harvey, Mike J. ; Law, Cliff S. ; Smith, Murray J. ; Hall, Julie A. ; Abraham, Edward R. ; Stevens, Craig L. ; Hadfield, Mark G. ; Ho, David T. ; Ward, Brian ; Archer, Stephen D. ; Cainey, Jill M. ; Currie, Kim I. ; Devries, Dawn ; Ellwood, Michael J. ; Hill, Peter ; Jones, Graham B. ; Katz, Dave ; Kuparinen, Jorma ; Macaskill, Burns ; Main, William ; Marriner, Andrew ; McGregor, John ; McNeil, Craig L. ; Minnett, Peter J. ; Nodder, Scott D. ; Peloquin, Jill ; Pickmere, Stuart ; Pinkerton, Matthew H. ; Safi, Karl A. ; Thompson, Rona ; Walkington, Matthew ; Wright, Simon W. ; Ziolkowski, Lori A.
    The SOLAS air-sea gas exchange experiment (SAGE) was a multiple-objective study investigating gas-transfer processes and the influence of iron fertilisation on biologically driven gas exchange in high-nitrate low-silicic acid low-chlorophyll (HNLSiLC) Sub-Antarctic waters characteristic of the expansive Subpolar Zone of the southern oceans. This paper provides a general introduction and summary of the main experimental findings. The release site was selected from a pre-voyage desktop study of environmental parameters to be in the south-west Bounty Trough (46.5°S 172.5°E) to the south-east of New Zealand and the experiment conducted between mid-March and mid-April 2004. In common with other mesoscale iron addition experiments (FeAX’s), SAGE was designed as a Lagrangian study quantifying key biological and physical drivers influencing the air-sea gas exchange processes of CO2, DMS and other biogenic gases associated with an iron-induced phytoplankton bloom. A dual tracer SF6/3He release enabled quantification of both the lateral evolution of a labelled volume (patch) of ocean and the air-sea tracer exchange at the 10’s of km’s scale, in conjunction with the iron fertilisation. Estimates from the dual-tracer experiment found a quadratic dependency of the gas exchange coefficient on windspeed that is widely applicable and describes air-sea gas exchange in strong wind regimes. Within the patch, local and micrometeorological gas exchange process studies (100 m scale) and physical variables such as near-surface turbulence, temperature microstructure at the interface, wave properties, and wind speed were quantified to further assist the development of gas exchange models for high-wind environments. There was a significant increase in the photosynthetic competence (Fv/Fm) of resident phytoplankton within the first day following iron addition, but in contrast to other FeAX’s, rates of net primary production and column-integrated chlorophyll a concentrations had only doubled relative to the unfertilised surrounding waters by the end of the experiment. After 15 days and four iron additions totalling 1.1 tonne Fe2+, this was a very modest response compared to the other mesoscale iron enrichment experiments. An investigation of the factors limiting bloom development considered co- limitation by light and other nutrients, the phytoplankton seed-stock and grazing regulation. Whilst incident light levels and the initial Si:N ratio were the lowest recorded in all FeAX’s to date, there was only a small seed-stock of diatoms (less than 1% of biomass) and the main response to iron addition was by the picophytoplankton. A high rate of dilution of the fertilised patch relative to phytoplankton growth rate, the greater than expected depth of the surface mixed layer and microzooplankton grazing were all considered as factors that prevented significant biomass accumulation. In line with the limited response, the enhanced biological draw-down of pCO2 was small and masked by a general increase in pCO2 due to mixing with higher pCO2 waters. The DMS precursor DMSP was kept in check through grazing activity and in contrast to most FeAX’s dissolved dimethylsulfide (DMS) concentration declined through the experiment. SAGE is an important low-end member in the range of responses to iron addition in FeAX’s. In the context of iron fertilisation as a geoengineering tool for atmospheric CO2 removal, SAGE has clearly demonstrated that a significant proportion of the low iron ocean may not produce a phytoplankton bloom in response to iron addition.
  • Article
    Rain-induced turbulence and air-sea gas transfer
    (American Geophysical Union, 2009-07-09) Zappa, Christopher J. ; Ho, David T. ; McGillis, Wade R. ; Banner, Michael L. ; Dacey, John W. H. ; Bliven, Larry F. ; Ma, Barry ; Nystuen, Jeffrey A.
    Results from a rain and gas exchange experiment (Bio2 RainX III) at the Biosphere 2 Center demonstrate that turbulence controls the enhancement of the air-sea gas transfer rate (or velocity) k during rainfall, even though profiles of the turbulent dissipation rate ɛ are strongly influenced by near-surface stratification. The gas transfer rate scales with ɛ inline equation for a range of rain rates with broad drop size distributions. The hydrodynamic measurements elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the rain-enhanced k results using SF6 tracer evasion and active controlled flux technique. High-resolution k and turbulence results highlight the causal relationship between rainfall, turbulence, stratification, and air-sea gas exchange. Profiles of ɛ beneath the air-sea interface during rainfall, measured for the first time during a gas exchange experiment, yielded discrete values as high as 10−2 W kg−1. Stratification modifies and traps the turbulence near the surface, affecting the enhancement of the transfer velocity and also diminishing the vertical mixing of mass transported to the air-water interface. Although the kinetic energy flux is an integral measure of the turbulent input to the system during rain events, ɛ is the most robust response to all the modifications and transformations to the turbulent state that follows. The Craig-Banner turbulence model, modified for rain instead of breaking wave turbulence, successfully predicts the near-surface dissipation profile at the onset of the rain event before stratification plays a dominant role. This result is important for predictive modeling of k as it allows inferring the surface value of ɛ fundamental to gas transfer.
  • Article
    Influence of rain on air-sea gas exchange : lessons from a model ocean
    (American Geophysical Union, 2004-07-01) Ho, David T. ; Zappa, Christopher J. ; McGillis, Wade R. ; Bliven, Larry F. ; Ward, Brian ; Dacey, John W. H. ; Schlosser, Peter ; Hendricks, Melissa B.
    Rain has been shown to significantly enhance the rate of air-water gas exchange in fresh water environments, and the mechanism behind this enhancement has been studied in laboratory experiments. In the ocean, the effects of rain are complicated by the potential influence of density stratification at the water surface. Since it is difficult to perform controlled rain-induced gas exchange experiments in the open ocean, an SF6 evasion experiment was conducted in the artificial ocean at Biosphere 2. The measurements show a rapid depletion of SF6 in the surface layer due to rain enhancement of air-sea gas exchange, and the gas transfer velocity was similar to that predicted from the relationship established from freshwater laboratory experiments. However, because vertical mixing is reduced by stratification, the overall gas flux is lower than that found during freshwater experiments. Physical measurements of various properties of the ocean during the rain events further elucidate the mechanisms behind the observed response. The findings suggest that short, intense rain events accelerate gas exchange in oceanic environments.
  • 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.
  • Article
    Environmental turbulent mixing controls on air-water gas exchange in marine and aquatic systems
    (American Geophysical Union, 2007-05-17) Zappa, Christopher J. ; McGillis, Wade R. ; Raymond, Peter A. ; Edson, James B. ; Hintsa, Eric J. ; Zemmelink, Hendrik J. ; Dacey, John W. H. ; Ho, David T.
    Air-water gas transfer influences CO2 and other climatically important trace gas fluxes on regional and global scales, yet the magnitude of the transfer is not well known. Widely used models of gas exchange rates are based on empirical relationships linked to wind speed, even though physical processes other than wind are known to play important roles. Here the first field investigations are described supporting a new mechanistic model based on surface water turbulence that predicts gas exchange for a range of aquatic and marine processes. Findings indicate that the gas transfer rate varies linearly with the turbulent dissipation rate to the inline equation power in a range of systems with different types of forcing - in the coastal ocean, in a macro-tidal river estuary, in a large tidal freshwater river, and in a model (i.e., artificial) ocean. These results have important implications for understanding carbon cycling.
  • Article
    Use of SF5CF3 for ocean tracer release experiments
    (American Geophysical Union, 2008-02-19) Ho, David T. ; Ledwell, James R. ; Smethie, William M.
    SF6 tracer release experiments (TREs) have provided fundamental insights in many areas of Oceanography. Recently, SF6 has emerged as a powerful transient tracer, generating a need for an alternative tracer for large-scale ocean TREs. SF5CF3 has the potential to replace SF6 in TREs, due to similarities in their properties and behavior, as well as techniques for injection, sampling, and analysis. The suitability of SF5CF3 for TREs was examined in Santa Monica Basin, off the coast of Southern California. In January 2005, a mixture of ca. 10 mol of both SF6 and SF5CF3 was injected on an isopycnal surface near 800 m depth. Over the next 23 months, concentrations of the two tracers mirrored each other very closely, indicating that SF5CF3 is a viable replacement for SF6 in ocean TREs. The mixing parameters inferred from the experiment confirmed the results from an earlier SF6 TRE in the Santa Monica Basin.