Chapter 2
SEA SURFACE MICROLAYER
The top few millimeters of the ocean surface, where properties
are most altered relative to deeper water, are often referred to as
the sea surface microlayer.
2. SEA SURFACE MICROLAYER
The microlayer is involved in the heat and momentum transfer between
the ocean and atmosphere and plays a vital role in the uptake of greenhouse
gases by the ocean. A striking variety of physical, biological, chemical, and
photochemical interactions and feedbacks occur in the ocean surface
microlayer. There is a widely held presumption that the microlayer is a
highly efficient and selective micro-reactor, effectively concentrating and
transforming materials brought to the interface from the atmosphere and
oceans by physical processes (Liss and Duce, 1997). These processes are
very intriguing and potentially of great importance for remote sensing of sea
surface temperature and salinity, climate change, and many other practical
applications still waiting their time to come.
Direct measurement of the sea surface microlayer is still a challenge. As
a result, surprisingly little experimental information exists on the structure of
obtained from laboratory studies.
The physics of the sea surface microlayer is related to fundamental
properties of turbulent boundary layers. While in the bulk of the water
turbulence largely controls the transport, molecular diffusion take over the
transfer of momentum, heat and mass from the upper ocean to the sea
surface because the vertical component of turbulent velocity is suppressed
close to the surface. Surface organic and inorganic films formed as a result
of complex interplay between biological, chemical, and physical processes
sea surface microlayers. The majority of microlayer results have been
SEA SURFACE MICROLAYER
The top few millimeters of the ocean surface, where properties
are most altered relative to deeper water, are often referred to as
the sea surface microlayer.
2. SEA SURFACE MICROLAYER
The microlayer is involved in the heat and momentum transfer between
the ocean and atmosphere and plays a vital role in the uptake of greenhouse
gases by the ocean. A striking variety of physical, biological, chemical, and
photochemical interactions and feedbacks occur in the ocean surface
microlayer. There is a widely held presumption that the microlayer is a
highly efficient and selective micro-reactor, effectively concentrating and
transforming materials brought to the interface from the atmosphere and
oceans by physical processes (Liss and Duce, 1997). These processes are
very intriguing and potentially of great importance for remote sensing of sea
surface temperature and salinity, climate change, and many other practical
applications still waiting their time to come.
Direct measurement of the sea surface microlayer is still a challenge. As
a result, surprisingly little experimental information exists on the structure of
obtained from laboratory studies.
The physics of the sea surface microlayer is related to fundamental
properties of turbulent boundary layers. While in the bulk of the water
turbulence largely controls the transport, molecular diffusion take over the
transfer of momentum, heat and mass from the upper ocean to the sea
surface because the vertical component of turbulent velocity is suppressed
close to the surface. Surface organic and inorganic films formed as a result
of complex interplay between biological, chemical, and physical processes
sea surface microlayers. The majority of microlayer results have been