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Draft:Stagnant Film Model

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The stagnant film model showing gas exchange between a mixed atmosphere and mixed ocean with a film in-between with thickness Z

The Stagnant Film Model is a kinematic model that helps explain how gas exchange from the ocean's surface and the atmosphere reaches equilibrium. The model suggests that both the ocean and atmosphere are mostly composed of well-mixed, turbulent fluid layers with a permanent thin-film layer in the middle. That thin layer of thickness Z is where gas flux between the two fluids takes place.[1]

The film layer over the ocean is estimated to have a thickness of 17 micrometers, but it is variable.[2] For example, strong winds can shear the layer and decrease its thickness. The gas constituents of the film can also change depending on biological activity, such as plankton photosynthesis or respiration in the surface water, making it important to understand the model for gas exchanges including greenhouse gasses.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Crump, Byron C., Jeremy M. Testa, and Kenneth H. Dunton, eds. Estuarine ecology. John Wiley & Sons, 2022.
  2. ^ Murray, James W. "The oceans." Jacobson, MC Charlson, RJ; Rodhe, H.; Orians, GH Earth System Science: From Biogeochemical Cycles to Global Changes, Oxford, UK: Elsevier (2000): 230-278.