Physical-Biological Coupling

Air-sea exchange of CO₂ and other climate-relevant gases is shaped by the interplay of physical forcing - winds, waves, turbulence, surface films - and biological activity at and below the sea surface. We disentangle these controls through direct eddy covariance flux measurements paired with high-frequency carbonate chemistry and ecosystem metabolism observations, most recently at our EC observatory on Helgoland in the southern North Sea. Broadly, this work seeks to build a comprehensive view of marine CO₂ source or sink behavior, by equally considering both the biological and biogeochemical drivers that set up air-water CO₂ gradients, and the physical forces that govern rates of exchange.