Mixing it up: Nitrous Oxide Air-Sea Gas Flux in the Gulf of Mexico: accounting for hurricane mixing

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a trace gas with a warming potential approximately 270 times that of carbon dioxide. N2O is also the primary source of atmospheric nitrogen oxides, which deplete the stratospheric ozone layer. Marine N2O production from bacterial processes (nitrification and denitrification) represents, globally, up to 30% of  N2O emitted to the atmosphere. N2O samples were collected at various locations and depths in the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone that develops during summer to investigate N2O cycling.  Air-sea gas fluxes of N2O were calculated in accordance with Wanninkhof 2014. Although air-sea gas fluxes are generally negligible during summer due to strong stratification, hurricanes are a major source of vertical mixing. Yet, the effects of hurricane mixing on sea-air N2O fluxes is never accounted for, due to sampling limitations. During hurricanes, shallow waters in the Gulf of Mexico are being uniformly mixed, at depths down to 150m . A simple vertical mixing model of N2O was created to estimate hurricane-like conditions and then air-sea gas fluxes were recalculated considering hurricane speed winds.

Presentation Preference: Poster

Primary Presenter: William Love, University of South Carolina (lovewd@email.sc.edu)

Authors:

William Love, University of South Carolina  (lovewd@email.sc.edu)

Shari Yvon-Lewis, Texas A&M University  (syvon-lewis@tamu.edu)

Laura Bristow, University of Gothenburg  (laura.bristow@gu.se)

Melissa Shugart, University of South Carolina  (OSHUGART@email.sc.edu)

Annie Bourbonnais, University of South Carolina  (abourbonnais@seoe.sc.edu)