Measurements of Ozone Deposition to a Coastal Sea by Eddy Covariance

Abstract

Abstract. A fast response (10 Hz) chemiluminescence detector for ozone (O3) was used to determine O3 fluxes using the eddy covariance technique at the Penlee Point Atmospheric Observatory on the south coast of the UK during April and May 2018. The median O3 flux was −0.132 mg m−2 h−1 (0.018 ppbv m s−1) corresponding to a deposition velocity of 0.037 cm s−1 (interquartile range 0.017–0.065 cm s−1) – similar to the higher values previously reported for open ocean flux measurements, but not as high as some other coastal results. Eddy covariance footprint analysis of the site indicates that the flux footprint was predominantly over water (> 96 %), varying slightly with tide. At moderate-to-high wind speeds, ozone deposition increased with wind speed, and showed a linear dependence with friction velocity of comparable magnitude to predictions from the one-layer model of (Fairall et al., 2007). Deposition was also elevated at very low wind speeds, most likely because the footprint contracted to include a greater land contribution in these conditions.