Global data synthesis of air-sea fluxes of gases and aerosols for policy-directed modelling and assessment of climate change and pollution

SOLAS (Surface Ocean - Lower Atmosphere Study) is a large international research programme whose aim is to the quantify the exchange of gases and particles between the ocean and the atmosphere and to understand the role that these exchanges play in ocean biogeochemistry, atmospheric chemistry and climate. More than 20 nations, including the U.K., are involved in this effort. At the present, results collected in the project are archived in national data centres. The purpose of the current proposal is to bring together these results in order to produce data products, largely in terms of quantitative estimates of air-sea fluxes of the gases and particles measured, so that they can be used by policy makers and the scientific community in assessing the role of ocean-atmosphere interaction in climate, air quality and ocean biogeochemistry. In order to make such flux calculations it is necessary to know both the concentration fields driving them and the speed of exchange between atmosphere and ocean. Both these components of the flux calculation are being intensively studied in the SOLAS programme. By bringing this work together at the international level the value of the work of individual nations will be greatly enhanced to the benefit of both the scientific research and policy formulation.