GasEx 2001 PI Workshop

Abstract

The GasEx 2001 eastern Equatorial Pacific CO2 Exchange Experiment was designed to be a multi-disciplinary study, co-sponsored by the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Office of Global Programs and the National Science Foundation. Several NOAA labs, including PMEL (Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory), AOML (Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory), ETL (Environmental Technology Laboratory), and multiple academic institutions participated on the cruise, including Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, University of Miami, University of Washington, University of Montana, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, University of Heidelberg, University of Rhode Island, and the University of Groningen. The primary objective was to use direct gas flux measurements to study the kinetics of air-sea gas exchange. A second focus was to determine the physical, chemical, and biological factors controlling pCO2 in the surface water. The eastern Equatorial Pacific region is the largest oceanic CO2 source to the atmosphere with large interannual variability caused by the ENSO cycle.