In our warming world the oceans are a major regulator of heat, and a global reservoir of greenhouse gases. However, quantifying the exchange of gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) between the ocean and atmosphere is a major challenge due to a variety of physical, chemical, and biotic influences. The role of organic substances in the ocean skin layer, known as surfactants, have been shown to reduce gas exchanges by up to 50%. Therefore, understanding how the ocean’s organic skin layer modulates gas exchange is critical to reliably estimate oceanic sinks and sources of key greenhouse gases both now and in the future.
Our oceans globally are estimated to account for 20–40% of the post-industrial sink for anthropogenic CO2. However, there are regional differences in the marine environment that vary the rate of gas exchanges. Understanding these key drivers offers the potential to better quantify and manage these systems. For example, it has been proposed that enhanced marine carbon dioxide removal technologies may offer one solution to rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere caused by anthropogenic activities. However, these solutions will be implemented at a local and regional scale, so understanding the response of biologically derived surfactants in this process will be fundamental to their success.
The Breathing Oceans (BOOGIE) project investigates how the ocean's organic skin layer modulates gas exchange and examines its importance for quantifying oceanic sinks and sources of greenhouse gases. Our objective is to better understand the role of surfactants from land to the ocean. Surfactants span across traditional operational definitions and are derived from multiple sources undergoing biotic and abiotic transformations during their transport. BOOGIE focuses on a land-ocean transect from Guyana, South America toward the African continent and investigates how the diversity of surfactants impact air-water gas exchange. Ultimately this work will improve our ability to identify and predict changes in how our Oceans store greenhouse gasses.
