SEMINAR: GEOTOPICS next Monday: Dr.Minnett ( 3/21 3:15 pm, SLAB Seminar Room)

[Qiong Zhang <qzhang@rsmas.miami.edu>]

##### G  E  O  T  O  P  I  C  S  #####

    P  r  e  s  e  n  t  s

3:15 PM, Monday,  March 21st, 2011

   SLAB Seminar Room, S/A 103

Refreshments 3:00 PM

Peter Minnett

   Professor & Chairman,MPO, RSMAS,
University of Miami

     " The skin of the ocean and the fate of Carbon"
     Over the world’s oceans, and other bodies of water, the exchange of heat between the ocean and atmosphere is mediated by molecular conduction through a thin layer on the aqueous side of the interface – the thermal skin layer. For heat conduction to occur, the thermal skin layer has to sustain a vertical temperature gradient, and since the heat flow is nearly everywhere from the ocean to the atmosphere, this results in an interfacial temperature that is cooler than the ocean beneath. The temperature gradient through the thermal skin layer has several consequences on how we understand air-sea interaction, including how atmospheric greenhouse gasses can heat the body of the ocean, and how CO₂ is exchanged between the ocean and atmosphere. Because of the small scales involved, the temperatures across the skin layer are difficult to measure, but well-calibrated infrared spectroradiometers on ships can provide these measurements. The presentation will cover the characteristics of the skin layer, how they can be measured using Fourier-Transform InfraRed (FTIR) interferometers, and what these data tell us about how to interpret satellite retrievals of Sea-Surface Temperature and to better understand air-sea exchanges, including the fluxes of CO₂.

Cheers
Qiong Zhang

Marine Geology and Geophysics
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
University of Miami
4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami Fl 33149