Bubble mediated gas transfer and gas transfer suppression of DMS and CO2

Direct DMS flux measurements using eddy covariance have shown a suppression of gas transfer at medium to high wind speed. However, not all eddy covariance measurements show evidence of this suppression. Processes, such as wave‐wind interaction and surfactants, have been postulated to cause this suppression. We measured dimethyl sulfide and carbon dioxide eddy covariance fluxes during the Asian summer monsoon in the western tropical Indian Ocean (July and August 2014). Both fluxes and their respective gas transfer velocities show signs of a gas transfer suppression above 10 m s−1. Using a wind‐wave interaction we describe a flow separation process that could be responsible for a suppression of gas transfer. As a result we provide a Reynolds number based parameterization, which states the likelihood of a gas transfer suppression for this cruise and previously published gas transfer data. Additionally, we compute the difference in the gas transfer velocities of DMS and CO2 to estimate the bubble mediated gas transfer using a hybrid model with three whitecap parameterizations.