Partitioning the [Formula omitted] Flux Mediated by Droplets Released from Breaking Waves

The [Formula omitted] flux from spume droplets occurs in two steps. First, the initial droplet-air gas concentration gradient [Formula omitted] is immediately removed with no change in the droplet solubility. Then, the solubility changes with droplet temperature T and radius r evolution, but the flux maintains the condition [Formula omitted]. The gas content of a droplet can be determined by [Formula omitted] since the parameters T and r are known. Therefore, the net gas influx of a droplet depends on the values of T and r in its return to the sea. In the second step, the droplet temperature T evolves to an equilibrium temperature [Formula omitted], and the radius r is then reduced by evaporation at constant [Formula omitted]. For the droplet spectrum, a cut-off radius [Formula omitted] is used to separate short-lived ( [Formula omitted], returning to the sea before [Formula omitted]) and long-lived [Formula omitted] conditions. The net influx is split into three contributions: the first ( [Formula omitted]) is mediated by short-lived mechanisms, and the second and the third by long-lived ( [Formula omitted]) mechanisms that are further separated into temperature-varying ( [Formula omitted]) and radius-varying ( [Formula omitted]) stages. The results show that, in the cases with large air-sea temperature differences, the first stage [Formula omitted] dominates the net gas input, but its importance decreases as the value of [Formula omitted] increases. The temperature-varying stage [Formula omitted] is dominant in cases with both large values of [Formula omitted] and large temperature differences, while the radius-varying stage [Formula omitted] increases as either the temperature difference decreases or as the value of [Formula omitted] increases.