Turbulence and wave breaking effects on air-water gas exchange

We present an experimental characterization of the effects of turbulence an d breaking gravity waves on air-water gas exchange in standing waves. We id entify two regimes that govern aeration rates: turbulent transport when no wave breaking occurs and bubble dominated transport when wave breaking occu rs. In both regimes, we correlate the qualitative changes in the aeration r ate with corresponding changes in the wave dynamics. In the latter regime, the strongly enhanced aeration rate is correlated with measured acoustic em issions, indicating that bubble creation and dynamics dominate air-water ex change.