Fluxes through the air–sea interface

Considering the World Ocean as a continuous body of water, oceanographers are mainly concerned with the internal processes that control the distribution of its physical and chemical properties. However, there are two regions in which the conditions determining the characteristics and behavior of this water mass are distinctly different from the rest. These are its boundaries with the solid earth below and with the atmosphere above. It is here that liquid ocean waters meet either solid or gas, giving rise to a range of processes not encountered in other parts of the ocean. This chapter is concerned with the interface between the ocean and the atmosphere, the ways in which fluxes from one medium to the other can be measured, and how satellite-derived ocean data can be used with the goal of improving the geographical reach and accuracy of air–sea flux estimates.