Using FluxEngine

Isabel Seguro-Requejo is a PhD student at the University of East Anglia working within the Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, she uses FluxEngine to study oxygen and net community production

I am a NERC-Cefas PhD student from UEA. My PhD research is focused on measuring biological production in shelf sea areas as part of the Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry research programme. To do this, I use a shipboard membrane inlet mass spectrometer (MIMS) and discrete samples for the analysis of oxygen-to-argon and triple oxygen isotope ratios, respectively. Oxygen-to-argon ratios are measured from the underway water supply, which is pumped continuously through the MIMS. These measurements in combination with air-sea gas exchange coefficients will be used to measure biological oxygen air-sea fluxes and to estimated net community production.

I found that FluxEngine is a user-friendly tool that allows me to use different gas exchange parameterisations. It would be a great advantage if I could use my own data with FluxEngine to calculate the principal data products (air-sea fluxes) of my research. As a researcher, I found it very useful to have a single tool where I can access different satellite wind speed data sets and apply different parameterisations in a very straightforward way. FluxEngine had started as a CO₂ tool, but it is growing and it will soon be possible to use it for the calculation of other gases such as oxygen, covering the necessities of a larger scientific community.