Diurnal cycling of carbon monoxide (CO) in the upper ocean near Bermuda

A coupled photochemical–physical model for the upper ocean carbon monoxide concentration is presented. The coupled model uses a spectral optical model and a number of different mixing parameterizations. It is run using the meteorological forcing conditions measured during a 9-day investigation near Bermuda in the Sargasso Sea in March 1993 in the declining phase of the spring bloom. The baseline runs of the model are successful in simulating measurements made during the campaign, and form the basis of an optimization routine to find better estimates of the production and destruction constants of the photochemical tracer. The optimized values derived in this inverse procedure depend on the mixing parameterization and the assumed dark production rate of carbon monoxide.