The MILAN Campaign: Studying Diel Light Effects on the Air–Sea Interface

We describe a true multidisciplinary study to address the functional importance of the sea surface microlayer (SML) in air-sea interaction during night. The SML is located within the air-sea interface and is characterised by distinct features compared to the underlying bulk water. The air-sea interface, and thus the SML, links the ocean and the atmosphere and, therefore, controls a wide range of Earth system processes. We have a modest understanding on what happen during the day but we knew nothing of what happen during the night.

This study started after a discussion session at the SOLAS Open Science Conference 2015 in Kiel, Germany.

Reference: Stolle, C., Ribas-Ribas, M., Badewien, T. H. et al. (2020), The MILAN Campaign: Studying Diel Light Effects on the Air–Sea Interface, American Meteorological Society, doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0329.1.

Read and download the publication: https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0329.1