Rainfall as a driver for near-surface turbulence and air-water gas exchange in freshwater aquatic systems

Gas fluxes from aquatic ecosystems are a significant component of the carbon cycle. Gas exchange across the air-water interface is regulated by near-surface turbulence and can be controlled by different atmospheric forcing conditions, with wind speed and surface buoyancy flux being the most recognized drivers in empirical studies and modeling approaches. The effect of rainfall on near-surface turbulence has rarely been studied and a consistent relationship between rain rate and near-surface turbulence has not yet been established. In this study, we addressed some limitations still present in the quantitative understanding of the effect of rain rate on near-surface turbulence and on the resulting gas transfer velocity in freshwater. We performed controlled laboratory experiments over a wide range of rain rates (7 to 90 mm h-1) and estimated gas transfer velocities from high-resolution measurements of O2 concentration, while rain-induced turbulence was characterized based on particle image velocimetry. We found that the rain-induced dissipation rates of turbulent kinetic energy declined with depth following a consistent power-law relationship. Both energy dissipation rates and gas transfer velocity increased systematically with the rain rate. The results confirm a causal relationship between rainfall, turbulence, and gas exchange. We propose a power-law relationship between near-surface turbulent dissipation rates and rain rate. In combination with surface renewal theory, we derived a direct relationship between gas transfer velocity and rain rate, which can be used to assess the importance of short-term drivers, such as rain events, on gas dynamics and biogeochemical cycling in aquatic ecosystems.