We performed a series of gas exchange measurements in 12 diverse aquatic systems to develop the direct relationship between near‐surface turbulence and gas transfer velocity. The relationship was log‐linear, explained 78% of the variation in instantaneous gas transfer velocities, and was valid over a range of turbulent energy dissipation rates spanning about two orders of magnitude. Unlike wind‐based relationships, our model is applicable to systems ranging in size from less than 1 km 2 to over 600 km 2 . Gas fluxes measured with our specific model of floating chambers can be grossly overestimated (by up to 1000%), particularly in low‐turbulence conditions. In high‐turbulence regimes, flux overestimation decreases to within 50%. Direct measurements of turbulent energy dissipation rate provide reliable estimation of the associated gas transfer velocity even at short temporal and spatial scales.
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Vachon et al. (2010) studied this question.