1. Assessing the Dynamics of Organic Aerosols over the North Atlantic Ocean
- Author
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Nicolas Berti, Martin Beniston, Violeta Djambazova, Daniel Palomino, Bastiaan Willem Ibelings, Jean-Pierre Wolf, Thibaud Magouroux, Gregory Giuliani, Stéfanie Pfändler, Raphael Houlmann, Elena Gascon-Diez, Gustavo Alexandre Subtil Sousa, Nicolas Ray, Davide Staedler, Pierric de Laborie, Jérôme Kasparian, Christel S. Hassler, Tristan Neri, Sebastien P. Bigorre, Anh-Dao Le, Denis Kiselev, and Federico Tettamanti
- Subjects
ddc:333.7-333.9 ,Multidisciplinary ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Particle (ecology) ,010501 environmental sciences ,respiratory system ,Atmospheric sciences ,Sea spray ,01 natural sciences ,complex mixtures ,Article ,On board ,Salinity ,Particle-size distribution ,ddc:550 ,Environmental science ,Cloud condensation nuclei ,Precipitation ,Sea salt aerosol ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
The influence of aerosols on climate is highly dependent on the particle size distribution, concentration, and composition. In particular, the latter influences their ability to act as cloud condensation nuclei, whereby they impact cloud coverage and precipitation. Here, we simultaneously measured the concentration of aerosols from sea spray over the North Atlantic on board the exhaust-free solar-powered vessel “PlanetSolar”, and the sea surface physico-chemical parameters. We identified organic-bearing particles based on individual particle fluorescence spectra. Organic-bearing aerosols display specific spatio-temporal distributions as compared to total aerosols. We propose an empirical parameterization of the organic-bearing particle concentration, with a dependence on water salinity and sea-surface temperature only. We also show that a very rich mixture of organic aerosols is emitted from the sea surface. Such data will certainly contribute to providing further insight into the influence of aerosols on cloud formation, and be used as input for the improved modeling of aerosols and their role in global climate processes.
- Published
- 2017