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• The levels and size distribution of particle in ship indoor was investigated. • Indoor PM 2.5 and PM 10 can be well quantified by the generalized additive model. • Indoor air quality can be improved by controlling temperature and human activity. Despite millions of seafarers and passengers staying on ships each year, few studies have been conducted on the indoor air quality inside ship hulls. In this study, we investigated the levels and size distribution of indoor particulate matter during two cruises of the research vessel "Xuelong" from Shanghai to Antarctica. The results showed that the particle size less than 2.5 µm (PM 2.5), and particle size less than 10 µm (PM 10) concentrations in different rooms of the ship widely varied. We observed high particulate matter (PM) levels in some of the rooms. The mass concentration distribution was dominated by 1–4 µm particles, which may have been caused by the hygroscopic growth of fine particles. The dominant factors influencing PM concentrations were indoor temperature, relative humidity, and human activity. We quantified contributions of these factors to the levels of indoor particles using a generalized additive model. In clean rooms, the levels of indoor particles were controlled by temperature and relative humidity, whereas in polluted rooms, the levels of indoor particles were mainly influenced by temperature and human activity, which implied that controlling temperature and human activity would efficiently reduce the levels of indoor particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]