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Ship-based measurements of sea spray aerosol (SSA) gradient fluxes in the size range of 0.5–47 µm in diameter were conducted between 2009–2017 in both the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. Measured total SSA fluxes varied between 8.9 × 10 3 ± 6.8 × 10 5 m -2 s -1 for the Baltic Sea and 1.0 × 10 4 ± 10 5 m -2 s -1 for the Atlantic Ocean. The analysis uncovered a significant decrease (by a factor of 2.2 in the wind speed range of 10.5–14.5 m s -1) in SSA fluxes, with chlorophyll a (chl a) concentration higher than 3.5 mg m -3 in the Baltic Sea area. We found statistically significant correlations for both regions of interest between SSA fluxes and various environmental factors, including wind speed, wind acceleration, wave age, significant wave height, and wave Reynolds number. Our findings indicate that higher chl a concentrations are associated with reduced SSA fluxes at higher wind speeds in the Baltic Sea, while the influence of wave age showed higher aerosol emissions in the Baltic Sea for younger waves compared to the Atlantic Ocean. These insights underscore the complex interplay between biological activity and physical dynamics in regulating SSA emissions. Additionally, in both measurement regions, we observed weak correlations between SSA fluxes and air and water temperature and between SSA fluxes and atmospheric stability. Comparing the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic, we noted distinct emission behaviors, with higher emissions in the Baltic Sea at low wave age values compared to the Atlantic Ocean. This study represents the first comparative analysis of SSA flux measurements using the same methodology in these contrasting marine environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of the concentrations of dust pollution resulting from both measurements at reference stations and those determined using mathematical modelling requires accurate identification of the sources of emission. Although the concentration of dust results from several complex transport processes, as well as chemical and microphysical transformations of aerosols, sources of emissions may have a significant impact on the local level of pollution. This pilot study aimed to use measurements of the concentrations of dust (with the specification of the PM10 and PM2.5 fractions) made over a heap/excavation and its surroundings using an airship equipped with equipment for testing the optical and microphysical properties of atmospheric aerosols, and a ground station located at the facility. On the basis of the measurements, the function of the source of emissions of dust was estimated. According to our study, the yearly emission of dust varies between 42,470 and 886,289 kg for PM10, and between 42,470 and 803,893 for PM2.5 (minimum and maximum values). A model of local air quality was also used, which allowed us to verify the parameterization of emissions of dust pollutants for the PM10 and PM2.5 fractions from heaps and excavations based on the modelling results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light-absorbing aerosols (LAA) impact the atmosphere by heating it. Their effect in the Arctic was investigated during two summer Arctic oceanographic campaigns (2018 and 2019) around the Svalbard Archipelago in order to unravel the differences between the Arctic background and the local anthropic settlements. Therefore, the LAA heating rate (HR) was experimentally determined. Both the chemical composition and high-resolution measurements highlighted substantial differences between the Arctic Ocean background (average eBC concentration of 11.7 ± 0.1 ng/m3) and the human settlements, among which the most impacting appeared to be Tromsø and Isfjorden (mean eBC of 99.4 ± 3.1 ng/m3). Consequently, the HR in Isfjorden (8.2 × 10−3 ± 0.3 × 10−3 K/day) was one order of magnitude higher than in the pristine background conditions (0.8 × 10−3 ± 0.9 × 10−5 K/day). Therefore, we conclude that the direct climate impact of local LAA sources on the Arctic atmosphere is not negligible and may rise in the future due to ice retreat and enhanced marine traffic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A feed-forward neural network (FFNN) was used to estimate the monthly climatology of partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2W) at a spatial resolution of 1° latitude by 1° longitude in the continental shelf of the European Arctic Sector (EAS) of the Arctic Ocean (the Greenland, Norwegian, and Barents seas). The predictors of the network were sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface salinity (SSS), the upper ocean mixed-layer depth (MLD), and chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a), and as a target, we used 2 853 pCO2W data points from the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas. We built an FFNN based on three major datasets that differed in the Chl-a concentration data used to choose the best model to reproduce the spatial distribution and temporal variability of pCO2W. Using all physical–biological components improved estimates of the pCO2W and decreased the biases, even though Chl-a values in many grid cells were interpolated values. General features of pCO2W distribution were reproduced with very good accuracy, but the network underestimated pCO2W in the winter and overestimated pCO2W values in the summer. The results show that the model that contains interpolating Chl-a concentration, SST, SSS, and MLD as a target to predict the spatiotemporal distribution of pCO2W in the sea surface gives the best results and best-fitting network to the observational data. The calculation of monthly drivers of the estimated pCO2W change within continental shelf areas of the EAS confirms the major impact of not only the biological effects to the pCO2W distribution and Air-Sea CO2 flux in the EAS, but also the strong impact of the upper ocean mixing. A strong seasonal correlation between predictor and pCO2W seen earlier in the North Atlantic is clearly a yearly correlation in the EAS. The five-year monthly mean CO2 flux distribution shows that all continental shelf areas of the Arctic Ocean were net CO2 sinks. Strong monthly CO2 influx to the Arctic Ocean through the Greenland and Barents Seas (>12 gC m−2 day−1) occurred in the fall and winter, when the pCO2W level at the sea surface was high (>360 µatm) and the strongest wind speed (>12 ms−1) was present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 30 years, the Arctic region has been the subject of extensive international studies focused on elucidating the transport pathways of pollution into the Arctic. Due to the lack of significant local anthropogenic aerosol sources, the extremely sensitive ecosystem of the Arctic is mostly affected by aerosols and pollution transported through atmospheric circulation, mainly through influencing the Arctic surface radiation budget. The increasing scientific interest in feedback mechanisms related to climate change has led to a solid scientific foundation for investigations of climate change related environmental adaptations currently observed in the Arctic. In this work we present examples of three different extreme aerosol events which had significant impact on the radiative budget in the Svalbard region. We show that in the last 5 years summer biomass burning events are beginning to play a very important role in aerosol related pollution in the Svalbard region. In 2006, the European Arctic experienced an abnormally warm spring, and smoke from agricultural fires in Eastern Europe was intruded into the region causing severe air pollution episodes. Two significant volcanic eruptions, i.e. the Eyjafjallajökull (April-May 2010) and Grímsvötn (May 2011) eruptions produced layers of high aerosol concentration, which have been observed over Svalbard several days after the eruptions. The third aerosol event involves the biomass burning episode related to intense forest fires in North America in July 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the following fluxes were analyzed: aerosol, heat, latent heat and momentum, calculated on the basis of measurements conducted from the r / v Oceania in 2001-2017. Data from in-situ measurements come from summer periods. Using data from the NCEP / NCAR analyses, heat and latent heat fluxes were calculated between the sea and the atmosphere with a resolution of three hours for the entire period considered. Then, the daily mean was calculated and compared with the values of fluxes calculated on the basis of measurements. The comparison of the results obtained from the re-analysis with the measurement results shows correlation. The total energy exchange across the sea surface was also calculated throughout the year. The agreement of estimated components of the heat balance with heat transport through Atlantic water was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I have an honour to introduce the results of nine years of sea spray emission measurements on-board the r/v Oceania ship. I am part of a research group which conducts regular aerosol and micrometeorological measurements in the so-called European Arctic (Norwegian Sea, Greenland Sea, Spitzbergen's fiords) and in the southern Baltic Sea region. The measurements presented were carried out using a gradient method). As the measurement device we used a Laser Particle Counter (PMS model CSASP-100_HV) placed on one of the masts of the r/v Oceania. The measurements were carried out on five different levels above the sea level: 8, 11, 14, 17, and 20 meters. Based on the results from those experiments the sea spray emission fluxes are calculated for all particles of sizes in range 0.5 μm to 47 μm. The fluxes are used in order to determine the sea spray generation function. This function provides information on the emission of particles of different sizes, depending on several environmental parameters. Therefore, the dependence from parameters, such as: temperature gradient, wind speed, wave age, wave height, or wave period are presented. A comparison between the Baltic Sea and the open Atlantic Ocean is also presented. Sea spray is an important factor for many branches of geoscience. Constant improvement of quality of climatic models contributes to reduction of uncertainties in modelling future climate. Furthermore, marine aerosol influences radiation balance and radiation forcing. There are two effects connected to the above: the direct effect, which is connected with light extinction (absorption and scattering) on particles and the indirect effect, which is connected with aerosol influence on cloud microphysics. The aerosol influence is one of the biggest uncertainties of climatic radiative forcing. This project may contribute to the decrease of this uncertainty. This work was supported by: • The Polish National Science Centre grant no. 2015/17/N/ST10/02396. • Leading National Research Centre (KNOW) received by the Centre for Polar Studies for the period 2014—2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]