The distribution of sea-salt aerosol in the global troposphere

Autor(en)

Daniel M. Murphy, Karl Froyd, Huisheng Bian, Charles Brock, Jack E. Dibb, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Maximilian Dollner, Agnieszka Kupc, Eric M. Scheuer, Gregory P. Schill, Bernadett Weinzierl, Christina Williamson, Pengfei Yu

Abstrakt

We present the first data on the concentration of sea-salt aerosol throughout most of the depth of the troposphere and over a wide range of latitudes. Sea salt concentrations in the upper troposphere are very small, usually less than 10ng per standard m3 (about 10 parts per trillion by mass) and often less than 1ngm−3. This puts stringent limits on the contribution of sea-salt aerosol to halogen and nitric acid chemistry in the upper troposphere. Within broad regions the concentration of sea-salt aerosol is roughly proportional to water vapor, supporting a dominant role for wet scavenging in removing sea-salt aerosol from the atmosphere. Concentrations of sea-salt aerosol in the winter upper troposphere are not as low as in the summer and the tropics. This is mostly a consequence of less wet scavenging in the drier, colder winter atmosphere. There is also a source of sea-salt aerosol over pack ice that is distinct from that over open water. With a well-studied and widely distributed source, sea-salt aerosol provides an excellent test of wet scavenging and vertical transport of aerosols in chemical transport models.

Organisation(en)

Aerosolphysik und Umweltphysik

Externe Organisation(en)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, University of Maryland, College Park, National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), University of New Hampshire, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Jinan University, University of Colorado, Boulder

Journal

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Band

19

Seiten

4093-4104

Anzahl der Seiten

12

ISSN

1680-7316

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4093-2019

Publikationsdatum

11-2018

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103037 Umweltphysik, 103039 Aerosolphysik, 105206 Meteorologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Atmospheric Science

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/1678125b-585c-47e5-8ad6-c11098860cef