E. D. Nilsson

Laboratory simulations and parameterization of the primary marine aerosol production

A major source of the primary marine aerosol is the bursting of air bubbles produced by breaking waves. Several source parameterizations are available from the literature, usually limited to particles with a dry diameter Dp > 1 μm. The objective of this work is to extend the current knowledge to submicrometer particles. Bubbles were generated in synthetic seawater using a sintered glass filter, with a size spectra that are only partly the same spectra as measured in the field. Bubble spectra, and size distributions of the resulting aerosol (0.020-20.0 μm Dp) of the resulting aerosol, were measured for different salinity, water temperature (Tw), and bubble flux. The spectra show a minimum at ∼1 μm Dp, which separates two modes, one at ∼0.1 μm, with the largest number of particles, and one at 2.5 μm Dp. The modes show different behavior with the variation of salinity and water temperature. When the water temperature increases, the number concentration Np decreases for Dp 0.35 μm, Np increases. The salinity effect suggests different droplet formation processes for droplets smaller and larger than 0.2 μm Dp. The number of particles produced per size increment, time unit, and whitecap surface (φ) is described as a linear function of Tw and a polynomial function of Dp. Combining φ with the whitecap coverage fraction W (in percent), an expression results for the primary marine aerosol source flux dFo/dlogDp = W φ (m-2 s-1 ). The results are compared with other commonly used formulations as well as with recent field observations. Implications for aerosol-induced effects on climate are discussed.

Turbulent aerosol fluxes over the Arctic Ocean: 2. Wind-driven sources from the sea

An eddy-covariance flux system was successfully applied over open sea, leads and ice floes during the Arctic Ocean Expedition in July-August 1996. Wind-driven upward aerosol number fluxes were observed over open sea and leads in the pack ice. These particles must originate from droplets ejected into the air at the bursting of small air bubbles at the water surface. The source flux F (in 106 m−2 s−1) had a strong dependency on wind speed, log(F)=0.20U¯-1.71 and 0.11U¯-1.93, over the open sea and leads, respectively (where U¯ is the local wind speed at about 10 m height). Over the open sea the wind-driven aerosol source flux consisted of a film drop mode centered at ∼100 nm diameter and a jet drop mode centered at ∼1 μm diameter. Over the leads in the pack ice, a jet drop mode at ∼2 μm diameter dominated. The jet drop mode consisted of sea-salt, but oxalate indicated an organic contribution, and bacterias and other biogenic particles were identified by single particle analysis. Particles with diameters less than −100 nm appear to have contributed to the flux, but their chemical composition is unknown. Whitecaps were probably the bubble source at open sea and on the leads at high wind speed, but a different bubble source is needed in the leads owing to their small fetch. Melting of ice in the leads is probably the best candidate. The flux over the open sea was of such a magnitude that it could give a significant contribution to the condensation nuclei (CCN) population. Although the flux from the leads were roughly an order of magnitude smaller and the leads cover only a small fraction of the pack ice, the local source may till be important for the CCN population in Arctic fogs. The primary marine aerosol source will increase both with increased wind speed and with decreased ice fraction and extent. The local CCN production may therefore increase and influence cloud or fog albedo and lifetime in response to greenhouse warming in the Arctic Ocean region.

Aerosol characteristics of air masses in northern Europe: Influences of location, transport, sinks, and sources

Synoptic-scale air masses at different stations were classified following a definition based on Berliner Wetterkarte. This air mass classification has been related to 1 year of aerosol number siz ...

New aerosol particle formation in different synoptic situations at Hyytiälä, Southern Finland

We examine the meteorological conditions favourable for new particle formation as a contribution to clarifying the responsible processes. Synoptic weather maps and satellite images over Southern Finland for 2003–2005 were examined, focusing mainly on air mass types, atmospheric frontal passages, and cloudiness. Arctic air masses are most favourable for new aerosol particle formation in the boreal forest. New particle formation tends to occur on days after passage of a cold front and on days without frontal passages. Cloudiness, often associated with frontal passages, decreases the amount of solar radiation, reducing the growth of new particles. When cloud cover exceeds 3–4 octas, particle formation proceeds at a slower rate or does not occur at all. During 2003–2005, the conditions that favour particle formation at Hyytiälä (Arctic air mass, post-cold-frontal passage or no frontal passage and cloudiness less than 3–4 octas) occur on 198 d. On 105 (57%) of those days, new particle formation occurred, indicating that these meteorological conditions alone can favour, but are not sufficient for, new particle formation and growth. In contrast, 53 d (28%) were classified as undefined days; 30 d (15%) were non-event days, where no evidence of increasing particle concentration and growth has been noticed.

On the seawater temperature dependence of the sea spray aerosol generated by a continuous plunging jet

Breaking waves on the ocean surface produce bubbles which, upon bursting, deliver seawater constituents into the atmosphere as sea spray aerosol particles. One way of investigating this process in the laboratory is to generate a bubble plume by a continuous plunging jet. We performed a series of laboratory experiments to elucidate the role of seawater temperature on aerosol production from artificial seawater free from organic contamination using a plunging jet. The seawater temperature was varied from −1.3°C to 30.1°C, while the volume of air entrained by the jet, surface bubble size distributions, and size distribution of the aerosol particles produced was monitored. We observed that the volume of air entrained decreased as the seawater temperature was increased. The number of surface bubbles with film radius smaller than 2 mm decreased nonlinearly with seawater temperature. This decrease was coincident with a substantial reduction in particle production. The number concentrations of particles with dry diameter less than ∼1 μm decreased substantially as the seawater temperature was increased from −1.3°C to ∼9°C. With further increase in seawater temperature (up to 30°C), a small increase in the number concentration of larger particles (dry diameter >∼0.3 μm) was observed. Based on these observations, we infer that as seawater temperature increases, the process of bubble fragmentation changes, resulting in decreased air entrainment by the plunging jet, as well as the number of bubbles with film radius smaller than 2 mm. This again results in decreased particle production with increasing seawater temperature.

Calcium enrichment in sea spray aerosol particles

Sea spray aerosol particles are an integral part of the Earths radiation budget. To date, the inorganic composition of nascent sea spray aerosol particles has widely been assumed to be equivalent ...

On particle formation prediction in continental boreal forest using micrometeorological parameters

[1] It has been hypothesized that biogenic aerosol formation in the southern Finland troposphere can be predicted using micrometeorological parameters and knowing preexisting aerosol surface area in the previous publication. There the concurrence of nucleation beginning with the rapid growth of convective boundary layer was demonstrated. In this work a nucleation probability term is introduced using statistical correlation between the particle formation and micrometeorological parameters. More refined analysis presented here demonstrates the increasing probability of nucleation mode aerosol presence with the increasing heat flux, temperature standard deviation, and vertical wind speed variance. Diurnal maximal values of the parameters mentioned are larger on days with nucleation event than on days without although these values are not significantly different during the convective layer growth. What distinguishes days with nucleation events is the size of condensation sink, which is significantly smaller on days with events than on days without. INDEX TERMS: 0305 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801); 0315 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Biosphere/atmosphere interactions; 0325 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Evolution of the atmosphere; 3322 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Land/atmosphere interactions; KEYWORDS: nucleation in troposphere, forecasting particle formation, mixing layer, heat flux

Seasonal and diurnal cycles of 0.25–2.5 μm aerosol fluxes over urban Stockholm, Sweden

Size resolved aerosol and gas fluxes were measured in Stockholm from 1 April 2008 to 15 April 2009 over both urban and green sectors. CO2 and H2O fluxes peaked in daytime for all seasons. CO2 concentrations peaked in winter. Due to vegetation influence the CO2 fluxes had different diurnal cycles and magnitude in the two sectors. In the urban sector, CO2 fluxes indicated a net source. The sector dominated by residential areas and green spaces had its highest aerosol fluxes in winter. In spring, super micrometer concentrations for both sectors were significantly higher, as were the urban sector rush hour fluxes. The submicrometer aerosol fluxes had a similar diurnal pattern with daytime maxima for all seasons. This suggests that only the super micrometer aerosol emissions are dependent on season. During spring there was a clear difference in super micrometer fluxes between wet and dry streets. Our direct flux measurements have improved the understanding of the processes behind these aerosol emissions. They support the hypothesis that the spring peak in aerosol emissions are due to road dust, produced during the winter, but not released in large quantities until the roads dry up during spring, and explain why Stockholm has problems meeting the EU directive for aerosol mass (PM10).