Sarah J. Norris

PHYSICAL EXCHANGES AT THE AIR-SEA INTERFACE UK-SOLAS Field Measurements

As part of the U.K. contribution to the international Surface Ocean–Lower Atmosphere Study, a series of three related projects—DOGEE, SEASAW, and HiWASE—undertook experimental studies of the processes controlling the physical exchange of gases and sea spray aerosol at the sea surface. The studies share a common goal: to reduce the high degree of uncertainty in current parameterization schemes. The wide variety of measurements made during the studies, which incorporated tracer and surfactant release experiments, included direct eddy correlation fluxes, detailed wave spectra, wind history, photographic retrievals of whitecap fraction, aerosol-size spectra and composition, surfactant concentration, and bubble populations in the ocean mixed layer. Measurements were made during three cruises in the northeast Atlantic on the RRS Discovery during 2006 and 2007; a fourth campaign has been making continuous measurements on the Norwegian weather ship Polarfront since September 2006. This paper provides an overview of the three projects and some of the highlights of the measurement campaigns.

A Compact Lightweight Aerosol Spectrometer Probe (CLASP)

The Compact Lightweight Aerosol Spectrometer Probe (CLASP) is an optical particle spectrometer capable of measuring size-resolved particle concentrations in 16 user-defined size bins spanning diameters in the range 0.24 D 18.5 m at a rate of 10 Hz. The combination of its compact nature and lightweight and robust build allows for deployment in environments and locations where the use of the larger, heavier, more traditional instrumentation would prove awkward or impossible. The high temporal resolution means it is particularly suited to direct measurements of aerosol fluxes via the eddy covariance technique. CLASP has been through an extended evolutionary development. This has resulted in an instrument whose performance characteristics are well established.

Eddy Correlation Measurements of Sea Spray Aerosol Fluxes

Fluxes of primary marine aerosol in the sub-micron fraction were measured using a flux package consisting of a sonic anemometer, a Condensation Particle Counter (CPC) and an optical particle counter (OPC) equipped with a heated inlet. Whereas the CPC provides the total particle number flux of particles larger than 10 nm, the OPC measures size segregated fluxes for particles between 0.5 and 5 μm radius. By varying the temperature of the OPC inlet, particles of certain composition can be selected. Results are presented with the inlet temperature at 100°C (dry particles retaining most of the aerosol material, representative of sea spray aerosol) or at 300°C which volatilizes all material except sea salt and elementary carbon. Temperature scans confirm the choice of these temperatures to discriminate between sea spray and sea salt. This flux system was deployed at the end of the 560 m long pier of the US Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck (NC, USA). Initial results show the increase of the sea spray fluxes with wind speed u, roughly varying as u 3 for u up to 16 ms−1

Supplement to physical exchanges at the air-sea interface: UK-SOLAS Field Measurements

This document is a supplement to “Physical Exchanges at the Air–Sea Interface: UK–SOLAS Field Measurements,” by Ian M. Brooks, Margaret J. Yelland, Robert C. Upstill-Goddard, Philip D. Nightingale, Steve Archer, Eric d’Asaro, Rachael Beale, Cory Beatty, Byron Blomquist, A. Anthony Bloom, Barbara J. Brooks, John Cluderay, David Coles, John Dacey, Michael DeGrandpre, Jo Dixon, William M. Drennan, Joseph Gabriele, Laura Goldson, Nick Hardman-Mountford, Martin K. Hill, Matt Horn, Ping-Chang Hsueh, Barry Huebert, Gerrit de Leeuw, Timothy G. Leighton, Malcolm Liddicoat, Justin J. N. Lingard, Craig McNeil, James B. McQuaid, Ben I. Moat, Gerald Moore, Craig Neill, Sarah J. Norris, Simon O’Doherty, Robin W. Pascal, John Prytherch, Mike Rebozo, Erik Sahlee, Matt Salter, Ute Schuster, Ingunn Skjelvan, Hans Slagter, Michael H. Smith, Paul D. Smith, Meric Srokosz, John A. Stephens, Peter K. Taylor, Maciej Telszewski, Roisin Walsh, Brian Ward, David K. Woolf, Dickon Young, and Henk Zemmelink (Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 90, 629–644) • ©2009 American Meteorological Society • Corresponding author: Ian M. Brooks, Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom • E-mail: i.brooks@see.leeds.ac.uk • DOI:10.1175/2008BAMS2578.2

Physicochemical Characterisation of Marine Boundary Layer Aerosol Particles during the Sea Spray, Gas Fluxes, and Whitecaps (SEASAW) Experiment

C.D. O’Dowd and P.E. Wagner (eds.), Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols, 1050–1054.