Collaborative Research: Production Fluxes and Physicochemical Properties of Nascent Marine Aerosols: Implications for the Atmosphere and Upper Ocean

海洋表面初级海洋气溶胶的产生是地球气候系统的一个重要过程，对对流层的物理化学演化和上层海洋生物地球化学的反馈具有重要意义。新形成的海洋气溶胶由直径小于-ìm、吸湿性强、富含有机物的颗粒组成，这些颗粒散射太阳辐射并充当凝结核。相关的海源有机物（OM）光解产生活性氧和其他氧化物质。海洋气溶胶的产生和演变的性质、规模和后果是高度不确定的，这妨碍了对对流层化学、上层海洋生物地球化学和气候的相关影响发展可靠的预测能力。为了解决其中的一些不确定性，来自纽约州立大学环境科学与林业学院、弗吉尼亚大学和斯克里普斯海洋学研究所的一个跨学科研究小组将参加2012年夏季从美国到百慕大的多学科研究巡航，研究海洋气溶胶通量与海水特性的关系。特别是，他们将通过比较他们自己定制设计的UVA气溶胶发生器与NOAA SeaSweep气溶胶发生器和涡流相关技术的平行测量结果，来表征大小和成分分辨的海洋气溶胶。比较研究将在两个或三个具有组成不同的海水特征的光学不同的站进行。这些结果还将与现有的类似数据进行比较，以得出更全面的综合结果，并作为发展气溶胶输送系统数值模式的基础。该项目的一个重要成果将是对UVA仪器产生的气溶胶物质进行全面表征，以供未来海上气溶胶工作使用。更广泛的影响：所提出的研究结果有望推动进一步研究海洋表面对新生和周围海洋气溶胶的大小分辨有机和无机组成和通量的影响，以及这些气溶胶在海洋边界层多相化学和物理演化、海洋表面生物地球化学和地球辐射平衡中的相关影响。该项目还将为一名或多名研究生和本科生提供培训和支持。

Production of primary marine aerosol at the ocean surface is a major process in the earth's climate system, with important implications for the physicochemical evolution of the troposphere and feedbacks on upper ocean biogeochemistry. Newly formed marine aerosol are number-dominated by sub-ìm diameter, hygroscopic, organic-rich particles that scatter solar radiation and serve as condensation nuclei. Photolysis of the associated marine-derived organic matter (OM) produces reactive oxygen species and other oxidized species. The nature, magnitude, and consequences of the production and evolution of marine aerosol are highly uncertain, precluding development of a reliable predictive capability for associated influences on tropospheric chemistry, upper ocean biogeochemistry, and climate. To address some of these uncertainties, an interdisciplinary research team from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the University of Virginia, and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography will participate on a multidisciplinary research cruise from the United States to Bermuda in the summer of 2012 to study fluxes of marine aerosols as a function of seawater characteristics. In particular they will characterize size- and composition-resolved marine aerosols by comparison of measurements made with their own custom-designed UVA aerosol generator with parallel measurements with the NOAA SeaSweep aerosol generator and eddy covariance techniques. Comparative studies will be carried out at two or three optically distinct stations with seawater characteristics that are compositionally distinct. These results will also be compared with similar data already in-hand to yield a more thorough synthesis and to serve as the basis for developing numerical models of the aerosol transport system. An important outcome of this project will be a thorough characterization of the aerosol material generated by the UVA instrument for future aerosol work at sea.Broader Impacts: Results of the proposed research are expected to advance further study of the influences of the surface ocean on the size-resolved organic and inorganic composition and flux of nascent and ambient marine aerosol, and the related influences of these aerosol in the multiphase chemical and physical evolution of the marine boundary layer, surface ocean biogeochemistry, and Earth's radiation balance. The project will also provide for the training and support of one or more graduate and undergraduate students.