New Constraints on Size-resolved Submicron Sea-salt Particle Production from Ocean Breaking Waves

海洋气溶胶在控制地球辐射平衡、云形成和微物理方面发挥着重要作用。在海洋喷雾气溶胶排放方面的一个特别的知识空白在于，海盐对海洋边界层中云凝结核(CCN)预算的贡献不完全确定。对气候模型最关键的50到200纳米大小的海雾颗粒的化学成分被不同地描述为纯有机、纯海盐或两者的混合物。这些亚微米颗粒的生产通量特别令人感兴趣。该项目将帮助开发改进的海雾颗粒生产通量与尺寸和成分相关的参数，以在区域和气候模式中限制天然气溶胶的CCN通量。北卡罗来纳州立大学(NCSU)的研究人员将部署一个专门设计的松弛涡流累积(REA)通量系统，用于测量尺寸分辨的干海盐(内)岩芯的湍流通量。REA-S通量系统将部署在美国陆军工程兵团位于北卡罗来纳州达克的560米长的研究码头设施中，用于采样具有代表性的MBL条件。将使用为中学生及其教师设计的基于船舶的环境教育计划，以及开发大学和K-12学习材料和课程，将数据分析整合到课堂教学中。这样做的一个目标是增进对影响大气和海洋科学进程的因素的了解，这些因素与云的形成和随后对气候的影响有关。

Marine aerosols play an important role in controlling the Earth's radiation balance, cloud formation and microphysics. One particular knowledge gap in sea spray aerosol emissions resides in the incompletely characterized contribution of sea-salt to the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) budget in the marine boundary layer (MBL). The chemical composition of 50 to 200 nm sized sea spray particles, most critical to climate models, is variously described as purely organic, purely sea-salt or mixtures of both. The production fluxes of these sub-micron particles is of particular interest. This project will help developing improved parameterizations for size- and composition-dependent production fluxes of sea spray particles needed to constrain the CCN fluxes of natural aerosols in regional and climate models.North Carolina State University (NCSU) investigators will deploy a relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) flux system specifically designed to measure turbulent fluxes of size-resolved dry sea-salt (inner) cores. The REA-S flux system will be deployed at the U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers (USACE) 560 m long research pier facility at Duck, NC, chosen to sample representative MBL conditions.A ship based environmental education program designed for secondary and high school students and their teachers, and development of university and K-12 learning materials and curricula that integrate data analysis into classroom instruction will be used. A goal of this is for increased understanding of factors affecting atmospheric and marine science processes as related to cloud formation and subsequent effects on climate.