CAREER: Quantifying the Sea Salt Aerosol Size Distribution in the Coastal Atmosphere: The Role of Wind and Waves

这项研究将调查风、波浪和其他大气和海洋特性对三个太平洋岛屿沿海环境中海盐气溶胶产生的影响。海盐气溶胶是悬浮在大气中的自然颗粒，在海洋表面由破碎的波浪和破裂的气泡形成。尽管它们的体积很小，但它们在海洋大气中很重要，因为它们直接和间接地影响包括太阳辐射和云形成在内的现象。然而，由于科学家对破碎波产生的颗粒的大小和数量的了解不完全，特别是在沿海地区，很难评估其影响。这项研究将使用低成本的3D打印仪器对海盐气溶胶进行采样，并观察多个太平洋岛屿的天气。加强对大气中海盐含量的估计和额外的真实的实时天气信息将改善全世界的天气和气候预测。此外，使用高质量，低成本，手工制作的仪器允许这项工作是可访问的，并以独特的方式吸引学生，突出好奇心的作用，解决问题，这项工作的目标是调查沿海环境在确定海盐气溶胶颗粒（SSA）尺寸分布中的作用，沿海海洋边界层内的原位。特别重要的是，由于它们在直接和间接辐射效应中的作用，包括气溶胶-云的相互作用，为未来气候情景提供了最大的不确定性之一。众所周知，测量大的粗模SSA（3微米）是非常困难的，因此，很少有这种尺寸范围的观测。使用便携式，低成本，3D打印和Arduino控制的仪器，这项研究将定期测量各种环境条件下和多个地点的粗模式SSA尺寸分布，以便提供对热带沿海环境中SSA生产的一致，可量化和气候学理解。此外，3D打印自动气象站（3D-PAWS）将由奥廷加地区学校的本科生建造和安装，并将在另外两个太平洋岛屿上提供培训研讨会，以启动网络基础设施，并在偏远的太平洋岛屿上建立大气监测能力。这些努力将通过为学习和实施应用科学提供基础来降低障碍并创造机会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估而被认为值得支持。

This study will investigate the role of wind, waves, and other atmospheric and oceanic properties that influence the production of sea salt aerosol in coastal environments of three Pacific islands. Sea salt aerosol are natural particles suspended in the atmosphere, formed at the ocean surface from breaking waves and bursting bubbles. Despite their small size, they are important in the marine atmosphere as they directly and indirectly impact phenomena including solar radiation and cloud formation. However, due to scientists’ incomplete understanding of the sizes and number of particles produced by breaking waves, especially in coastal regions, it is difficult to assess their impacts. This study will use low-cost, 3D-printed instrumentation both for sampling sea salt aerosol, and for observing weather on multiple Pacific islands. Enhanced estimation of the amount of sea salt in the atmosphere and additional real time weather information will improve weather and climate predictions worldwide. Also, using high-quality, low-cost, hand-made instrumentation allows for this work to be accessible and engaging for students in a unique way, highlighting the role of curiosity, problem solving, and hands-on methodology from start to finish.The goal of this work is to investigate the role of the coastal environment in determining the size distribution of sea salt aerosol particles (SSA) measured in-situ within the coastal marine boundary layer. SSAs are especially important due to their role in direct and indirect radiative effects, including aerosol-cloud interactions, providing one of the largest uncertainties in future climate scenarios. It is notoriously difficult to measure large coarse mode SSA ( 3 microns), and as such, few observations of this size range exist. Using portable, low-cost, 3D-printed and Arduino controlled instrumentation, this study will regularly measure coarse mode SSA size distributions under a wide variety of environmental conditions and in multiple locations in order to provide a consistent, quantifiable, and climatological understanding of SSA production in tropical coastal environments. In addition, 3D-Printed Automatic Weather Stations (3D-PAWS) will be built and installed by undergraduate students in area schools on Oʻahu and training workshops will be provided on two additional Pacific Islands to jumpstart cyberinfrastructure and build capacity for atmospheric monitoring on remote Pacific islands. These efforts will lower barriers and create opportunities by providing the foundation for learning and implementing applicable science.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.