Research project Aged Sea Spray Project
Sea spray aerosols are ubiquitous over much of the Earth's surface and are especially important in remote regions with few other aerosol sources. As such, they may have a pronounced impact on climate through direct and indirect effects on the radiation budget.
Despite their potential impact on climate, a series of knowledge gaps hinders us from constraining their role. One critical question is why the chemical properties, and in turn the optical, physical, and hygroscopic properties of remote marine boundary layer aerosols are so different to the nascent sea spray aerosols generated in the laboratory. It is this question we aim to answer with the research project. We for the first time deployed a chemical ionization mass spectrometer (CIMS) in a setup together with a sea spray simulation chamber and an oxidative flow reactor directly at sea to investigate the chemical composition of sea spray particles of varying atmospheric age.
Bridging the observational gap between the properties of nascent sea spray aerosols and aerosol particles observed in the marine boundary layer will be a significant breakthrough for our understanding of the oceans as a source of natural aerosols. This will eventually contribute to a better representation of sea spray aerosol in global climate models, and thus improve our understanding on how aerosols impact climate, and vice versa how anthropogenic climate change influences this natural source of aerosol particles through changes in e.g. sea surface temperature, acidity, and salinity.
Project members
Project managers
Claudia Mohr
Biträdande lektor
Matthew Salter
Staff scientist
Paul Christoph Zieger
Associate Professor
Members
Sneha Aggarwal
PhD student
