Sea spray aerosol particles are an integral part of the Earth's radiation budget. To date, the inorganic composition of nascent sea spray aerosol particles has widely been assumed to be equivalent to ...the inorganic composition of seawater. Here we challenge this assumption using a laboratory sea spray chamber containing both natural and artificial seawater, as well as with ambient aerosol samples collected over the central Arctic Ocean during summer. We observe significant enrichment of calcium in submicrometer (<1 μm in diameter) sea spray aerosol particles when particles are generated from both seawater sources in the laboratory as well as in the ambient aerosols samples. We also observe a tendency for increasing calcium enrichment with decreasing particle size. Our results suggest that calcium enrichment in sea spray aerosol particles may be environmentally significant with implications for our understanding of sea spray aerosol, its impact on Earth's climate, as well as the chemistry of the marine atmosphere.
Key Points
We observe significant enrichment of calcium in submicrometer sea spray aerosol particles
We observe increasing calcium enrichment with decreasing particle size that is independent of seawater organic carbon content
We observe this behavior in laboratory‐generated aerosols using natural and artificial seawater as well as in ambient aerosol samples
A method was developed to systematically investigate individual aerosol particles collected onto a polyvinyl formal (Formvar)-coated copper grid with scanning electron microscopy. At very mild ...conditions with a low accelerating voltage of 2 kV and Gentle Beam mode aerosol particles down to 20 nm in diameter can be observed. Subsequent processing of the images with digital image analysis provides size resolved and morphological information (elongation, circularity) on the aerosol particle population. Polystyrene nanospheres in the expected size range of the ambient aerosol particles (20–900 nm in diameter) were used to confirm the accuracy of sizing and determination of morphological parameters. The relative standard deviation of the diameters of the spheres was better than ±10% for sizes larger than 40 nm and ±18% for 21 nm particles compared to the manufacturer's certificate. Atmospheric particles were collected during an icebreaker expedition to the high Arctic (north of 80°) in the summer of 2008. Two samples collected during two different meteorological regimes were analyzed. Their size distributions were compared with simultaneously collected size distributions from a Twin Differential Mobility Particle Sizer, which confirmed that a representative fraction of the aerosol particles was imaged under the electron microscope. The size distributions obtained by scanning electron microscopy showed good agreement with the Twin Differential Mobility Sizer in the Aitken mode, whereas in the accumulation mode the size determination was critically dependent on the contrast of the aerosol with the Formvar-coated copper grid. The morphological properties (elongation, circularity) changed with the number of days the air masses spent over the pack-ice area north of 80° before the aerosol particles were collected at the position of the icebreaker and are thus an appropriate measure to characterize transformation processes of ambient aerosol particles.
The representation of aerosol properties and processes in climate models is fraught with large uncertainties. Especially at high northern latitudes a strong underprediction of aerosol concentrations ...and nucleation events is observed and can only be constrained by in situ observations based on the analysis of individual aerosol particles. To further reduce the uncertainties surrounding aerosol properties and their potential role as cloud condensation nuclei this study provides observational data resolved over size on morphological and chemical properties of aerosol particles collected in the summer high Arctic, north of 80° N. Aerosol particles were imaged with scanning and transmission electron microscopy and further evaluated with digital image analysis. In total, 3909 aerosol particles were imaged and categorized according to morphological similarities into three gross morphological groups: single particles, gel particles, and halo particles. Single particles were observed between 15 and 800 nm in diameter and represent the dominating type of particles (82 %). The majority of particles appeared to be marine gels with a broad Aitken mode peaking at 70 nm and accompanied by a minor fraction of ammonium (bi)sulfate with a maximum at 170 nm in number concentration. Gel particles (11 % of all particles) were observed between 45 and 800 nm with a maximum at 154 nm in diameter. Imaging with transmission electron microscopy allowed further morphological discrimination of gel particles in "aggregate" particles, "aggregate with film" particles, and "mucus-like" particles. Halo particles were observed above 75 nm and appeared to be ammonium (bi)sulfate (59 % of halo particles), gel matter (19 %), or decomposed gel matter (22 %), which were internally mixed with sulfuric acid, methane sulfonic acid, or ammonium (bi)sulfate with a maximum at 161 nm in diameter. Elemental dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis of individual particles revealed a prevalence of the monovalent ions Na+/K+ for single particles and aggregate particles and of the divalent ions Ca2+/Mg2+ for aggregate with film particles and mucus-like particles. According to these results and other model studies, we propose a relationship between the availability of Na+/K+ and Ca2+/Mg2+ and the length of the biopolymer molecules participating in the formation of the three-dimensional gel networks.
The representation of aerosol properties and processes in climate models is fraught with large uncertainties. Especially at high northern latitudes a strong under-prediction of aerosol concentrations ...and nucleation events is observed and can only be constrained by in situ observations based on the analysis of individual aerosol particles. To further reduce the uncertainties surrounding aerosol properties and their potential role as cloud condensation nuclei this study provides observational data resolved over size on morphological and chemical properties of aerosol particles collected in the summer high Arctic, north of 80° N. Aerosol particles were imaged with scanning and transmission electron microscopy and further evaluated with digital image analysis. In total 3903 particles were imaged and categorized according to morphological similarities into three gross morphological groups, single particles, gel particles and halo particles. Single particles were observed between 15 nm and 800 nm in diameter and represent the dominating type of particles (82%). The majority of particles appeared to be marine gels with a broad Aitken mode peaking at 70 nm accompanied by a minor fraction of ammonium (bi)sulfate with a maximum in number concentration at 170 nm. Gel particles (11% of all particles) were observed between 45 nm and 800 nm with a maximum in number concentration at 154 nm. Imaging with transmission electron microscopy allowed further morphological discrimination of gel particles in âaggregateâ particles, âaggregate with filmâ particles and âmucus-likeâ particles.
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