Sea salt aerosol

Sea salt aerosols are generated by sea spray.

Sea salt aerosol, which originally comes from sea spray, is one of the most widely distributed natural aerosols. Sea salt aerosols are characterized as non-light-absorbing, highly hygroscopic, and having coarse particle size. Some sea salt dominated aerosols could have a single scattering albedo as large as ~0.97.[1] Due to the hygroscopy, a sea salt particle can serve as a very efficient cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), altering cloud reflectivity, lifetime, and precipitation process. According to the IPCC report, the total sea salt flux from ocean to atmosphere is ~3300 teragrams (Tg) per year.[2]

  1. ^ McComiskey, A.(Editor), Andrews, E., et al., Aerosols and Radiation - NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
  2. ^ IPCC Third Assessment Report: Climate Change 2001 (TAR)