Sea spray

For other uses, see seaspray (disambiguation).
"Salt air" redirects here. For other uses, see saltair (disambiguation).
Sea spray generated by breaking surface waves

Sea spray consists of aerosol particles formed from the ocean, primarily by ejection into Earth's atmosphere through bursting bubbles at the air-sea interface[1] Sea spray contains both organic matter and inorganic salts that form sea salt aerosol (SSA).[2] SSA has the ability to form cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and remove anthropogenic aerosol pollutants from the atmosphere.[3] Coarse sea spray has also been found to inhibit the development of lightning in storm clouds.[4]

Sea spray is directly (and indirectly, through SSA) responsible for a significant degree of the heat and moisture fluxes between the atmosphere and the ocean,[5][6] affecting global climate patterns and tropical storm intensity.[7] Sea spray also influences plant growth and species distribution in coastal ecosystems[8] and increases corrosion of building materials in coastal areas.[9]

  1. ^ Lewis, Ernie (2004). Sea salt aerosol production : mechanisms, methods, measurements and models : a critical review. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union. ISBN 978-1-118-66605-0. OCLC 646872726.
  2. ^ Gantt, Brett; Meskhidze, Nicholas (2013). "The physical and chemical characteristics of marine primary organic aerosol: a review". Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 13 (8): 3979–3996. Bibcode:2013ACP....13.3979G. doi:10.5194/acp-13-3979-2013.
  3. ^ Rosenfeld, Daniel; Lahav, Ronen; Khain, Alexander; Pinsky, Mark (2002-09-06). "The Role of Sea Spray in Cleansing Air Pollution over Ocean via Cloud Processes". Science. 297 (5587): 1667–1670. Bibcode:2002Sci...297.1667R. doi:10.1126/science.1073869. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 12183635. S2CID 11897318.
  4. ^ Pan, Zengxin; Mao, Feiyue; Rosenfeld, Daniel; Zhu, Yannian; Zang, Lin; Lu, Xin; Thornton, Joel A.; Holzworth, Robert H.; Yin, Jianhua; Efraim, Avichay; Gong, Wei (2 August 2022). "Coarse sea spray inhibits lightning". Nature Communications. 13 (1): 4289. Bibcode:2022NatCo..13.4289P. doi:10.1038/s41467-022-31714-5. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 9345860. PMID 35918331. S2CID 251281273.
  5. ^ Andreas, Edgar L; Edson, James B.; Monahan, Edward C.; Rouault, Mathieu P.; Smith, Stuart D. (1995). "The spray contribution to net evaporation from the sea: A review of recent progress". Boundary-Layer Meteorology. 72 (1–2): 3–52. Bibcode:1995BoLMe..72....3A. doi:10.1007/bf00712389. ISSN 0006-8314. S2CID 121476167.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).