
Open access
Date
2017Type
- Journal Article
Citations
Cited null times in
Web of Science
Cited 66 times in
Scopus
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
Sea spray is one of the largest natural aerosol sources and plays an important role in the Earth’s radiative budget. These particles are inherently hygroscopic, that is, they take-up moisture from the air, which affects the extent to which they interact with solar radiation. We demonstrate that the hygroscopic growth of inorganic sea salt is 8–15% lower than pure sodium chloride, most likely due to the presence of hydrates. We observe an increase in hygroscopic growth with decreasing particle size (for particle diameters <150 nm) that is independent of the particle generation method. We vary the hygroscopic growth of the inorganic sea salt within a general circulation model and show that a reduced hygroscopicity leads to a reduction in aerosol-radiation interactions, manifested by a latitudinal-dependent reduction of the aerosol optical depth by up to 15%, while cloud-related parameters are unaffected. We propose that a value of κs=1.1 (at RH=90%) is used to represent the hygroscopicity of inorganic sea salt particles in numerical models. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000191771Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Nature CommunicationsVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
Nature Publishing GroupOrganisational unit
03517 - Peter, Thomas / Peter, Thomas
Funding
146760 - Physical states of mixed organic-inorganic aerosols (SNF)
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Citations
Cited null times in
Web of Science
Cited 66 times in
Scopus
ETH Bibliography
yes
Altmetrics