Researchers report ship-borne open ocean data from 4 full seasons in the North Atlantic that show links between sea-spray aerosol particles and both sea-surface temperature and, to a smaller extent, phytoplankton-related biomass; the results suggest that climate models that derive aerosol production from wind alone may overestimate aerosol particle numbers by a factor of 4 to 7 and underestimate the particles' radiative energy scattering by a factor of 2 to 5.
Article #19-07574: "Factors driving the seasonal and hourly variability of sea-spray aerosol number in the North Atlantic," by Georges Saliba et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Lynn M. Russell, University of California, San Diego, CA; tel: 858-534-4852; e-mail: lmrussell@ucsd.edu
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences