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Primary submicron marine aerosol dominated by insoluble organic colloids and aggregates

Facchini, Maria Cristina
; 
Rinaldi, Matteo
; 
Decesari, Stefano
; 
Carbone, Claudio
; 
Finessi, Emanuela
; 
Mircea, Mihaela
; 
Fuzzi, Sandro
; 
Ceburnis, Darius
; 
Flanagan, Robert
; 
Nilsson, E. Douglas
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Repository DOI
Publication Date
2008-09-12
Keywords
spectroscopy, particles, transport, seawater, matter, sea
Type
Article
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Citation
Facchini, Maria Cristina; Rinaldi, Matteo; Decesari, Stefano; Carbone, Claudio; Finessi, Emanuela; Mircea, Mihaela; Fuzzi, Sandro; Ceburnis, Darius; Flanagan, Robert; Nilsson, E. Douglas; de Leeuw, Gerrit; Martino, Manuela; Woeltjen, Janina; O'Dowd, Colin D. (2008). Primary submicron marine aerosol dominated by insoluble organic colloids and aggregates. Geophysical Research Letters 35 (17),
Abstract
The chemical properties of sea-spray aerosol particles produced by artificially generated bubbles using oceanic waters were investigated during a phytoplankton bloom in the North Atlantic. Spray particles exhibited a progressive increase in the organic matter ( OM) content from 3 +/- 0.4% up to 77 +/- 5% with decreasing particle diameter from 8 to 0.125 mu m. Submicron OM was almost entirely water insoluble (WIOM) and consisted of colloids and aggregates exuded by phytoplankton. Our observations indicate that size dependent transfer of sea water organic material to primary marine particles is mainly controlled by the solubility and surface tension properties of marine OM. The pattern of WIOM and sea-salt content in the different size intervals observed in bubble bursting experiments is similar to that measured in atmospheric marine aerosol samples collected during periods of high biological activity. The results point to a WIOM/sea-salt fingerprint associated with submicron primary marine aerosol production in biologically rich waters.
Funder
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher DOI
10.1029/2008gl034210
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland
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Externally hosted open access publications with University of Galway authors (2)