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research article

Links between atmospheric aerosols and sea state in the Arctic Ocean

Moallemi, Alireza  
•
Alberello, Alberto
•
Thurnherr, Iris
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September 26, 2024
Atmospheric Environment

Sea spray emission is the largest mass flux of aerosols to the atmosphere with important impact on atmospheric radiative transfer. However, large uncertainties still exit in constraining this mass flux and its climate forcing, in particular in the Arctic, where sea ice and relatively low wind speed in summer constitute a significantly different regime compared to the global ocean. Sea state conditions and marine boundary layer stability are also critical variables, but their contribution is often overlooked. Here we present concurrent observations of sea state using a novel stereo camera system, of sea spray through coarse mode aerosols, and of meteorological variables to determine boundary layer stability in the Barents and Kara Seas during the 2021 Arctic Century Expedition. Our findings reveal that aerosol concentrations were highest over open waters, closely correlating with wave height, followed by wind speed, wave steepness, and wave age. Notably, these correlations were stronger under unstable marine boundary layer conditions, reflecting immediate sea spray generation. By analysing various combinations of sea and atmospheric variables, we identified the wave height Reynolds number as the most effective indicator of atmospheric sea spray concentration, explaining 57% of its variability in unstable conditions. Our study underscores the need to consider sea state, wind, and boundary layer conditions together to accurately estimate atmospheric sea spray concentrations in the Arctic.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.atmosenv.2024.120844
Author(s)
Moallemi, Alireza  

EPFL

Alberello, Alberto
Thurnherr, Iris
Li, Guangyu
Kanji, Zamin
Bergamasco, Filippo
Pohorsky, Roman  

EPFL

Nelli, Filippo
Toffoli, Alessandro
Schmale, Julia  

EPFL

Date Issued

2024-09-26

Publisher

Elsevier

Published in
Atmospheric Environment
Volume

338

Article Number

120844

Subjects

Sea spray aerosols

•

Wave height

•

Arctic ocean

•

Stereo imaging

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
EERL  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

EP/Y02012X/1

EPFL Center for Imaging

RelationRelated workURL/DOI

IsSupplementedBy

Data archive for the peer-reviewed journal article "Links between atmospheric aerosols and sea state in the Arctic Ocean"

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13372113
Available on Infoscience
October 14, 2024
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/241590
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