The effect of sea ice loss on sea salt aerosol concentrations and the radiative balance in the Arctic

Struthers, H.; Ekman, Annica M. L.; Glantz, Paul; Iversen, Trond; Kirkevåg, Alf; Mårtensson, E. M.; Seland, Øyvind; Nilsson, E. Douglas

doi:10.5194/acp-11-3459-2011

Cited by 103 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 70 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

143

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…At the same time, larger areas of ice-free ocean will provide large areas of potential SSA emissions, which in turn can act as a negative feedback by increasing aerosol scattering and by modifying cloud microphysical properties providing additional CCN (cf. Struthers et al, 2011). On the other hand, with increasing sea water temperature and as shown in this study, the sea spray source strength might decrease and thus weaken the negative feedback of SSA on Arctic climate.…”

Section: Future Implicationmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Struthers et al (2011), however, indicated that the impact of future changes in wind speed on the sea salt aerosol production over the Arctic Ocean was small compared to those associated with changes in sea ice coverage and sea surface temperature. All in all, the magnitude and interplay between the decrease of sea ice coverage, the increasing sea water temperature, changes in wind speed and the possible accompanied change in whitecap coverage should be addressed in large-scale model studies, where changes in meteorology, ocean characteristics and marine aerosol emissions all are represented in a consistent manner.…”

Section: Future Implicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…-Increasing (decreasing) temperature will decrease (increase) sea ice cover and increase (decrease) sea salt emissions (e.g., Nilsson et al, 2001;Struthers et al, 2011). …”

Section: Future Implicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Wintertime Arctic Ocean sea water properties and primary marine aerosol concentrations

et al. 2012

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Sea spray aerosols are an important part of the climate system through their direct and indirect effects. Due to the diminishing sea ice, the Arctic Ocean is one of the most rapidly changing sea spray aerosol source areas. However, the influence of these changes on primary particle production is not known.In laboratory experiments we examined the influence of Arctic Ocean water temperature, salinity, and oxygen saturation on primary particle concentration characteristics. Sea water temperature was identified as the most important of these parameters. A strong decrease in sea spray aerosol production with increasing water temperature was observed for water temperatures between −1 • C and 9 • C. Aerosol number concentrations decreased from at least 1400 cm −3 to 350 cm −3 . In general, the aerosol number size distribution exhibited a robust shape with one mode close to dry diameter D p 0.2 µm with approximately 45 % of particles at smaller sizes. Changes in sea water temperature did not result in pronounced change of the shape of the aerosol size distribution, only in the magnitude of the concentrations. Our experiments indicate that changes in aerosol emissions are most likely linked to changes of the physical properties of sea water at low temperatures. The observed strong dependence of sea spray aerosol concentrations on sea water temperature, with a large fraction of the emitted particles in the typical cloud condensation nuclei size range, provide strong arguments for a more careful consideration of this effect in climate models.

show abstract

Section: Future Implicationmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Future Implicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Wintertime Arctic Ocean sea water properties and primary marine aerosol concentrations

et al. 2012

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It has been shown that PMA production is a non-linear function of wind speed (Lovett, 1978;Nilsson et al, 2001). Struthers et al (2011) simulated the sea salt emissions in a future Arctic climate, where the emissions were dependent on sea ice extent, sea surface temperature and the 10 m wind speed. An increase in sea salt emissions was observed with the effect driven predominantly by the decrease in sea ice extent and changes in sea surface temperature rather than from a change in wind speed.…”

Section: Future Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison between summertime and wintertime Arctic Ocean primary marine aerosol properties

et al. 2013

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Primary marine aerosols (PMAs) are an important source of cloud condensation nuclei, and one of the key elements of the remote marine radiative budget. Changes occurring in the rapidly warming Arctic, most importantly the decreasing sea ice extent, will alter PMA production and hence the Arctic climate through a set of feedback processes. In light of this, laboratory experiments with Arctic Ocean water during both Arctic winter and summer were conducted and focused on PMA emissions as a function of season and water properties. Total particle number concentrations and particle number size distributions were used to characterize the PMA population. A comprehensive data set from the Arctic summer and winter showed a decrease in PMA concentrations for the covered water temperature (T_w) range between −1°C and 15°C. A sharp decrease in PMA emissions for a T_w increase from −1°C to 4°C was followed by a lower rate of change in PMA emissions for T_w up to about 6°C. Near constant number concentrations for water temperatures between 6°C to 10°C and higher were recorded. Even though the total particle number concentration changes for overlapping T_w ranges were consistent between the summer and winter measurements, the distribution of particle number concentrations among the different sizes varied between the seasons. Median particle number concentrations for a dry diameter (D_p< 0.125μm measured during winter conditions were similar (deviation of up to 3%), or lower (up to 70%) than the ones measured during summer conditions (for the same water temperature range). For D_p > 0.125μm, the particle number concentrations during winter were mostly higher than in summer (up to 50%). The normalized particle number size distribution as a function of water temperature was examined for both winter and summer measurements. An increase in T_w from −1°C to 10°C during winter measurements showed a decrease in the peak of relative particle number concentration at about a D_p of 0.180μm, while an increase was observed for particles with D_p > 1μm. Summer measurements exhibited a relative shift to smaller particle sizes for an increase of T_w in the range 7–11°C. The differences in the shape of the number size distributions between winter and summer may be caused by different production of organic material in water, different local processes modifying the water masses within the fjord (for example sea ice production in winter and increased glacial meltwater inflow during summer) and different origin of the dominant sea water mass. Further research is needed regarding the contribution of these factors to the PMA production

show abstract

“…In parallel with changing anthropogenic inputs, Arctic warming and decreasing sea ice extent [e.g., Stroeve et al, 2012] are expected to impact atmospheric composition due to changes in atmosphere-ocean interactions. The complex implications of sea ice loss for atmospheric dynamics, clouds, and aerosol remain poorly constrained [e.g., Struthers et al, 2011;Liu et al, 2012;Browse et al, 2014], owing to both the complexity of the aerosol system and to a paucity of observations in autumn and summer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for marine biogenic influence on summertime Arctic aerosol

Willis

Köllner

Burkart

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present vertically resolved observations of aerosol composition during pristine summertime Arctic background conditions. The methansulfonic acid (MSA)‐to‐sulfate ratio peaked near the surface (mean 0.10), indicating a contribution from ocean‐derived biogenic sulfur. Similarly, the organic aerosol (OA)‐to‐sulfate ratio increased toward the surface (mean 2.0). Both MSA‐to‐sulfate and OA‐to‐sulfate ratios were significantly correlated with FLEXPART‐WRF‐predicted air mass residence time over open water, indicating marine‐influenced OA. External mixing of sea salt aerosol from a larger number fraction of organic, sulfate, and amine‐containing particles, together with low wind speeds (median 4.7 m s−1), suggests a role for secondary organic aerosol formation. Cloud condensation nuclei concentrations were nearly constant (∼120 cm−3) when the OA fraction was <60% and increased to 350 cm−3 when the organic fraction was larger and residence times over open water were longer. Our observations illustrate the importance of marine‐influenced OA under Arctic background conditions, which are likely to change as the Arctic transitions to larger areas of open water.

show abstract

The effect of sea ice loss on sea salt aerosol concentrations and the radiative balance in the Arctic

Cited by 103 publications

References 70 publications

Wintertime Arctic Ocean sea water properties and primary marine aerosol concentrations

Wintertime Arctic Ocean sea water properties and primary marine aerosol concentrations

Comparison between summertime and wintertime Arctic Ocean primary marine aerosol properties

Evidence for marine biogenic influence on summertime Arctic aerosol

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About