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Science 27 June 1986:
Vol. 232. no. 4758, pp. 1620 - 1623
DOI: 10.1126/science.232.4758.1620
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Articles

Internal Mixture of Sea Salt, Silicates, and Excess Sulfate in Marine Aerosols

MEINRAT O. ANDREAE 1, ROBERT J. CHARLSON 2, FRANK BRUYNSEELS 3, HEDWIG STORMS 3, RENE VAN GRIEKEN 3, and WILLY MAENHAUT 4

1 Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306.
2 Department of Civil Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
3 Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp (Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen), B-2610 Antwerp-Wilrijk, Belgium.
4 Instituut voor Nucleaire Wetenschappen, Rijksuniversiteit Gent, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.

Individual aerosol particles from the remote marine atmosphere were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and electron microprobe analysis. A large fraction of the silicate mineral component of the aerosol was found to be internally mixed with sea-salt aerosol particles. This observation explains the unexpected similarity in the size distributions of silicates and sea salt that has been observed in remote marine aerosols. Reentrainment of dust particles previously deposited onto the sea surface and collision between aerosol particles can be excluded as possible source mechanisms for these internally mixed aerosols. The internal mixing could be produced by processes within clouds, including droplet coalescence. Cloud processes may also be responsible for the observed enrichment of excess (nonsea-salt) sulfate on sea-salt particles.

Submitted on December 9, 1985
Accepted on April 8, 1986


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