Temperature and Concentration Affect Particle Size Upon Sublimation of Saline Ice: Implications for Sea Salt Aerosol Production in Polar Regions

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Authors

ZÁVACKÁ Kamila NEDĚLA Vilém OLBERT Martin TIHLAŘÍKOVÁ Eva VETRÁKOVÁ Ľubica YANG Xin HEGER Dominik

Year of publication 2022
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Geophysical Research Letters
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097098
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097098
Keywords sea salt aerosols; ozone depletion; sublimation; microscopy; eutectic temperature; bromine explosion
Description Using an environmental scanning electron microscope, we quantified for the first time aerosol-sized salt particles formed during the sublimation of sea ice as a function of temperature and concentration. The sublimation temperature of the ice is a dominating physical factor to determine the size of the residua: Below -20°C, micron-sized pieces of salt emerge, whereas above the temperature large chunks of salt are detected. Another such aspect influencing the distribution of sizes in salt particles is the concentration: Micron-sized particles are observed exclusively at salinities below 3.5 psu, while below 0.085 psu particles with a median smaller than 6 µm arise from sea ices at any subzero temperature. Moreover, when a chunk of salt sublimes at less than -30°C to be dried and warmed later, a large number of sub-micron crystals will appear. We relate our findings to the production of the polar atmospheric sea salt aerosols.
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