Sea salt aerosol

Sea salt aerosols are characterized as non-light-absorbing, highly hygroscopic, and having coarse particle size.

According to the IPCC report, the total sea salt flux from ocean to atmosphere is ~3300 teragrams (Tg) per year.

One common cause is the bursting of air bubbles, which are entrained by the wind stress during the whitecap formation.

A recent study revealed that sea salt aerosols also contain a substantial amount of organic matter.

[4][5] Mostly, organic materials are internally mixed due to the drying of air bubbles at the organic-rich sea surface.

[3] Sea salt aerosols can alter the Earth radiation budget through directly scattering solar radiation (direct effect), and indirectly changing the cloud albedo by serving as CCN (indirect effect).