Revealing the Impacts of Chemical Complexity on Submicrometer Sea Spray Aerosol Morphology.

ABSTRACT: Sea spray aerosol (SSA) ejected through bursting bubbles at the ocean surface is a complex mixture of salts and organic species. Submicrometer SSA particles have long atmospheric lifetimes and play a critical role in the climate system. Composition impacts their ability to form marine clouds, yet their cloud-forming potential is difficult to study due to their small size. Here, we use large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations as a "computational microscope" to provide never-before-seen views of 40 nm model aerosol particles and their molecular morphologies. We investigate how increasing chemical complexity impacts the distribution of organic material throughout individual particles for a range of organic constituents with varying chemical properties. Our simulations show that common

SUBMITTER: Dommer AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10311664 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature