High number concentrations of transparent exopolymer particles in ambient aerosol particles and cloud water  – a case study at the tropical Atlantic Ocean

van Pinxteren, Manuela; Robinson, Tiera-Brandy; Zeppenfeld, Sebastian; Gong, Xianda; Bahlmann, Enno; Fomba, Khanneh Wadinga; Triesch, Nadja; Stratmann, Frank; Wurl, Oliver; Engel, Anja; Wex, Heike; Herrmann, Hartmut

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5725-2022

Articles | Volume 22, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5725-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Marine organic matter: from biological production in the ocean...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5725-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 8

Research article

|

02 May 2022

Research article |

| 02 May 2022

High number concentrations of transparent exopolymer particles in ambient aerosol particles and cloud water – a case study at the tropical Atlantic Ocean

Manuela van Pinxteren, Tiera-Brandy Robinson, Sebastian Zeppenfeld, Xianda Gong, Enno Bahlmann, Khanneh Wadinga Fomba, Nadja Triesch, Frank Stratmann, Oliver Wurl, Anja Engel, Heike Wex, and Hartmut Herrmann

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5725-2022-supplement

Data sets

Transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) and sodium in ambient aerosol particles and cloud water at Cape Verde islands M. van Pinxteren https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.938169

Ice nucleating particles measured in air, cloud and seawater at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO) X. Gong, H. Wex, M. van Pinxteren, N. Triesch, K. W. Fomba, J. Lubitz, C. Stolle, T.-B. Robinson, T. Müller, H. Herrmann, and F. Stratmann https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.906946

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Short summary

A class of marine particles (transparent exopolymer particles, TEPs) that is ubiquitously found in the world oceans was measured for the first time in ambient marine aerosol particles and marine cloud waters in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. TEPs are likely to have good properties for influencing clouds. We show that TEPs are transferred from the ocean to the marine atmosphere via sea-spray formation and our results suggest that they can also form directly in aerosol particles and in cloud water.