Articles | Volume 22, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5725-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5725-2022
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

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Cited articles

Alldredge, A. L., Passow, U., and Logan, B. E.: The abundance and significance of a class of large, transparent organic particles in the ocean, Deep-Sea Res. Pt. I, 40, 1131–1140, https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-0637(93)90129-q, 1993. 
Aller, J. Y., Radway, J. C., Kilthau, W. P., Bothe, D. W., Wilson, T. W., Vaillancourt, R. D., Quinn, P. K., Coffman, D. J., Murray, B. J., and Knopf, D. A.: Size-resolved characterization of the polysaccharidic and proteinaceous components of sea spray aerosol, Atmos. Environ., 154, 331–347, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.01.053, 2017. 
Bigg, E. K. and Leck, C.: The composition of fragments of bubbles bursting at the ocean surface, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 113, D11209, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007jd009078, 2008. 
Bittar, T. B., Passow, U., Hamaraty, L., Bidle, K. D., and Harvey, E. L.: An updated method for the calibration of transparent exopolymer particle measurements, Limnol. Oceanogr. Meth., 16, 621–628, https://doi.org/10.1002/lom3.10268, 2018. 
Blanchard, D. C.: Bubble Scavenging and the Water-to-Air Transfer of Organic Material in the Sea, in: Applied Chemistry at Protein Interfaces, Advances in Chemistry, 145, American Chemical Society, 360–387, https://doi.org/10.1021/ba-1975-0145.ch018, 1975. 
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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.
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