Aerosol hygroscopicity over the South-East Atlantic Ocean during the biomass burning season –  Part 2: Influence of sea salt and burning conditions on CCN hygroscopicity

Che, Haochi; Zhang, Lu; Segal-Rozenhaimer, Michal; Dang, Caroline; Zuidema, Paquita; Sedlacek III, Arthur J.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10987-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 18

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10987-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

New observations and related modelling studies of the aerosol–cloud–climate...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10987-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 18

Research article

|

23 Sep 2025

Research article |

| 23 Sep 2025

Aerosol hygroscopicity over the South-East Atlantic Ocean during the biomass burning season – Part 2: Influence of sea salt and burning conditions on CCN hygroscopicity

Haochi Che, Lu Zhang, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Caroline Dang, Paquita Zuidema, and Arthur J. Sedlacek III

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10987-2025-supplement

Data sets

ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS) Copernicus Climate Change Service https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7

MERRA-2 tavgM_2d_aer_Nx: 2d, Monthly mean, Time-averaged, Single-Level,Assimilation, Aerosol Diagnostics V5.12.4 (M2TMNXAER) Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) https://doi.org/10.5067/FH9A0MLJPC7N

Short summary

We studied aerosols over a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean to understand how they affect cloud formation. By analyzing data from two fire seasons, we found that changes in sea salt and smoke from fires strongly influenced how easily these particles form cloud droplets. In 2017, sea salt increased due to weather changes, making the particles more water-attracting. This helps us understand how natural and human activities impact clouds and climate.