Sensitivity of modeled atmospheric nitrogen species to variations in sea salt emissions in the North and Baltic Sea regions

Abstract

Abstract. Coarse sea salt particles are emitted ubiquitously from the oceans' surfaces by wave breaking and bubble bursting processes. These particles impact atmospheric chemistry by affecting condensation of gas-phase species and nucleation of new fine particles, particularly in regions with high air pollution. In this study, atmospheric particle concentrations are modeled for the North and Baltic Sea regions, Northwestern Europe, using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system and evaluated against European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) measurement data. As model extension, sea salt emissions are scaled by water salinity because of low salinity in large parts of the Baltic Sea and in certain river estuaries. The resulting improvement in predicted sea salt concentrations is assessed. The contribution of surf zone emissions is separately considered. Additionally, the impact of sea salt particles on atmospheric nitrate, ammonium and sulfate concentrations is evaluated. The comparisons show that sea salt concentrations are commonly overestimated at coastal stations and partly underestimated when going inland. The introduced salinity scaling improves predicted Baltic Sea sea salt concentrations considerably. Dates of measured peak concentrations are appropriately reproduced by the model. The impact of surf zone emissions is negligible in both seas. Nevertheless, they might be relevant because surf zone emissions were cut at an upper threshold in this study. Deactivating sea salt leads to a minor increase of NH4+ and NO3- and a minor decrease of SO42- concentrations. However, the overall effect is very low and lower than the deviation from measurements. Size resolved measurements of Na+, NH4+, NO3-, and SO42- are needed for a more detailed analysis on the impact of sea salt particles.