AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Characterization of Insoluble Submicrometer Particles in Seawater for Studying on Primary Marine Aerosol Formation
JIYEON PARK, Miji Kim, Seung hee Han, Kihong Park, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology
Abstract Number: 260 Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract A direct measurement of insoluble submicrometer particles in seawater (i.e., before aerosolization) is essential to better understand their role in marine aerosol formation. In this study, we applied the membrane filtration-differential mobility analyzer (MF-DMA) technique (Park et al., 2011) and the membrane filtration- quadruple aerosol mass spectrometer (MF-QAMS) technique to determine the number and chemical composition of insoluble submicrometer particles (20-450 nm) in seawaters sampled at different locations of coastal areas in Korea, in different seasons, and with varying tidal levels. Also, the effects of Asian dust storm and industrial sources on the number of insoluble submicrometer particles in seawaters were examined. To determine elemental composition of insoluble submicrometer particles collected on ultrafiltration (UF) membrane surface (Pore size: ~5 nm), a laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was also used. Simultaneously, biological properties of seawaters (concentrations of bacteria (20-450 nm), virus (20-200 nm), and chlorophyll-a (>700 nm)) were measured for all samples to find any link between the amount of biological materials and the number of insoluble submicrometer particles in seawaters. Significant increases of the number concentration of insoluble submicrometer particles were found in seawater sampled from Taean (i.e., East Sea of Korea), during spring period, and with maximum tidal variation (i.e., spring tide) in clean coastal environments. Also, the number concentration of insoluble submicrometer particles in seawater was strongly correlated with biological materials in seawater, suggesting that the biological materials were probably one of the major sources of insoluble submicrometer particles in seawater. When the site was heavily affected by industrial sources, it also led to an increase of the number concentration of insoluble submicrometer particles in seawater. Chemical and elemental analysis of insoluble submicrometer particles in seawater is in progress.