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The variation in composition of sea‐salt nuclei with mode of formation
Author(s) -
Oddie B. C. V.
Publication year - 1960
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49708637013
Subject(s) - potassium , settling , composition (language) , sea spray , salt (chemistry) , seawater , sea salt , mineralogy , chemistry , geology , environmental science , oceanography , linguistics , philosophy , aerosol , organic chemistry , environmental engineering
It is shown that at coastal stations, while the coarser spray has a composition close to that of sea water, the smaller droplets (diameters less than about 25 microns) have a much higher proportion of potassium. The rapid decrease in the Na: K ratio with increasing distance from the sea is principally due to the settling out of the coarser spray. The result is consistent with Wilson's hypothesis that salt nuclei are formed largely from an extremely thin surface layer very rich in organic matter, which contains a high proportion of potassium.