Aerosol sampling from ocean buoys shows promise

Tests of a new sampler for collecting aerosols from ocean buoys are showing promising results. The idea of using buoys as platforms for more precise sampling of continental dust falling on the oceans sprang from seeing large quantities of reddish brown Saharan dust adhering to buoy‐mounted meteorological sensors in the ocean off northwest Africa. Deploying meteorological and physical oceanographic instruments from moored buoys is a well‐established and an important tool in studying marine meteorology, atmosphere‐ocean interactions, and upper ocean physics [ Rudnick et al. , 1997; Weller et al. , 1990]. An emerging field of research in oceanography is centered on developing analytical instruments for the chemical, biological, and optical measurements of seawater under moored buoys [ Dickey et al. , 1997]. Research on aerosols, in particular, and atmospheric chemistry, in general, has not been previously attempted from buoys.