Assessment of the sea aerosol production including the "bag breakup" effect in the spray generation function

Marine aerosol has a large impact on the earth system, including the physics and chemistry of the atmosphere over the oceans. It is a suspension in the air, consisting mainly of droplets injected from the ocean surface as a result of wave breaking in the coastal zone or during strong winds. A marine aerosol production model is an element of great importance in climate change and forecasting models.

In this work, the calculation of the production of sea aerosol using the developed parameterization of the sea spray generation function is carried out taking into account the contribution of the «bags breakup» spume droplet generation mechanism. For example, the work [1] show the decisive contribution of this type of spray to the sea spray generation function. The calculation is carried out both on the basis of reanalysis data on the global distribution of wind speed (CFSv2 [2]) and wave parameters (WAVEWATCH III® Hindcast and Reanalysis Archives [3]), and on the basis of calculation data within the WRF atmospheric model and the WAVEWATCH III wave model. An assessment of the production of sea aerosol is carried out using the example of hurricane Irma. The wind data in the calculations in the WRF model is obtained using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) technique of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) with the boundary conditions from the CFSv2 reanalysis. Wave parameters data is obtained from calculations within the WAVEWATCH III wave model. A comparison of the resulting sea spray generation function obtained using the WRF LES and WAVEWATCH III data and the distribution obtained using the reanalysis data is carried out. Conclusions are made about the advantages of using computational models of high spatial resolution.

The work is supported by President Grant for young scientists MK-2489.2022.1.5.

[1] Troitskaya, Y., Kandaurov, A., Ermakova, O., Kozlov, D., Sergeev, D., & Zilitinkevich, S. (2018). The “bag breakup” spume droplet generation mechanism at high winds. Part I: Spray generation function. Journal of physical oceanography, 48(9), 2167-2188.

[2] Saha, S., et al. 2011, updated monthly. NCEP Climate Forecast System Version 2 (CFSv2) Selected Hourly Time-Series Products. Research Data Archive at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Computational and Information Systems Laboratory. https://doi.org/10.5065/D6N877VB. Accessed 14 December 2021.

[3] https://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/hindcasts/