Abstract
Sea spray is one of the important factors to affect weather conditions over the ocean in terms of constituting an aerosol as well as determining air-sea transport of heat, moisture and momentum. The final goal of this study is to explain the relationship between sea-spray generation and conditions of the atmosphere and ocean for a more accurate prediction of the amount of sea spray. This study conducted three-year field observations of atmospheric aerosol at an offshore observatory in Tanabe Bay, Wakayama. Large-scale (> 100 km) distribution of atmospheric aerosol was found to dominate the concentration of the observed aerosol less than 1 μm in normal weather conditions. During storm events with strong winds from the Pacific Ocean, however, the observed concentration monotonically increased with the wind speed, which is considered to be a result of the increase in oceanic aerosol derived from sea spray.
