The original definition of this term refers to suspended particles in the carrier medium air. However, it is now customary to apply the term aerosols, or aerosol particles, more broadly to include deposits of particulate matter, as the atmospheric aerosol is collected on filters or particle size separating impactor plates. The word aerosol covers a wide range of material but should be distinguished from dust, which involves larger pieces of solid material (20–30 μm in diameter and larger).
Individual aerosol particles may be solid, liquid, or mixed, and they usually carry some moisture with them. Solid aerosol particles are primarily formed by soil erosion and enter the atmosphere by wind force. The major source of liquid aerosol particles is sea spray from the ocean surface, which upon evaporation generally produces a concentrated aqueous solution of sea-salt crystals. The amount of water associated with the aerosol depends on the prevailing relative humidity. With increasing relative...
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Bibliography
Hobbs, P. V. (ed.), 1993. Aerosol–Cloud–Climate Interactions. San Diego, Ca.: Academic Press, 235 pp.
Hobbs, P. V., and McCormick, P. (eds), 1988. Aerosols and Climate. Hampton, Va.: A. Deepak, 486 pp.
Lighthart, B., and Mohr, A. J. (eds), 1994. Atmospheric Microbial Aerosols: Theory and Applications. New York: Chapman & Hall, 397 pp.
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© 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Sievering, H. (1999). Aerosols. In: Environmental Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_5
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