The oceanic production of atmospheric sea salt

Abstract

Over two decades ago, Eriksson calculated that 10 9 t (t = metric ton, or 10 3 kg) of atmospheric sea salt are produced by the oceans each year, but Blanchard argued that the rate was closer to 10 10 t yr −1 . It seems likely that Eriksson's value is too low because of errors introduced into the salt dry deposition calculations by using mean winds and neglecting the standard deviation, while Blanchard's value probably is too high because of wrong assumptions in calculating the salt wet deposition. Future work must make clear what altitude the salt is being cycled through.