Fig. 4: Dependence of the sea spray aerosol number concentration with optical diameters (D_op) ≥ 0.58 μm (N_{SSA ≥ 0.58 µm}) on wind speed.

Box plots of the N_{SSA ≥ 0.58 µm} vs. wind speed, binned at 2 ms⁻¹ for the Pacific Ocean (A) and by 4 ms⁻¹ for the Atlantic Ocean (B) where data collected further than 100 km away from land was used. The day and night data are offset for clarity. The y-axis scale is different for the two panels. While the expected increase of aerosol concentration with wind speed is indeed observed, no relation between the 24-h cycle and wind speed is found. The box plots show the median, and the 10th, 25th, 75th, and 90th percentiles. For the daytime (nighttime) Pacific Ocean, N = 3612 (4057), 11,638 (14,833), 20,134 (19,506), 19,988 (23,136), 15,701 (16,097), and 8129 (9034) samples where used for the 0–2, 2–4, 4–6, 6–8, 8–10, and >10 m s⁻¹ bins, respectively. For the daytime (nighttime) Atlantic Ocean, N = 1089 (949), 4768 (5056), and 1082 (1707) samples were used for the 0–4, 4–8, and >8 m s⁻¹ bins, respectively.