Salinity in marine atmospheric corrosion: its dependence on the wind regime existing in the site

Salinity in marine atmospheres accelerates metallic corrosion and varies wi thin very broad limits, ranging from extremely high values close to surf to low values near calm waters. The concentration of marine aerosol in the at mosphere depends upon several factors such as altitude, distance from the s ea, land orography, land topography, direction and velocity of prevailing w inds, etc. This paper has focused on the influence of winds on the salinity values recorded at a testing site located on the coast of Tarragona (Spain ). The results obtained in this study suggest that there are certain marine wind directions (referred to here as "saline winds") which especially cont ribute to the entrainment of marine aerosol from the sea towards the land. There seems to be a critical velocity (close to 3 m s(-1)) for saline winds , above which coastal atmospheric salinity notably increases. (C) 1999 Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.