Measurements in marine stratocumulus over the northeast Pacific help scientists unravel the mysteries of this important cloud regime.T he stratocumulus-topped boundary layer (hereafter the STBL), which prevails in the subtropics in regions where the underlying ocean is much colder than the overlying atmosphere, is thought to be an important component of the climate system. Perhaps most striking is its impact on the radiative balance at the top of the atmosphere. The seasonally averaged net cloud radiative forcing from the STBL has been estimated to be as large as 70 W nr 2 (Stephens and Greenwald 1991), more than an order of magnitude larger than the radiative forcing associated with a doubling of atmospheric C0 2 . This means that even rather subtle sensitivities of the STBL to changes in the properties of the atmospheric aero-

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). Chloride and potassium were present in expected seawater ratios while sulfate, magnesium, and calcium were enriched to varying degrees. Trends in cloud water concentrations with cloud liquid water content (LWC) and volume mean drop diameter show that dilution played a role in cloud drop solute concentration variations during individual flights and that solute concentrations are related to cloud drop size and ultimately to below-cloud aerosol number concentration. Air equivalent concentrations (the amount of a solute in cloud water per unit volume of air) were derived in order to eliminate concentration dependence on LWC and to allow comparison with previous aerosol, trace gas, and cloud water studies. The analysis indicates that background marine conditions were not always encountered during the DYCOMS-II mission as a result of anthropogenic or biogenic sources impacting the study region.

The occurrence, source, and sink processes of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) have been explored by means of combined laboratory, field, and model studies. Observations have shown the occurrence of NDMA in fogs and clouds at substantial concentrations (7.5-397 ng L(-1)). Laboratory studies were conducted to investigate the formation of NDMA from nitrous acid and dimethylamine in the homogeneous aqueous phase. While NDMA was produced in the aqueous phase, the low yields (<1%) observed could not explain observational concentrations. Therefore gaseous formation of NDMA with partitioning to droplets likely dominates aqueous NDMA formation. Box-model calculations confirmed the predominant contributions from gas phase formation followed by partitioning into the cloud droplets. Measurements and model calculations showed that while NDMA is eventually photolyzed, it might persist in the atmosphere for hours after sunrise and before sunset since the photolysis in the aqueous phase might be much less efficient than in the gas phase.