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We report on ambient atmospheric aerosols present at sea during the Atlantic-Mediterranean voyage of Oceanic II (The Scholar Ship) in spring 2008. A record was obtained of hourly PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 particle size fraction concentrations and 24-h filter samples for chemical analysis which allowed for comparison between levels of crustal particles, sea spray, total carbon, and secondary inorganic aerosols. On-board monitoring was continuous from the equatorial Atlantic to the Straits of Gibraltar, across the Mediterranean to Istanbul, and back via Lisbon to the English Channel. Initially clean air in the open Atlantic registered PM10 levels <10 mu g m(-3) but became progressively polluted by increasingly coarse PM as the ship approached land. Away from major port cities, the main sources of atmospheric contamination identified were dust intrusions from North Africa (NAF), smoke plumes from biomass burning in sub-Saharan Africa and Russia, industrial sulphate clouds and other regional pollution sources transported from Europe, sea spray during rough seas, and plumes emanating from islands. Under dry NAF intrusions PM10 daily mean levels averaged 40-60 mu g m(-3) (30-40 mu g m(-3) PM2.5; c. 20 mu g m(-3) PM1), peaking briefly to >120 mu g m(-3) (hourly mean) when the ship passed through curtains of higher dust concentrations amassed at the frontal edge of the dust cloud. PM1/PM10 ratios ranged from very low during desert dust intrusions (0.3-0.4) to very high during anthropogenic pollution plume events (0.8-1). (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.