During summer 2004, a comprehensive suite of reactive trace gases (including halogen radicals and precursors, ozone, reactive N, soluble acids, and hydrocarbons), the chemical and physical characteristics of size‐resolved aerosols, actinic flux, and related physical conditions were measured at Appledore Island, Maine, as part of the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT). Sea‐salt mass averaged 4 to 8 times lower than that over the open North Atlantic Ocean. Production in association with sea salt was the primary source for inorganic Cl and Br. Acid displacement of sea‐salt Cl− primarily by HNO3 sustained high HCl mixing ratios (often >2000 pptv) during daytime. Median pHs for the larger sea‐salt size fractions (geometric mean diameters, GMDs ≥ 2.9 μm) ranged from 3.1 to 3.4; median pHs for sub‐μm size fractions were ≤ 1.6. Cl* (including HOCl and Cl2) ranged from <20 to 421 pptv Cl but was less than the detection limit (DL) during most sampling intervals. Periods during which Cl* was consistently detectable corresponded to relatively clean conditions, multiday transport over water, and relatively low actinic flux. At high HCl mixing ratios (>1000 pptv), HCl + OH sustained steady state Cl‐atom concentrations in the range of 104 cm−3. When detectable, photolysis of Cl* was generally the dominant source of atomic Cl; steady state concentrations of Cl atoms were frequently in the range of 104 to 105 cm−3. At these concentrations, Cl played an important role in the chemical evolution of polluted coastal air. Br radical chemistry was relatively unimportant.
