Sea spray aerosol (SSA) is one of the major contributors of natural aerosol sources. The impact of SSA on the earth's radiation budget is a critical area of ongoing investigation. Currently, accurate representation of SSA in climate models is limited by an incomplete understanding of the dependence of SSA properties on physical, biological and chemical processes occurring in the ocean. In this study, SSA were collected during a simulated phytoplankton bloom conducted in a Marine Aerosol Reference Tank (MART) to mimic the bubble plume, foam, and aerosol generating mechanisms active during oceanic wave breaking.1 Size and shape of the collected particles as well as bulk chemical composition was investigated by analysis of single particles. The single particle analysis is very important as it can reveal information regarding chemical composition as well as phase and mixing state. Here we used Raman microspectroscopy to study chemical composition of the collected aerosol particles and sea surface microlayer from MART. Raman microscope equipped with environmental cell was used to study hygroscopicity of collected particles as well. Additionally, mixtures of chloride salts abundant in sea water with atmospherically-relevant organic acids were analyzed to better understand the dependence of SSA properties on chemical processes occurring in the ocean. This work provides an insight into the dependence of SSA properties on its composition thus leading to better predictions of atmospheric chemistry and its effects on the atmosphere's radiative properties.(1) Stokes, M. D.; Deane, G. B.; Prather, K. A.; Bertram, T. H.; Ruppel, M. J.; Ryder, O. S.; Brady, J. M.; and Zhao, D. Atmos. Meas. Tech. 2013, 6, 1085.

Sea spray aerosol: Spectroscopic analysis of single particle composition and properties

248th National Meeting (2014)

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