Sea spray marine aerosols are important components of the atmospheric climate system impacting the Earth’s radiation budget. Organic matter (OM) is a major fraction of sea spray aerosols, and any impacts of sea spray OM on climate relevant processes in the atmosphere (e.g., aerosol hygroscopic growth, cloud formation, light absorption) must be due in part to its molecular composition. Yet, the links between oceanographic conditions, seawater OM composition, and sea spray aerosol OM composition that are needed to relate oceanographic conditions to atmospheric sea spray climate effects remain unclear. Ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry offers a path for understanding these links but has traditionally been used to examine only the water soluble fraction of OM (WSOM) which is typically the smaller component of sea spray OM. Here, the WSOM and water insoluble OM (WIOM) fractions of fine sea spray aerosol samples generated <i>in situ</i> during the 2nd Western Atlantic Climate Study (WACS-2) were analyzed using electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. Aerosol WIOM and WSOM molecular characteristics are compared to seawater dissolved and particulate OM molecular characteristics to determine the components of seawater OM that are preferentially emitted during the sea spray process and how those components differ between day and night and with varying chlorophyll a and dissolved OM concentrations. These data will aid in the understanding of the controls on sea spray aerosol OM composition that can be related to impacts on the atmospheric climate system.

Ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry study of sea spray aerosol water soluble and water insoluble organic matter composition

249th National Meeting (2015)

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