The ocean plays a large but highly uncertain role in affecting clouds and climate. Sea spray aerosols profoundly impact climate directly by interacting with incoming solar radiation and indirectly through forming clouds. A tremendous amount has been learned about how sea spray impacts clouds and climate over decades of ocean-based field studies, however the goal of establishing robust relationships between seawater and sea spray composition has remained elusive. Much of the impediment stems from difficulties associated with unraveling the impacts of nascent sea spray and background marine aerosols which have been shown to dominate field measurements. In an effort to advance our understanding of nascent sea spray properties, scientists in the Center for Aerosol Impacts on Climate and the Environment (http://caice.ucsd.edu) developed a new approach for studying this complex chemistry issue by creating an ocean-atmosphere facility equipped with breaking waves. Studies probe individual sea spray aerosols produced by breaking waves in natural seawater using a combination of analytical techniques to measure individual particle composition and morphology. This presentation will highlight how production mechanisms and biological processes control the complex interfacial chemistry of sea spray aerosol, as well as highlights of investigations of the reactivity and properties of this complex atmospheric aerosol in the laboratory.

Fundamental studies of sea spray aerosol composition and climate properties using an ocean-in-the-laboratory approach

251st National Meeting (2016)

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