The organic composition of seawater and sea spray aerosol is determined by its microbial community. Microorganism population changes during natural and synthetic phytoplankton blooms alter the structure and properties of resulting aerosols. Whether the sea-air transfer of whole cells or the transfer of particles that form from the detritus, enzymatic processing, and biomolecules arising from microbial degradation or secretive processes, varying populations determine these alterations to aerosol properties. This has direct consequence for a variety of climatic processes, including cloud condensation and ice nucleation. These transfer mechanisms also have implications for human health. Here we have identified the phytoplankton and bacterial species in a large scale mesocosm bloom in an isolated, wave generating system using natural seawater. With this system we were able to catalog the species over the course of the bloom as well as the transfer of cells from the bulk water to the sea surface microlayer and then to aerosols. The phytoplankton population was dominated by diatoms, <i>Sketetonema costatum</i> the most dominant. The bacteria population was diverse with members of <i>Flavobacteriales, Legionallales, Rickettsiadales, and Rhodobacteriales</i> represented.

Atmospheric microbiome: Implications for sea spray aerosol properties

251st National Meeting (2016)

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