Sea spray aerosol (SSA) are produced via bubble bursting action at the air-sea interface and can impact the radiative budget both by direct scattering of sunlight, or by acting as cloud seeds. The composition of SSA and the relationship between the organic fraction and biological ocean conditions is not well understood, and there is considerable disagreement in the literature linking biological markers to SSA chemical composition. Recent work suggests that enzymatic activity in seawater may play a key role in dictating aerosol composition. Here we investigate the role of enzymatic activity on SSA spatial chemical composition, with an emphasis on interfacial changes, and monitor subsequent changes in aerosol phase and morphological microstructure upon relative humidity cycling and exposure to atmospheric oxidation using ozone. In these experiments, SSA were generated at UCSD using a novel mini-Marine Aerosol Reference Tank system. Samples were collected on substrates using a MOUDI sampler from 1) filtered, autoclaved natural sea water, 2) following the sequential addition of unsaturated triglyceride molecules, and 3) following the addition of lipase to the water matrix. Results from analysis including atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and STXM-NEXAFS are presented.

Impact of enzymatic activity on sea-spray aerosol climate properties

251st National Meeting (2016)

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