RAPID: Sea Spray Aerosol Production over the North Atlantic

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This project supports the deployment of additional instrumentation during the NASA-funded North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES). This study is focused on characterizing the properties and annual bloom cycles of marine plankton ecosystems, and on investigating how remote marine aerosols and boundary layer clouds are influenced by plankton ecosystems. This research will help determine whether it is the phytoplankton bloom state or the large reservoir of dissolved organic carbon in the ocean that is responsible for the organic enrichment of sea-surface aerosol. The results are important for accurately modeling the exchange of carbon between the oceans and the atmosphere and for understanding its influence on climate. The Sea Sweep, an in-situ sea-surface aerosol (SSA) generator, will be deployed on the first two NAAMES cruises (November of 2015 and May/June 2016) to characterize the effects of surface seawater biological activity on the physical, chemical, optical and cloud nucleating properties of freshly emitted SSA. The investigator hypothesizes that the phytoplankton bloom state is not the dominant control over the magnitude of the organic fraction in freshly emitted SSA. Instead, he hypothesizes that the large reservoir of dissolved organic carbon in the ocean is responsible for the organic enrichment of SSA. The NAAMES project provides an excellent immediate opportunity to measure freshly emitted SSA and to assess the seawater parameters that affect its flux out of the ocean, composition, and impacts on clouds and chemistry in the marine atmosphere.