Role of Sea Surface Microlayer Properties in Cloud Formation

Brianna N. Hendrickson; Sarah D. Brooks; Daniel C.O. Thornton; Richard H. Moore; Ewan Crosbie; Luke D. Ziemba; Craig A. Carlson; Nicholas Baetge; Jessica A. Mirrielees; Alyssa N. Alsante

doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.596225

Role of Sea Surface Microlayer Properties in Cloud Formation

Brianna N. Hendrickson, Sarah D. Brooks, Daniel C.O. Thornton, Richard H. Moore, Ewan Crosbie, Luke D. Ziemba, Craig A. Carlson, Nicholas Baetge, Jessica A. Mirrielees, Alyssa N. Alsante

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

To date, the relative contribution of primary marine organic matter to the subset of atmospheric particles that nucleate cloud droplets is highly uncertain. Here, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) measurements were conducted on aerosolized sea surface microlayer (SML) samples collected from the North Atlantic Ocean during the NASA North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES), κ values were predicted for three representative high molecular weight (HMW) organic components of marine aerosol: 6-glucose, humic acid, and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO). The predicted κ values for pure organic aerosols varied by only ±0.01 across all of the organics chosen. For the desalted SML samples, calculations assuming an organic composition of entirely RuBisCO provided the closest predicted κ values for the desalted SML samples with a mean κ value of 0.53 ± 0.10. These results indicate that it is the sea salt in the SML which drives the cloud formation potential of marine aerosols. While the presence of organic material from the ocean surface waters may increase aerosol mass due to enrichment processes, cloud formation potential of mixed organic/salt primary marine aerosols will be slightly weakened or unchanged compared to sea spray aerosol.

Original language	English
Article number	596225
Journal	Frontiers in Marine Science
Volume	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.596225
State	Published - Jan 18 2021
Externally published	Yes

Funding

Thanks to Thomas Bell at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory for providing the SML sampling screen, and thanks to Thomas Bell and Brandon Stephens at the University of California, Santa Barbara for assisting in SML sample collection. Funding. Funding for this project was provided by the NSF Atmospheric Chemistry Program, Award #1539881 to SB and DCOT. Funding for sample collection was provided by NASA Earth Venture Suborbital-2 (EVS-2) Award #NNX15AE68G and NSF OCE-157943 to CC. Funding for this project was provided by the NSF Atmospheric Chemistry Program, Award #1539881 to SB and DCOT. Funding for sample collection was provided by NASA Earth Venture Suborbital-2 (EVS-2) Award #NNX15AE68G and NSF OCE-157943 to CC.

Funders	Funder number
National Science Foundation	1539881
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	15AE68G, OCE-157943
University of California, Santa Barbara

Keywords

aerosol
cloud condensation nuclei
cloud formation
desalting
microlayer
organic compounds

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10.3389/fmars.2020.596225

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title = "Role of Sea Surface Microlayer Properties in Cloud Formation",

abstract = "To date, the relative contribution of primary marine organic matter to the subset of atmospheric particles that nucleate cloud droplets is highly uncertain. Here, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) measurements were conducted on aerosolized sea surface microlayer (SML) samples collected from the North Atlantic Ocean during the NASA North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES), κ values were predicted for three representative high molecular weight (HMW) organic components of marine aerosol: 6-glucose, humic acid, and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO). The predicted κ values for pure organic aerosols varied by only ±0.01 across all of the organics chosen. For the desalted SML samples, calculations assuming an organic composition of entirely RuBisCO provided the closest predicted κ values for the desalted SML samples with a mean κ value of 0.53 ± 0.10. These results indicate that it is the sea salt in the SML which drives the cloud formation potential of marine aerosols. While the presence of organic material from the ocean surface waters may increase aerosol mass due to enrichment processes, cloud formation potential of mixed organic/salt primary marine aerosols will be slightly weakened or unchanged compared to sea spray aerosol.",

keywords = "aerosol, cloud condensation nuclei, cloud formation, desalting, microlayer, organic compounds",

author = "Hendrickson, {Brianna N.} and Brooks, {Sarah D.} and Thornton, {Daniel C.O.} and Moore, {Richard H.} and Ewan Crosbie and Ziemba, {Luke D.} and Carlson, {Craig A.} and Nicholas Baetge and Mirrielees, {Jessica A.} and Alsante, {Alyssa N.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Copyright {\textcopyright} 2021 Hendrickson, Brooks, Thornton, Moore, Crosbie, Ziemba, Carlson, Baetge, Mirrielees and Alsante.",

year = "2021",

month = jan,

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doi = "10.3389/fmars.2020.596225",

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AU - Hendrickson, Brianna N.

AU - Brooks, Sarah D.

AU - Thornton, Daniel C.O.

AU - Moore, Richard H.

AU - Crosbie, Ewan

AU - Ziemba, Luke D.

AU - Carlson, Craig A.

AU - Baetge, Nicholas

AU - Mirrielees, Jessica A.

AU - Alsante, Alyssa N.

PY - 2021/1/18

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N2 - To date, the relative contribution of primary marine organic matter to the subset of atmospheric particles that nucleate cloud droplets is highly uncertain. Here, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) measurements were conducted on aerosolized sea surface microlayer (SML) samples collected from the North Atlantic Ocean during the NASA North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES), κ values were predicted for three representative high molecular weight (HMW) organic components of marine aerosol: 6-glucose, humic acid, and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO). The predicted κ values for pure organic aerosols varied by only ±0.01 across all of the organics chosen. For the desalted SML samples, calculations assuming an organic composition of entirely RuBisCO provided the closest predicted κ values for the desalted SML samples with a mean κ value of 0.53 ± 0.10. These results indicate that it is the sea salt in the SML which drives the cloud formation potential of marine aerosols. While the presence of organic material from the ocean surface waters may increase aerosol mass due to enrichment processes, cloud formation potential of mixed organic/salt primary marine aerosols will be slightly weakened or unchanged compared to sea spray aerosol.

AB - To date, the relative contribution of primary marine organic matter to the subset of atmospheric particles that nucleate cloud droplets is highly uncertain. Here, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) measurements were conducted on aerosolized sea surface microlayer (SML) samples collected from the North Atlantic Ocean during the NASA North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES), κ values were predicted for three representative high molecular weight (HMW) organic components of marine aerosol: 6-glucose, humic acid, and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO). The predicted κ values for pure organic aerosols varied by only ±0.01 across all of the organics chosen. For the desalted SML samples, calculations assuming an organic composition of entirely RuBisCO provided the closest predicted κ values for the desalted SML samples with a mean κ value of 0.53 ± 0.10. These results indicate that it is the sea salt in the SML which drives the cloud formation potential of marine aerosols. While the presence of organic material from the ocean surface waters may increase aerosol mass due to enrichment processes, cloud formation potential of mixed organic/salt primary marine aerosols will be slightly weakened or unchanged compared to sea spray aerosol.

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Role of Sea Surface Microlayer Properties in Cloud Formation

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