Surface active organic material

During the past 40 years, meteorologists and environment specialists have become increasingly aware of the importance of natural sea bubble processes. Their importance to meteorology stems in part from the fact that surface-active organic material in the sea, mainly biological surfactants, tends to concentrate at the surface (ref. 85). 

In the past three decades, it has become clear that a rather large amount of surface-active organic material ends up in each tiny droplet ejected into the air by bursting bubbles. Some of these materials may reach concentrations in (or on) the droplets well over a thousand times their bulk concentrations in sea water (ref. 46,85,92). The water in the droplets that remain airborne eventually evaporates, leaving the nonvolatile materials to float around in the atmosphere (ref. 46) and ultimately settle out and, as a result, contribute appreciably to soil nutrients (ref. 93-95). 

Surface-active organic material undoubtedly exists on the surface of nearly all fresh water bodies, as was found on all those studied in England... 

No reported experiments detect surface-active organic material on film drops, but several report an enrichment of various elements in the film drops (86, 87, 88). New research in this area has been presented (89). 

Amount of Organic Material Ejected into the Atmosphere. A rough estimate can be made of both the enrichment of organic material on jet drops and film drops and of the total amount of surface-active organic material ejected from sea to air per year. Analysis of collections of sea-salt particles and sea water drops in the atmosphere near Hawaii 4, 96)... 

Blanchard, D. G., Surface Active Organic Material on Airborne Salt... 

The sea salt particles produced in this way are composed mostly of sodium chloride, which reflects the composition of sea water. Among other substances, marine particulate matter also contains a large amount of sulfates (see Subsection 3.6.2). Furthermore, during their rise through the water, bubbles scavenge a lot of surface active organic materials which are partly injected into the air when the bubbles burst (see Subsection 3.3.3). 

Barger, W.R. and Garrett, W.D., 1976. Surface active organic material in air over the Mediterranean and over the eastern equatorial Pacific. J. Geophys. Res., 81 3151— 3157. 

Abstract Surface-active organic material is a key component of atmospheric aerosols. The presence of surfactants can influence aerosol heterogeneous chemistiy, cloud formation, and ice nucleation. We review the current state of the science on the sources, properties, and impacts of surfactants in atmospheric aerosols. 

Fig. 1 Schematic of surface-active organic material in a deliquesced aerosol particle. Surface organics can potentially inhibit the uptake of gas-phase species to the particle, enhance ice nncle-ation, and depress particle surface tension, with important implications for aerosol heterogeneous chemistry and cloud formation...

Finally, for a complete picture of the multiple roles of surface-active organic material in the chemistry and physics of aerosols, field experiments are needed which couple direct observations of aerosol heterogeneous chemistry [148], CCN, and ESf activity with studies of aerosol composition, surface tension, and particle morphology. New techniques which provide speciated ambient aerosol organic composition [297] or functional group information [298] are expected to yield additional insight. 

Barger WR, Garrett WD (1970) Surface active organic material in the marine atmosphere. J Geophys Res 75 4561 566... 

Blanchard, D.C. (1968). Surface active organic material on airborne salt particles, page 25 in Proceedings of the International Conference on CMud Physics (American Meteorological Society, Boston, Massachusetts). 

---