On the Link Between Ocean Biota Emissions, Aerosols, and Maritime Clouds: Airborne, Ground, and Space-borne Measurements Along the Coast of California

Surface, airborne, and space-borne remote sensing measurements are used to explore the physical relationship between ocean biota emissions, aerosols, and marine clouds off the coast of California. An emphasis is placed in this study on decoupling aerosol effects and atmospheric dynamical effects when evaluating the relationship between ocean biota emissions and clouds. The California current drives upwelling near the coast bringing up nutrient-rich waters, resulting in oceanic blooms. A direct link exists between enhanced oceanic biota emissions, as determined by chlorophyll A concentrations, and aerosol composition. Ocean biota emissions are shown to be a source of particulates amines, and formation mechanisms are explored in this work. The relative abundance of particulate organic species originating from biota emissions is compared to other components of marine aerosol originating from anthropogenic emissions. We further evaluate how the change in aerosol composition influences other aerosol properties such as subsaturated hygroscopicity, size distribution, and cloud condensation nucleus activity. In addition, we examine how cloud drop number concentrations and cloud effective radius vary as a function of chlorophyll A levels.