A series of laboratory experiments using natural seawater conducted to examine several factors which influence the organic (OC) content of marine atmospheric sea-salt particles produced by bursting bubbles at the air-sea interface. The organic carbon-Na radio of these laboratory-generated atmospheric sea-salt particles was found to be dependent on the quantity of organic carbon in the seawater, the nature of the organic compounds in the seawater, the amount of surfactants in the seawater, and the distance the bubbles traveled in seawater before bursting at the air-seawater interface. The disolved and/or colloidal fractions of the organic material in the seawater used were primarily responsible for the organic carbon content of the atmospheric particles. Filtration of the seawater did not affect the OC/Na ratio of the aerosols produced. The OC/Na ratio of atmospheric sea-salt particles generated from Sargasso seawater was 0.008¿0.005, while that of particles generated from Narragansett Bay water was 0.093¿0.053. |