The relative contributions of jet and film drops from bursting bubbles to the sea-salt component of the marine aerosol is poorly understood. An analysis of the bubble and aerosol spectra produced by a laboratory model of a breaking wave or whitecap shows that film drops may play a much more important role than previously accorded. The model strongly suggests that most of the droplets smaller than 5--10 μm in diameter originate as film drops, derived from bubbles larger than 1 mm. The water-to-air flux of such droplets is adequate to account for the majority of maritime cloud condensation nuclei. The model also suggests that droplets larger than 20--25 μm originate as jet drops, derived from bubbles smaller than 1 mm. The model breaking wave produces an upwelling plume of bubbles whose concentration for all bubble sizes vastly exceeds the steady state or background bubble population observed at sea at depths greater than 1 m. Bubbles of up to 10 mm diameter were produced, and the bubble flux reached 200 cm-2 s-1. Whitecap bubble spectra presently unavailable, are therefore essential in making more accurate assessments of marine aerosol production.