The sea surface microlayer plays an important role in air-sea interactions, especially in modulating the exchange of heat, mass, and momentum. The intensity of the modulation depends on the elasticity of the microlayer film, which in turn depends upon the chemical composition of the film. In this project a system will be developed for mapping the chemistry of the sea surface microlayer in near-real time. A surface skimming apparatus will be linked to a small mass spectrometer for deployment at sea from an instrument platform or small boat. The combination is expected to provide chemical mass spectral data about the microlayer with a resolution of of several minutes. The principal investigator expects that this instrumentation will deliver for the first time the ability to see details of the chemical nature of the microlayer on a time scale relevant to the physics of the sea-air interface.
