Bubbles bursting at the ocean surface produce sea spray aerosol droplets. This process changes the chemistry of sea spray by transferring organic matter from ocean water into the marine boundary layer. These bubbles can contain several classes of organic compounds that are emitted and transported through the air. In the atmosphere, these particles can affect the properties of clouds, impacting the amount of sunlight they reflect away from the Earth. A team of scientists, including a U.S. Department of Energy researcher at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, found that emitted aerosol particles containing long-chain carbon molecules can contribute significantly to the atmospheric particle population and affect the concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). The CCN, in turn, influence how clouds form and develop, and impact the climate by modifying Earth’s albedo (reflectivity). The team developed an observational approach that accounts more completely for macromolecular chemical resolution within the sea and then utilizes the distributions to predict the organic mass composition in fine-mode sea spray aerosol. This new approach permits estimation of oceanic concentrations and bubble film surface coverages for several classes of organic compounds. The research may provide useful mapped estimates of macromolecular distributions as a research guide for aerosol studies, such as the design of ship and aircraft-based experiments.