I.

OBJECTIVES OF SEAREX |

The Sea/Air Exchange (SEAREX) Program is a multi-institional program
funded by the National Science Foundation, Office for the International Decade

of Ocean Exploration.
1.

The objectives of the overall] program are threefold:

The quantitative measurement of atmospher ig fluxes of selected

heavy metals (e.g., Pb, Cd, Zn, Se, Sb, As, Cu, Hg, Ag),

¢!9Pb and its

daughter
Po and organic compounds such as the man-associated PCB, DDT,
polynuclear aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons, phthalate plasticizers and

the natural occurring steroidal and terpenoid hydrocarbons, fatty acids and
alcohols, low molecular weight compounds such as ketones, aldehydes, and

carboxylic acids to the ocean surface.

2. The identification of the sources for these substances in the
marine atmosphere.

3. The investigation of mechanisms of exchange of these substances
across the sea/air interface.
To atain these objectives a program of 5-6 years duration is expected.
Major components of the program include:
1. Estimation, from rain and dry deposition measurements, of the
flux of heavy metals and organic substances during the wet and dry seasons at
Mid-Pacific sites in the North and South Pacific Ocean. These sites will be
at Enewetak Atoll in the North Pacific trades and at Tutuila Island, American
Samoa in the South Pacific trades.
2.
Investigation of the importance of the ocean as a source for
atmospheric heavy metals and organic substances through enrichment and

fractionation effects occurring during the production of atmospheric sea salt
particles by bursting bubbles.

These studies will be undertaken using the Bubble

Interfacial Microlayer Sampler (BIMS) developed at the University of Rhode Island

together with an assessment of the natural occurrence of bubbles under varying
conditions.

3. Evaluation of the significance of soil and vegetation emissions,
forest fires, and chemical manufacturing sites as sources of the volatile
metals and organic substances found in the marine atmosphere.
4.

Identification of tne natural or anthropogenic origin of Pb in

marine aerosols by means of Pb isotope tracers and mass balance relationships

of present atmospheric input fluxes with prehistoric sediment output fluxes.
5.

Investigation, using classical as well as sophisticated laser

fluorescence techniques, of the distribution and exchange between the particulate

and vapor phase of organics and of the relatively volatile heavy metals such
as Pb, Cd, Zn, Se, Sb, As, Cu, Hg, and Ag.
6.

Investigation of bubble surface area and volume spectra in the

sea and the relative importance of single bubbles and bubble rafts as sources

of atmospheric spray and sea salt particles, both as a function of wind speed.

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