This summer CAICE researchers are undertaking a large scale experiment that marks the end of 5 years of CAICE studies focused on understanding how seawater chemistry influences the atmosphere and climate!
It is an exciting time and involves many researchers from undergraduates here with the summer CAICE undergraduate research program (CAICE SURP) to research scientists and faculty working together to reach a common goal.
This summer’s project is being conducted at the unique CAICE ocean-atmosphere facility in the SIO hydraulics laboratory. Right now, the researchers are performing experiments designed to improve our understanding of how ocean biology influences the chemical composition of sea spray aerosol particles and cloud formation in the atmosphere, which ultimately affect the temperature of our planet. A major focus of CAICE involves probing the factors contributing to the release of microbes from the ocean to the atmosphere in the form of viruses and bacteria.
These bioparticles play an important role in forming clouds and their release from the ocean has been hypothesized as a way the Earth regulates the temperature of the planet.
To read more about the activities this summer and the perspectives from the researchers involved, please visit our summer blog page here!