A dual behavior of primary marine organics

High-time resolution measurements of primary marine organic sea spray physico-chemical properties reveal submicron organic marine aerosol plume concentrations peaking at 3.8 mu g m-3, moreover, it shows an apparent dichotomous behavior of marine organics in terms of water uptake: specifically sea-spray aerosol enriched in organic matter possesses a low Hydroscopic Growth Factor (HGF similar to 1.25) while simultaneously having a cloud condensation nucleus/condensation nuclei (CCN/CN) activation efficiency of between 83% at 0.25% supersaturation and 100% at 0.75%. Simultaneous retrieval of Cloud Droplet Number Concentration (CDNC) during primary organic aerosol plumes reveals CDNC concentrations of 350 cm(-3) for organic mass concentrations 3-4 mu g m(-3). It is demonstrated that the retrieved high CDNCs under clean marine conditions can only be explained by organic sea-spray and corroborates the high CCN activation efficiency associated with primary organics. It is postulated that marine hydrogels are responsible for this dichotomous behavior