Sea Spray Generation by Collective Bubble Bursting

The bursting of surface bubbles, understood as a production mechanism of sea spray aerosols, is a key feature of gas and mass transfers between ocean and atmosphere. While recent progress has been made to understand the role of water physico-chemistry on the aerosols, experimental works linking the statistics of spray droplets to collective effects on the bubbles assembly remain elusive. Our experimental study, based on a laboratory bubble plume controlling the void fraction, water temperature, surfactant concentration and salinity, characterizes directly the liquid droplets production. We then relate the spray statistical properties to the bubbles collective behavior. Trends with respect to the control parameters are finally discussed.