Measurements of bioaerosols, bacteria and ionic composition in sea spray aerosols from experiments in the Baltic Sea

Julika Zinke, Gabriel Freitas, Rachel A. Foster, Paul Zieger, E. Douglas Nilsson, Piotr Markuszewski, Matthew E. Salter

Measurements of bioaerosols, bacteria and ionic composition in sea spray aerosols from sea spray chamber experiments with seawater from the Baltic Sea.

The measurements include bacteria enumeration and ionic composition. The bacteria cell counts from aerosol filters and seawater samples were obtained from fluorescence microscopy of 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) stained cells. The ionic composition were obtained from ion chromatography of the chamber aerosol and seawater samples. The data further comprises concentration estimates of coarse particles, fluorescent particles and fluorescent primary biological aerosol particles (fPBAP) obtained from multiparameter bioaerosol spectrometer (MBS) measurements.

The data is used to investigate the emissions of primary biological particles and bacteria with sea spray aerosols from the Baltic Sea.

The measurements were conducted during two ship based campaigns onboard research vessels Oceania and Electra in the proximity of Östergarnsholm island in the Baltic Sea in May and August 2021.

Citation

Julika Zinke, Gabriel Freitas, Rachel A. Foster, Paul Zieger, E. Douglas Nilsson, Piotr Markuszewski, Matthew E. Salter (2024) Measurements of bioaerosols, bacteria and ionic composition in sea spray aerosols from experiments in the Baltic Sea. Dataset version 1. Bolin Centre Database. https://doi.org/10.17043/zinke-2024-baltic-bioaerosols-1

Data description

The dataset consists of three spreadsheet (xlsx) files.

• bacteria-concentrations-aerosol-seawater-fluorescence-microscopy.xlsx
  Bacterial cell concentrations per L of air in the aerosol produced in the sea spray chamber as well as bacterial cell counts per mL of bulk seawater and surface microlayer samples. The bacterial cell concentrations were determined by fluorescence microscopy of 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) stained cells. In the case of the chamber aerosol samples, samples were collected onto filters which were extracted in ultrapure water by sonication. The spreadsheet contains the cell concentrations in the extract as well as the concentrations of cells remaining on the extracted filters (that were not effectively extracted during sonication) when available. Only concentrations measured during the August campaign onboard R/V Electra are presented.

• ionic-concentrations-seawater-aerosol.xlsx
  Concentrations (in mg/L) of the cations sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium and the anions chloride and sulphate in the chamber aerosol (including handling blanks) and seawater samples. The seawater samples were diluted with ultrapure water at a ratio of 1:20 prior to analysis. Note that we have already accounted for this dilution in the data provided here. The abbreviation SSC denotes sea spray chamber aerosol samples, SW denotes subsurface (bulk) seawater samples and SML denotes surface microlayer samples. Ionic concentrations were measured during both campaigns onboard R/V Oceania in May and onboard R/V Electra in August 2021.

• MBS-data.xlsx
  contains the time resolved concentrations of coarse particles (>0.8 µm), fluorescent particles and fluorescent primary biological particles (fPBAP) per litre of air. NaN values in columns B, C and D indicate missing data. Column E contains a flag indicating whether the data was measured connected to the sea spray simulation chamber or on ambient air. Column F and G contain flags that indicate good data (marked with NaN) and bad data (marked with 1) that was measured on the chamber and ambient air, respectively. The MBS data was only measured during the August campaign onboard R/V Electra.

Comments

Attached to the chamber aerosol filter samples were collected for bacteria enumeration and ionic composition analysis. Additionally, continuous measurements were conducted of coarse particles (with diameters >0.8 µm), fluorescent particles and fluorescent primary biological aerosol particles (fPBAP) using a multiparameter bioaerosol spectrometer (MBS). These measurements were conducted both connected to the sea spray simulation chamber as well as on ambient air. Furthermore, bulk seawater samples and surface microlayer samples were collected.