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Algal growth in the ocean leads to the production of lots of organic matter, which can concentrate at the sea surface. Here it can act like a detergent, changing the surface tension of the sea surface. This effect is important because more organic matter appears to help the production of aerosols that are important in promoting cloud formation over the ocean. And this helps keep our planet cool.

A NERC-funded project co-ordinated by Hugh Coe and Gordon McFiggans of the University of Manchester, with participation of David Green at SAMS, sought to understand how different types of algal-made organic matter influenced the production of cloud-promoting aerosols. The first step in this research, and the subject of this recent publication, was to identify the best method of generating aerosols in the laboratory that mimic aersol-forming processes occurring out at sea.  The findings show that a plunging-water jet was the best method for reproducing oceanic bubble spectral shapes.

Fuentes E, Coe H, Green D, de Leeuw G, McFiggans G (2010) Laboratory-generated primary marine aerosol via bubble-bursting and atomization. Atmos. Meas. Tech. 3:141-162.

Link to the paper..