Oceanographer Faith February, our 51st!

Launched on #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience Faith February is a PhD student at the University of Cape Town who studies marine aerosols. These are tiny particles created by wind and waves, that float through the air and impact the global climate - how much they do is a big part of her research.

Marine aerosols can start as sea spray, when you go to the beach you know it, that misty wetness that covers EVERYTHING. Those droplets contain salt, organic molecules, sulphur compounds even and water. Those misty drops you feel are huge in comparison to the aerosols they become as the water in them evaporates. If you think about how much ocean there is and how many waves are crashing out at sea or against the coasts, then the amount of marine aerosols is mind boggling.

So how are they involved in climate change? These aerosols absorb and scatter light and heat and they can drift high into the atmosphere and even be involved in forming clouds which also have a role in how climate is regulated. Given how many marine aerosols there are, it would be good to know a lot about them but with a lot of things, particularly in hard to reach places, we don't know enough about marine aerosols. Faith's work is hoping to change that and provide better information that can be used in climate change models.