. >> atmospheric chemist, kimberly prather and her team are tackling complex issues head-on. >> aerosolcles are complicated chemical mixtures of everything. millions to billions of different compounds. >> figuring out how the chemistry of what lies on the ocean's surface has an impact on cloud formation and weather, two of the most challenging environmental unknowns. >> it's actually blowing apart. so each time it comes down, that's a fingerprint of another particle. dust, sea spray. >> sea spray is one of many aerosols that researchers at scrips are studying. the aerosols float in the mist we see when waves crash along the shore. >> when i hear aerosol, i think of the spray can type. you and everything else but that's not what you are studying. we are talking about air solis like sea spray. >> myriad of interactions that leads to our myriad of different chemicals that be produced in the sea water, different types of sea water and microorganisms can be lost into the air. >> the chemistry of what's in the sea water and what makes it out, that's what is important to the clouds and climate