Abstract
A monomolecular layer of radioactive stearic acid has been used to determine the concentration and transport of surface liquid microlayers from a natural seawater surface. The monolayer was prepared by allowing drops of a 0.08 mM solution of stearic acid dissolved in hexane to spread over the sample area, and then laterally compressing the resultant monomolecular layer with a castor oil film. The surface microlayers were sampled by collecting the top drop resulting from a gas bubble bursting at the air‐liquid interface.The ratio of surface liquid to bulk liquid in a drop increases with decreasing drop size, supporting our previous model. The measurements also show that small drops (diameters of 28–108 µm) are effective for removing organic surface‐active material from a seawater surface.
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