Abstract An adsorptive bubble separation technique was used to show that a substantial fraction of particulate trace metals in open ocean surface water samples could be adsorbed transported by bubbles to the sea-air interface. Rates of transport by bubbles were estimated for Sargasso Sea surface waters and were of the same order of magnitude as atmospheric fluxes to the sea surface. Large particles formed readily in the froth. The bubble transport flux was in remarkable agreement with an independently estimated flux of particulate trace metals to deep waters associated with sinking organic matter. Bubble-induced aggregation may accelerate the removal of particulate trace metals from the mixed layer.