The microbiota of the world's oceans produce a plethora of organic gases leading to ocean emissions . Such emissions are particularly important for atmospheric chemistry in the polar regions which are relatively pristine and far away from terrestrial sources . Among organic gases, non-methane hydrocarbons can act as a sink for OH in marine air and can contribute substantially to aerosol as well as new particle formation . Accurately quantifying natural marine aerosol particularly in the polar regions is crucial to estimate aerosol climate forcing , especially since secondary organic aerosols (SOA) have been suggested to exert a strong effect on cloud formation . The term SOA refers to the organic fraction of aerosol derived from atmospherically oxidised organic precursor compounds. Global models currently hugely underestimate marine aerosol and parameters such as aerosol optical depth or aerosol concentrations in regions where anthropogenic influence is lowest. Studying the pristine ocean atmosphere allows understanding and setting of the pre-industrial (i.e. pristine) baseline of SOA precursors, which is critical for modelling assessments of anthropogenic forcing .