• Accepted Paper

Advances in understanding the role of salt and surfactants on aerosol and drop emission by collective bubble bursting

Tristan Aurégan, Megan Mazzatenta, Samuel M. Koblensky, and Luc Deike

Phys. Rev. Fluids - Accepted 1 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tv7k-pz1n

Abstract

Drop production from bursting bubbles is fundamental to understand sea salt and organic aerosol production, or the transport of pathogens and aroma. However, the virtually unavoidable presence of contaminants in practical situations means that processes at the scale of the films, bubbles, and rafts are influenced by surface-active agents and salts. In this perspective, we review recent experimental and numerical advances in the understanding of drop production in the presence of contamination. We start from classical relationships that quantitatively describe drop production in the absence of contamination, and then review how processes at different scales are modified. At the individual bubble scale, jet drop formation is altered in a non-uniform manner, and film drop formation is subjected to modification of bubble drainage and lifetime. At the collective level, we separate effects of polydisperse, ocean-like bubble size distributions, and monodisperse, champagne-like bubble size distributions. For ocean-like polydisperse bubble size distributions, we discuss how surfactants increase film drop production and suppress jet drops, while large increases in salt concentration result in similar sized but more numerous aerosols. For sparkling wine-like monodisperse bubble rafts, we review collective effects due to neighboring bubbles acting on the cavity collapse and linked to a strong reduction of jet drop size.

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