Marine regions where deep nutrient-rich water is pushed towards the surface are called upwelling regions. In these nutrient-rich waters large algal blooms form which are the basis of the marine food web. We measured methane sulfonamide, a molecule containing sulfur and nitrogen, for the first time in ambient air and could show that the origin of this emission is an algal bloom near the Somalia upwelling. Sulfur-containing compounds from algae can promote particle formation over the oceans.