Biologically active regions of the surface ocean support production of a range of compounds that influence aerosol particle production, composition and properties in the overlying marine boundary layer. In February–March 2012 the SOAP (Surface Ocean Aerosol Production) voyage examined biotic influences on aerosol production to the east of New Zealand, by targeting phytoplankton blooms along the Sub-Tropical Front, with the aim of constraining the relationships between DMS and aerosol flux and characteristics, and phytoplankton biomass and community composition, by multi-disciplinary research within three work packages:

• WP1: surface ocean biogeochemical links with aerosol precursors;
• WP2: exchange rate and physical drivers of the transfer of DMS & CO₂;
• WP3: organic emissions, nucleation and interactions with the aerosol distribution in the overlying marine boundary layer.

The results of this research voyage will be detailed in this special issue, which will contain invited papers only.