Oceans dominate emissions of dimethyl sulfide (DMS), the major natural sulfur source. DMS is important for the formation of non-sea salt sulfate (nss-SO 4 2− ) aerosols and secondary particulate matter over oceans and thus, significantly influence global climate. The mechanism of DMS oxidation has accordingly been investigated in several different model studies in the past. However, these studies had restricted oxidation mechanisms that mostly underrepresented important aqueous-phase chemical processes. These neglected but highly effective processes strongly impact direct product yields of DMS oxidation, thereby affecting the climatic influence of aerosols. To address these shortfalls, an extensive multiphase DMS chemistry mechanism, the Chemical Aqueous Phase Radical Mechanism DMS Module 1.0, was developed and used in detailed model investigations of multiphase DMS chemistry in the marine boundary layer. The performed model studies confirmed the importance of aqueousphase chemistry for the fate of DMS and its oxidation products. Aqueous-phase processes significantly reduce the yield of sulfur dioxide and increase that of methyl sulfonic acid (MSA), which is needed to close the gap between modeled and measured MSA concentrations. Finally, the simulations imply that multiphase DMS oxidation produces equal amounts of MSA and sulfate, a result that has significant implications for nss-SO 4 2− aerosol formation, cloud condensation nuclei concentration, and cloud albedo over oceans. Our findings show the deficiencies of parameterizations currently used in higher-scale models, which only treat gas-phase chemistry. Overall, this study shows that treatment of DMS chemistry in both gas and aqueous phases is essential to improve the accuracy of model predictions. ) contribute to the formation of new aerosol particles as well as secondary particulate matter and are, thus, important for human health and the Earth's climate (1). Globally, anthropogenic sulfur emissions in the form of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) dominate atmospheric production of gaseous H 2 SO 4 and particle-phase sulfate. However, the main natural source of sulfur is the oxidation of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) emitted by oceans (2), which is the most important precursor for non-sea salt sulfate (nss-SO 4 2− ) aerosols over the open ocean (3). Sulfate aerosols strongly influence the climate both by direct negative radiative forcing (4) and as a dominant source of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) over the open ocean (5). Because oceans cover about 70% of Earth's surface (6) and have generally low albedo, DMS oxidation plays a major role in influencing the natural radiative forcing of sulfate aerosols as well as cloud properties (3).Investigations of the effect of DMS oxidation on natural sulfate aerosol concentrations and cloud and aerosol properties require an accurate, reduced DMS oxidation scheme in chemical transport models (CTMs) and global climate models (GCMs). Current parameterizations use fixed yields of SO 2 and methyl sulfonic acid (MSA) to calculate new nss...

Dimethyl sulfide (DMS), produced by marine organisms, represents the most abundant, biogenic sulfur emission into the Earth´s atmosphere. The gas-phase degradation of DMS is mainly initiated by the reaction with the OH radical forming first CH SCH O radicals from the dominant H-abstraction channel. It is experimentally shown that these peroxy radicals undergo a two-step isomerization process finally forming a product consistent with the formula HOOCH 2 SCHO. The isomerization process is accompanied by OH recycling. The rate-limiting first isomerization step, CH 3 SCH 2 O 2  CH 2 SCH 2 OOH, followed by O 2 addition, proceeds with k = (0.23  0.12) s-1 at 295 ± 2 K. Competing bimolecular CH 3 SCH 2 O 2 reactions with NO, HO 2 or RO 2 radicals are less important for trace-gas conditions over the oceans. Results of atmospheric chemistry simulations demonstrate the predominance (95%) of CH 3 SCH 2 O 2 isomerization. The rapid peroxy radical isomerization, not yet considered in models, substantially changes the understanding of DMS´s degradation processes in the atmosphere.

Monocyclic aromatic compounds are ubiquitous in the polluted troposphere and contribute to the formation of tropospheric ozone and anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol, including brown carbon. Currently available physico-chemical data including aqueous-phase kinetic and mechanistic data, as well as phase-transfer parameters have been compiled and reviewed, to construct a novel aqueous-phase oxidation mechanism for monocyclic aromatic compounds. The performed chemical mechanism development results in a comprehensive aqueous-phase oxidation mechanism (addressed as CAPRAM-AM1.0), which includes 292 processes considering the oxidation of different aromatic compounds. Detailed numerical simulations with the air parcel model SPACCIM are carried out for different urban environmental and seasonal conditions. Results show that the aqueous-phase chemistry of aromatic compounds, particularly in clouds, increases the organic aerosol mass by up to 10% in total. The absolute contribution to aqSOA in summertime is modelled to be 260 ng m-3 and 1.2 μg m-3 under moderate and strongly polluted conditions, respectively. Aqueous-phase oxidations of aromatic compounds are important not only for the degradation, but also for the formation of nitrated aromatic compounds. In-cloud chemistry contributes up to 54% to the nitrocatechol oxidation and up to 37% to its formation under polluted tropospheric conditions. Besides, nitrated aromatic compounds contribute up to 5.4 μg m-3 to modelled brown carbon concentration in cloud droplets and 140 ng m-3 in aerosol particles. Further, the model simulations indicate that besides OH radical oxidations, aromatic compounds with two hydroxyl groups are also strongly oxidised by O3 and HO2. O3 contributes with 49% to 68% and HO2 with 19% to 22% to the aqueous-phase oxidation of catechol under moderate and strong polluted environmental conditions studied.

Detailed multiphase chemistry box model studies are carried out, investigating halogen radical activation at polluted coastal areas. Simulations are performed for a nonpermanent cloud and a cloud-free scenario and reveal that ClNO 2 photolysis and ICl photolysis are crucial for gas-phase Cl atom activation. In the cloud scenario, the integrated ClNO 2 and ICl photolysis rates are 3.7 × 10 7 and 3.1 × 10 7 molecules cm −3 s −1 . In the cloud-free scenario, the integrated ClNO 2 and ICl photolysis rates are 8.1 × 10 7 and 3.6 × 10 7 molecules cm −3 s −1 . The simulations show larger contributions of ClNO 2 photolysis in the morning and higher ones of ICl photolysis during afternoon. Throughout the simulation, average contributions to Cl atom activation in the cloud and cloud-free scenarios by ClNO 2 photolysis are 42% and 62% and by ICl photolysis 35% and 28%, respectively. ICl is formed through an aqueous-phase reaction of HOI with chloride. Two thirds of the formed ICl is released into the gas phase. The residual third reacts with bromide, creating IBr. Overall, the simulations emphasize the crucial role of INO 3 hydrolysis for Cl and Br atom activation in polluted coastal areas. Therefore, it needs to be considered in chemical transport models to improve air quality predictions.