Abstract. Mixing states of soot-containing aerosol particles
constitute important information for the simulation of climatic effects of
black carbon in the atmosphere. To elucidate the mixing states and
morphological features of soot-containing particles over remote oceans, we
conducted on-board observations over the southern Indian Ocean and the
Southern Ocean during the TR/V Umitaka-maru UM-08-09 cruise, which started
from Benoa, Indonesia, on 1 December 2008 via Cape Town, South Africa, and
which terminated in Fremantle, Australia, on 6 February 2009. The light
absorption coefficients of size-segregated particles (< 0.5 and
< 1.0 µm diameter) and aerosol number concentrations
(0.1–0.5 µm diameter) were measured to assist direct aerosol sampling.
Size-segregated aerosol particles were collected for chemical analysis using
ion chromatography. For transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses
using water-dialysis methods, dried submicrometer aerosol particles were
collected using a cascade impactor. We analyzed 13 TEM samples. Results of
water-dialysis analysis demonstrate that most particles were water-soluble.
However, for all TEM samples, particles were rarely found (2.1 % of
particles on a TEM sample at a maximum) containing insoluble residuals
with the characteristic soot shape. For samples collected over the Indian
and Southern oceans at latitudes less than 62∘ S, some
(20–35 %) soot-containing particles were found as bare soot. For samples
collected near the Antarctic coast (65–68∘ S, 38–68∘ E),
all soot-containing particles were mixed with water-soluble materials.
Furthermore, 56 % of soot-containing particles had a satellite structure
formed by the impact of droplets such as sulfuric acid. Chemical analysis of
submicrometer particles near the Antarctic coast revealed high
concentrations of non-sea-salt (nss) SO42- and
CH3SO3-, suggesting that aged soot-containing particles were
transformed by soluble materials derived from dimethyl sulfide (DMS) oxidation. The obtained
information of soot at various remote ocean areas is expected to be useful
to understand long-range transport processes and to improve simulations of
global soot concentration.