Important Roles and Formation of Atmospheric Organosulfates in Marine Organic Aerosols: Influence of Phytoplankton Emissions and Anthropogenic Pollutants

Abstract

Organosulfates (OSs) could be potentially important compounds in marine organic aerosols, while their formation in marine atmospheres is far from clear due to a lack of cruise observations. In this work, shipboard atmospheric observations were conducted over the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea to investigate the abundance and formation of biogenic isoprene/monoterpene-OSs in marine aerosols. The quantified OSs and NOSs accounted for 0.04−6.9% of marine organic aerosols and were 0.07−2.2% of the non-sea-salt (nss) sulfate in terms of sulfur content. Isoprene-related (nitrooxy-)OSs occupied 27−87% of the total quantified OSs, following the abundance order of summer > autumn > spring or winter. This order was driven by the marine phytoplankton biomass and sea surface temperature (SST), which controlled the seawater and atmospheric isoprene concentration levels. Under the severe impacts of anthropogenic pollutants from the East Asia continent in winter, monoterpene nitrooxy-OSs, generated with NO x involved in, increased to 34.4 ± 35.5 ng/m 3 and contributed 68% of the quantified (nitrooxy-)OSs. Our results highlight the notable roles of biogenic OSs in marine organic aerosols over regions with high biological activity and high SST. The formation of biogenic OSs and their roles in altering marine aerosol properties calls for elaboration through cruise observations in different marine environments.

Molecular composition of clouds: a comparison between samples collected at tropical (Réunion Island, France) and mid-north (puy de Dôme, France) latitudes

“…Conversely, the contribution of CHOS was significantly higher (p<0.01) in REU samples (13.5% in number, 14.7% in weight) than in PUY samples (6.3% in number, 6.5% in weight). One explanation is the possible influence of fresh marine emissions at REU that can be responsible for the emission of organo-sulfate compounds (Wang et al, 2023). Similarly, the CHNOS were significantly lower in samples collected at REU (p<0.01).…”