New particle formation events observed at the King Sejong Station, Antarctic Peninsula – Part 2: Link with the oceanic biological activities

Abstract

Marine biota is an important source of atmospheric aerosol particles in the remote marine atmosphere. However, the relationship between new particle formation and marine biota is poorly quantified. Long-term observations (from 2009 to 2016) of the physical properties of atmospheric aerosol particles measured at the Antarctic Peninsula (King Sejong Station; 62.2 • S, 58.8 • W) and satellitederived estimates of the biological characteristics were analyzed to identify the link between new particle formation and marine biota. New particle formation events in the Antarctic atmosphere showed distinct seasonal variations, with the highest values occurring when the air mass originated from the ocean domain during the productive austral summer (December, January and February). Interestingly, new particle formation events were more frequent in the air masses that originated from the Bellingshausen Sea than in those that originated from the Weddell Sea. The monthly mean number concentration of nanoparticles (2.5-10 nm in diameter) was > 2-fold higher when the air masses passed over the Bellingshausen Sea than the Weddell Sea, whereas the biomass of phytoplankton in the Weddell Sea was more than ∼ 70 % higher than that of the Bellingshausen Sea during the austral summer period. Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is of marine origin and its oxidative products are known to be one of the major components in the formation of new particles. Both satellitederived estimates of the biological characteristics (dimethylsulfoniopropionate, DMSP; precursor of DMS) and phyto-plankton taxonomic composition and in situ methanesulfonic acid (84 daily measurements during the summer period in 2013 and 2014) analysis revealed that DMS(P)-rich phytoplankton were more dominant in the Bellingshausen Sea than in the Weddell Sea. Furthermore, the number concentration of nanoparticles was positively correlated with the biomass of phytoplankton during the period when DMS(P)-rich phytoplankton predominate. These results indicate that oceanic DMS emissions could play a key role in the formation of new particles; moreover, the taxonomic composition of phytoplankton could affect the formation of new particles in the Antarctic Ocean.

New particle formation events observed at King Sejong Station, Antarctic Peninsula – Part 1: Physical characteristics and contribution to cloud condensation nuclei

“…For instance, Weller et al (2015) reported that the GR at the Neumayer station varied between 0.4 and 1.9 nm h −1 , with an average of 0.90 ± 0.46 nm h −1 . However, our results are lower than those reported by Järvinen et al (2013), who studied NPF events at the Concordia station Dome C from December 2007 to November 2009 and showed a GR of 4.3 nm h −1 . This discrepancy is likely attributed to the number of analyzed days.…”

“…Approximately 72 % of the NPF occurred during the summer period, showing the highest value of 38 % in January. The clear difference in the frequency of the NPF events in austral summer and winter periods indicates that solar intensity and temperature play important roles in the formation and growth of aerosol particles, along with precursor vapors derived from marine biota activities in Antarctica (Virkkula et al, 2009;Weller et al, 2015;Jang et al, 2019). The FR of particles ranging from 2.5 to 10 nm varied from 0.16 to 9.88 cm −3 s −1 , with an average of 2.79 ± 1.05 cm −3 s −1 .…”

“…In order to understand the characteristics of the NPF, studies have been conducted in various regions including coastal, forest, mountainous, rural and urban sites (O'Dowd et al, 2002;Komppula et al, 2003;Yoon et al, 2006;Park et al, 2009;Kim et al, 2011;Rose et al, 2015;Bianchi et al, 2016;Kontkanen et al, 2017). In addition, studies on the NPF phenomenon have recently been conducted at various sites in the polar regions (Asmi et al, 2010;Järvinen et al, 2013;Kyrö et al, 2013;Park et al, 2004;Weller et al, 2015;Humphries et al, 2016;Nguyen et al, 2016;Willis et al, 2016;Barbaro et al, 2017;Dall'Osto et al, 2017). A NPF event occurring in the period between December 1998 and December 2000 at the South Pole was reported by Park et al (2004).…”

“…Although CCN concentrations were indirectly estimated at Aboa, Asmi et al (2010) also showed and discussed hygroscopic growth factor and CCN activity. In addition, studies on the NPF were conducted at the Concordia station Dome C (75.10 • S, 123.38 • E; Järvinen et al, 2013) and at the coastal Antarctic station Neumayer (70.65 • S, 8.25 • W; Weller et al, 2015). Although studies on NPF events have been conducted at various stations in Antarctica, no results are available for the station in the Antarctic Peninsula.…”

Influence of Biogenic Organics on the Chemical Composition of Arctic Aerosols

“…Secondary aerosol production occurs through the nucleation of gaseous precursors (e.g., sulfuric acid, ammonia, halocarbons, isoprene, and monoterpenes; Kulmala & Kerminen, ; Kirkby et al, ; Ehn et al, ; Ovadnevaite et al, ). Recently, several field and laboratory studies have shown that the physiochemical properties of primary and secondary marine organic aerosols are significantly related to biological activities at the ocean surface (O'Dowd et al, ; Facchini, Decesari, et al, ; Facchini, Rinaldi, et al, ; O'Dowd et al, ; Park et al, ; Rastelli et al, ; Jang, Park, et al, ).…”