Detecting high contributions of primary organic matter to marine aerosol: a case study
Ovadnevaite, Jurgita O'Dowd, Colin Dall'Osto, Manuel Ceburnis, Darius Worsnop, Douglas R. Berresheim, Harald
Ovadnevaite, Jurgita
O'Dowd, Colin
Dall'Osto, Manuel
Ceburnis, Darius
Worsnop, Douglas R.
Berresheim, Harald
Publication Date
2011-01-01
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Article
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Ovadnevaite, Jurgita; O'Dowd, Colin; Dall'Osto, Manuel; Ceburnis, Darius; Worsnop, Douglas R. Berresheim, Harald (2011). Detecting high contributions of primary organic matter to marine aerosol: a case study. Geophysical Research Letters 38 ,
Abstract
Using on-line High-Resolution Aerosol Mass Spectrometry, we report submicron organic marine aerosol plume concentrations peaking at 3.8 mu g m(-3). These concentrations are far greater than previously determined by off-line techniques and can exceed typical terrestrial concentrations of organic aerosol. The organic mass comprised 77% of the total submicron non-refractory mass and such plumes were associated with regions of high biological activity and moderately-high wind speeds over the N.E. Atlantic. High-resolution mass spectra analysis revealed a unique marine organic aerosol fingerprint, when compared to anthropogenic organic aerosol, and in particular, anthropogenic hydrocarbons. 37% hydrocarbon and 63% oxygenated hydrocarbon speciation was observed for the organic mass, indicating that at least 37% of the organic mass is produced via primary sea-spray. The hydrocarbon and oxygenated hydrocarbon species were highly correlated (r > 0.99) suggesting a significant, if not dominant, fraction of the oxygenated component is also likely to be sea-spray in origin. Citation: Ovadnevaite, J., C. O'Dowd, M. Dall'Osto, D. Ceburnis, D. R. Worsnop, and H. Berresheim (2011), Detecting high contributions of primary organic matter to marine aerosol: A case study, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L02807, doi: 10.1029/2010GL046083.
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Wiley-Blackwell
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland