EGU Journal Logos (RGB) Open Access Open Access Open Access Advances in Annales Nonlinear Processes Geosciences Geophysicae in Geophysics Open Access Open Access Natural Hazards Natural Hazards and Earth System and Earth System Sciences Sciences Discussions Open Access Open Access Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 8669–8694, 2013 Atmospheric Atmospheric www.atmos-chem-phys.net/13/8669/2013/ doi:10.5194/acp-13-8669-2013 Chemistry Chemistry © Author(s) 2013. CC Attribution 3.0 License. and Physics and Physics Discussions Open Access Open Access Atmospheric Atmospheric Measurement Measurement Techniques Techniques Sub-Antarctic marine aerosol: dominant contributions from Discussions Open Access Open Access biogenic sources Biogeosciences Biogeosciences Discussions J. Schmale1,2,*, J. Schneider1, E. Nemitz2, Y. S. Tang2, U. Dragosits2, T. D. Blackall3, P. N. Trathan4, G. J. Phillips1, M. Sutton2, and C. F. Braban2 1 Open Access Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany Open Access 2NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Edinburgh, UK Climate 3 Climate Kings College London, London, UK of the Past 4British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK of the Past *now at: Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V., Potsdam, Germany Discussions Open Access Correspondence to: J. Schmale ([email protected]) Open Access Earth System Received: 5 March 2013 – Published in Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss.: 27 March 2013 Earth System Revised: 5 July 2013 – Accepted: 22 July 2013 – Published: 3 September 2013 Dynamics Dynamics Discussions Abstract. Biogenic influences on the composition and char- and sulfate transported from South America. M-OOA was Open Access acteristics of aerosol were investigated on Bird Island the dominant organic factorGeoscientific and found to be similar to ma- Geoscientific Open Access (54◦000 S, 38◦030 W) in the South Atlantic during Novem- rine OA observed at MaceInstrumentation Head, Ireland. An additional OA Instrumentation ber and December 2010. This remote marine environment is factor highly correlated withMethods sea spray aerosol and was identified Methods and characterised by large seabird and seal colonies. The chem- (SS-OA). However, based on the available data the type of ical composition of the submicron particles, measured by mixture, internal or external,Data could Systems not be determined. Potas- Data Systems an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS), was 21 % non-sea-salt sium was not associated with sea salt particles during 19 % Discussions Open Access Open Access sulfate, 2 % nitrate, 8 % ammonium, 22 % organics and 47 % of the time, indicating the presence of biogenic particles in Geoscientific sea salt including sea salt sulfate. A new method to isolate the addition to the MSA-OA andGeoscientific AA-OA factors. Model Development sea spray signature from the high-resolution AMS data was Model Development applied. Generally, the aerosol was found to be less acidic Discussions than in other marine environments due to the high availabil- 1 Introduction Open Access ity of ammonia, from local fauna emissions. By positive ma- Open Access trix factorisation five different organic aerosol (OA) profiles Hydrology and Hydrology and could be isolated: an amino acid/amine factor (AA-OA, 18 % The marine environment represents one of the largest natural of OA mass), a methanesulfonic acid OA factor (MSA-OA, aerosol sources (RinaldiEarth et al., 2010), System driven by the emis- Earth System −1 25 %), a marine oxygenated OA factor (M-OOA, 41 %), a sion of 133 Tg yr submicronSciences particulate matter from sea Sciences spray, including primary and secondary organic matter (to- sea spray OA fraction (SS-OA, 7 %) and locally produced Discussions Open Access hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA, 9 %). The AA-OA was domi- gether 13 %) and sea salt (Vignati et al., 2010;Open Access Gantt et al., nant during the first two weeks of November and found to be 2011). Marine aerosol systems are important as they exert a significant influence on the Earth’s radiative balance through Ocean Science related with the hatching of penguins in a nearby colony. This Ocean Science factor, rich in nitrogen (N : C ratio = 0.13), has implications provision of a large number of cloud condensation nuclei Discussions for the biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen in the area as par- (e.g. Meskhidze et al., 2011). At the same time, marine par- ticulate matter is often transported over longer distances than ticulate matter plays a substantial role in biogeochemical cy- Open Access gaseous N-rich compounds. The MSA-OA was mainly trans- cling of chemical elements and nutrients (O’DowdOpen Access and de Leeuw, 2007). Numerous recent studies have been conducted ported from more southerly latitudes where phytoplankton Solid Earth bloomed. The bloom was identified as one of three sources to investigate the role of marineSolid organic Earth aerosol for these im- for particulate sulfate on Bird Island, next to sea salt sulfate portant functions. They have focused on the characterisation Discussions and quantification of primary and secondary marine organic Open Access Open Access Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. The Cryosphere The Cryosphere Discussions 8670 J. Schmale et al.: Sub-Antarctic marine aerosol aerosol (Cavalli et al., 2004; Facchini et al., 2008b; Hawkins sulfate-rich marine aerosol. It was concluded that this effect and Russell, 2010; Ceburnis et al., 2011; Decesari et al., was due to the ammonia partitioning from the gas phase into 2011; Gantt et al., 2011; Lapina et al., 2011; Ovadnevaite the particulate phase. Blackall et al. (2007) estimated that et al., 2011; Dall’Osto et al., 2012; Gantt and Meskhidze, seabird emissions add about 20 % to the oceanic ammonia 2013) and the production of primary organic aerosol from emissions south of 45◦ S, using a global seabird database sea spray (Gantt et al., 2011; O’Dowd et al., 2008). Whilst coupled to an emissions model. Calculations based on the the emission of primary organic aerosol (POA) is associ- same model and database by Riddick et al. (2012) found that ated with wave breaking and the bubble bursting process and penguins are responsible for about 80 % of the global seabird hence related to wind speed (e.g. Blanchard and Woodcock, NH3 emissions. Because such emissions are dominated by 1957; Russell et al., 2010; Gantt et al., 2011), the produc- “hot spots”, i.e. densely populated colonies, they drive the tion of secondary marine organic aerosol is associated with local nitrogen cycle and will also affect the regional biogeo- biologically driven emissions of volatile organic compounds chemistry by both gas emissions and aerosol chemistry. In such as dimethyl sulfide from phytoplankton (e.g. Bates et addition to ammonia, decomposition of ornithogenic soils al., 1992). POA contains organic matter originating from the is thought to make a significant contribution to the organic sea-surface micro layer consisting of immiscible substances matter contained in particulates through oxalate enrichments such as colloids and aggregates from phytoplankton (Fac- (Legrand et al., 2012). Particles have slower deposition rates chini et al., 2008b). However, despite such research efforts, than reactive gas-phase species, such as ammonia or cer- many aspects of marine aerosol systems are not yet fully un- tain volatile organic species (Nemitz et al., 2009). Thus, gas- derstood, particularly with respect to chemical composition, to-particle conversion enables transport of chemical species sources, secondary particle formation processes and chem- over longer distances and hence broadening the footprint of ically resolved size distributions among other topics. A de- these large sources and potentially increasing the range of tailed understanding of these aspects is essential to quantify impacts on ecosystems. the role of marine aerosol in the functioning of the Earth sys- In this paper we report measurements of the chemical and tem more fully. microphysical characteristics of remote marine aerosol on Further studies on the biogenic organic fraction of ma- Bird Island, to the west of South Georgia, a remote oceanic rine aerosol are essential, as they may help distinguish an- archipelago south of the Antarctic Polar Front in the South thropogenic from natural climate forcing in the marine at- Atlantic Ocean, and assess the influence of emissions from mosphere. Biological components of marine organic aerosol local fauna compared with regional sources. Measurements (MOA) consist of whole viruses, bacteria and other micro- were conducted during austral spring, the peak time for bio- biological organisms, biological debris and by-products in- logical activity. The island is densely populated by penguins cluding proteins, amino acids and amines (Aller et al., 2005; and fur seals. It is estimated that there is about one seal and Kuznetsova et al., 2005; O’Dowd et al., 2004; Facchini et al., penguin for every 1.5 m2. This paper details the results from 2008a; Russell et al., 2010; Scalabrin et al., 2012). The physi- an aerosol mass spectrometer operated at the Bird Island re- cal and chemical properties of these organic components will search station of the British Antarctic Survey for eight weeks, affect the radiative properties, cloud condensation and ice- with other ancillary measurements made at several locations nucleating abilities of the particulate matter (PM) they are on the island. This represents the first stationary deployment part of. Modelling studies such as Burrows et al. (2013) have