From March through early May of 2000, rain and bulk aerosol samples were collected at a coastal site on the eastern Mediterranean Sea at Erdemli, Turkey, and analyzed for nitrogen (N) species, including nitrate (NO-3), nitrite (NO-2), ammonium (NH+4), water-soluble organic N, urea, and dissolved free amino acids. Other ions were also analyzed, including Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, Cl-, and SO2-4. Water-soluble organic N was found to contribute ∼17% and ∼26% of the total water-soluble N in rain and aerosols, respectively. Organic N concentrations within rain and aerosols exhibited statistically significant linear relationships to CA2+ ion (Rsqr ∼ 0.75, P < 0.05), suggesting a relationship to calcite (CaCO3) in atmospheric dust. Kinematic trajectory analyses indicated the origin of winds from arid regions, mainly in northern Africa, in 70% of the aerosols sampled. Earth Probe/Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer aerosol index data also confirmed the influence of atmospheric dust in the region on days when Ca2+ concentrations were elevated, and trajectory analyses suggested northern Africa as a source region. The combined ion, trajectory, and aerosol index data suggest that organic N is associated with atmospheric dust in this region. Urea N and amino N represented a small percentage of the organic N fraction. In rain and aerosols, urea represented ∼11% and <1%, respectively, of the total organic N. While amino N contributed minimally to organic N totals (∼1% of total organic N in aerosols), the individual amino acids contributing ∼75% of amino N were indicative of biological organisms. Further research is needed to decipher the influence from biology and gas phase adsorption of anthropogenically derived water-soluble organics on organic N totals.
CITATION STYLE
Mace, K. A., Kubilay, N., & Duce, R. A. (2003). Organic nitrogen in rain and aerosol in the eastern Mediterranean atmosphere: An association with atmospheric dust. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 108(10). https://doi.org/10.1029/2002jd002997
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