Distribution of surfactants in sea-surface microlayer and atmospheric aerosols at selected coastal area of Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

Surfactant in marine environment has been recognized to influence the biogeochemical cycle in atmosphere. This study aims to determine the concentration of surfactants in sea-surface microlayer (SML) and atmospheric aerosol at selected coastal area of Peninsular Malaysia. The sampling activities has been carried out between February 2012 and January 2013 using rotation drum to collect SML samples and a High Volume Sampler (HVS) equipped with two cascade impactor to collect fine and coarse mode aerosols. The Colorimetric method has been applied to determine surfactants as MBAS and DBAS using UV-Vis Spectrophotometer. Trajectory analysis was done using online-based HYSPLIT model in order to determine the influence of wind direction on surfactants concentrations. Overall, anionic surfactant as MBAS was dominated in SML with a range 0.19-0.24 μmolL-1. Surfactants in atmospheric aerosol was found to be dominant in fine mode aerosol (MBAS = 62.79-171.30 pmolm -3, DBAS = 29.41-182.86 pmolm-3) influenced by northeast monsoon. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.