Secondary formation of water-soluble organic acids and α-dicarbonyls and their contributions to total carbon and water-soluble organic carbon: Photochemical aging of organic aerosols in the Arctic spring

Abstract

Water-soluble dicarboxylic acids (C 2 -C 12), ketocarboxylic acids (C 2 -C 6, C 9), and -dicarbonyls (glyoxal and methylglyoxal) were determined in the Arctic aerosols collected in winter to early summer, as well as aerosol total carbon (TC) and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC). Concentrations of TC and WSOC gradually decreased from late February to early June with a peak in spring, indicating a photochemical formation of water-soluble organic aerosols at a polar sunrise. We found that total (C 2 -C 11) diacids (7-84 ng m -3) increased at polar sunrise by a factor of 4 and then decreased toward summer. Their contributions to TC (average 4.0%) peaked in early April and mid-May. The contribution of total diacids to WSOC was on average 7.1%. It gradually increased from February (5%) to a maximum in April (12.7%) with a second peak in mid-May (10.4%). Although oxalic acid (C 2) is the dominant diacid until April, its predominance was replaced by succinic acid (C 4) after polar sunrise. This may indicate that photochemical production of C 2 was overwhelmed by its degradation when solar radiation was intensified and the atmospheric transport of its precursors from midlatitudes to the Arctic was ended in May. Interestingly, the contributions of azelaic (C 9) and -oxobutanoic acids to WSOC increased in early summer possibly due to an enhanced emission of biogenic unsaturated fatty acids from the ocean followed by photochemical oxidation in the atmosphere. An enhanced contribution of diacids to TC and WSOC at polar sunrise may significantly alter the hygroscopic properties of organic aerosols in the Arctic. Copyright © 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.