Marine biogenic emissions of benzene and toluene and their contribution to secondary organic aerosols over the polar oceans.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36706174.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.add9031 and PMC identifier 9882975.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Reactive trace gas emissions from the polar oceans are poorly characterized, even though their effects on atmospheric chemistry and aerosol formation are crucial for assessing current and preindustrial aerosol forcing on climate. Here, we present seawater and atmospheric measurements of benzene and toluene, two gases typically associated with pollution, in the remote Southern Ocean and the Arctic marginal ice zone. Their distribution suggests a marine biogenic source. Calculated emission fluxes were 0.023 ± 0.030 (benzene) and 0.039 ± 0.036 (toluene) and 0.023 ± 0.028 (benzene) and 0.034 ± 0.041 (toluene) μmol m<sup>-2</sup> day<sup>-1</sup> for the Southern Ocean and the Arctic, respectively. Including these average emissions in a chemistry-climate model increased secondary organic aerosol mass concentrations only by 0.1% over the Arctic but by 7.7% over the Southern Ocean, with transient episodes of up to 77.3%. Climate models should consider the hitherto overlooked emissions of benzene and toluene from the polar oceans.