Fluorescent water-soluble organic aerosols in the High Arctic atmosphere

Organic aerosols are ubiquitous in the earth’s atmosphere. They have been extensively studied in urban, rural and marine environments. However, little is known about the fluorescence properties of water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) or their transport to and distribution in the polar regions. Here, we present evidence that fluorescent WSOC is a substantial component of High Arctic aerosols. The ratios of fluorescence intensity of protein-like peak to humic-like peak generally increased from dark winter to early summer, indicating an enhanced contribution of protein-like organics from the ocean to Arctic aerosols after the polar sunrise. Such a seasonal pattern is in agreement with an increase of stable carbon isotope ratios of total carbon (δ13C(TC)) from −26.8‰ to −22.5‰. Our results suggest that Arctic aerosols are derived from a combination of the long-range transport of terrestrial organics and local sea-to-air emission of marine organics, with an estimated contribution from the latter of 8.7–77% (mean 45%).