Levoglucosan and phenols in Antarctic marine, coastal and plateau aerosols

Abstract

Due to its isolated location, Antarctica is a natural laboratory for studying atmospheric aerosols and pollution in remote areas. Here, we determined levoglucosan and phenolic compounds (PCs) at diverse Antarctic sites: on the plateau, a coastal station and during an oceanographic cruise. Levoglucosan and PCs reached the Antarctic plateau where they were observed in accumulation mode aerosols (with median levoglucosan concentrations of 6.4pgm−3 and 4.1pgm−3, and median PC concentrations of 15.0pgm−3 and 7.3pgm−3). Aged aerosols arrived at the coastal site through katabatic circulation with the majority of the levoglucosan mass distributed on larger particulates (24.8pgm−3), while PCs were present in fine particles (34.0pgm−3). The low levoglucosan/PC ratios in Antarctic aerosols suggest that biomass burning aerosols only had regional, rather than local, sources. General acid/aldehyde ratios were lower at the coastal site than on the plateau. Levoglucosan and PCs determined during the oceanographic cruise were 37.6pgm−3 and 58.5pgm−3 respectively. Unlike levoglucosan, which can only be produced by biomass burning, PCs have both biomass burning and other sources. Our comparisons of these two types of compounds across a range of Antarctic marine, coastal, and plateau sites demonstrate that local marine sources dominate Antarctic PC concentrations.