Polysaccharides, Proteins, and Phytoplankton Fragments: Four Chemically Distinct Types of Marine Primary Organic Aerosol Classified by Single Particle Spectromicroscopy

Abstract

Carbon-containing aerosol particles collected in the Arctic and southeastern Pacific marine boundary layers show distinct chemical signatures of proteins, calcareous phytoplankton, and two types of polysaccharides in Near-Edge Absorption X-ray Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectromicroscopy. Arctic samples contained mostly supermicron sea salt cuboids with a polysaccharide-like organic coating. Southeastern Pacific samples contained both continental and marine aerosol types; of the 28 analyzed marine particles, 19 were characterized by sharp alkane and inorganic carbonate peaks in NEXAFS spectra and are identified as fragments of calcareous phytoplankton. Submicron spherical particles with spectral similarities to carbohydrate-like marine sediments were also observed in Pacific samples. In both regions, supermicron amide and alkane-containing particles resembling marine proteinaceous material were observed. These four chemical types provide a framework that incorporates several independent reports of previous marine aerosol observations, showing the diversity of the composition and morphology of ocean-derived primary particles.