Ice core methanesulfonic acid from the Begguya (Mount Hunter) plateau, Denali National Park, Alaska, 2013 ...
An industrial-era drop in Greenland ice core methanesulfonic acid is thought to herald a collapse in North Atlantic marine phytoplankton stocks related to a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. In contrast, stable levels of marine biogenic sulfur production contradict this i...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Dataset |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
NSF Arctic Data Center
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a2q814t9k https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A2Q814T9K |
| Summary: | An industrial-era drop in Greenland ice core methanesulfonic acid is thought to herald a collapse in North Atlantic marine phytoplankton stocks related to a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. In contrast, stable levels of marine biogenic sulfur production contradict this interpretation, and point to changes in atmospheric oxidation as a potential cause of the methanesulfonic acid decline. However, the impact of oxidation on methanesulfonic acid production has not been quantified, nor has this hypothesis been rigorously tested. Here we present a multi-century methanesulfonic acid record from the Denali, Alaska, ice core, which shows a methanesulfonic acid decline similar in magnitude but delayed by 93 years relative to the Greenland record. Box model results using updated dimethyl sulfide oxidation pathways indicate that oxidation by pollution-driven nitrate radicals has suppressed atmospheric methanesulfonic acid production, explaining most, if not all, of Denali’s and Greenland’s ... |
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