Antarctic sea ice region as a source of biogenic organic nitrogen in aerosols

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Dall'Osto, Manuel, Ovadnevaite, Jurgita, Paglione, Marco, Beddows, David C. S., Ceburnis, Darius, Cree, Charlotte, Cortes, Pau, Zamanillo, Marina, Nunes, Sdena O., Perez, Gonzalo L., Ortega-Retuerta, Eva, Emelianov, Mikhail, Vaque, Dolors, Marrasé, Cèlia, Estrada, Marta, Sala, M. Montserrat, Vidal Barcelona, Montserrat, Fitzsimons, Mark F., Beale, Rachael, Airs, Ruth, Rinaldi, Matteo, Decesari, Stefano, Facchini, Maria Cristina, Harrison, Roy M., O'Dowd, Colin, Simó, Rafel
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2017
• Subjects: Aerosols; Antàrtic; Oceà; Nitrogen; Antarctic Ocean; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; Antarc*; Antarctica; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/125979

Climate warming affects the development and distribution of sea ice, but at present the evidence of polar ecosystem feedbacks on climate through changes in the atmosphere is sparse. By means of synergistic atmospheric and oceanic measurements in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica, we present evidence that the microbiota of sea ice and sea ice-influenced ocean are a previously unknown significant source of atmospheric organic nitrogen, including low molecular weight alkyl-amines. Given the keystone role of nitrogen compounds in aerosol formation, growth and neutralization, our findings call for greater chemical and source diversity in the modelling efforts linking the marine ecosystem to aerosol-mediated climate effects in the Southern Ocean.