Airborne observations over the North Atlantic Ocean reveal the importance of gas-phase urea in the atmosphere
Reduced nitrogen (N) is central to global biogeochemistry, yet there are large uncertainties surrounding its sources and rate of cycling. Here, we present observations of gas-phase urea (CO(NH2)2) in the atmosphere from airborne high-resolution mass spectrometer measurements over the North Atlantic...
Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
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2023
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1983/fa5c12a7-81b8-4645-8483-da3ab0d7affa https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/fa5c12a7-81b8-4645-8483-da3ab0d7affa https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2218127120 |
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ftubristolcris:oai:research-information.bris.ac.uk:publications/fa5c12a7-81b8-4645-8483-da3ab0d7affa 2024-02-04T10:02:24+01:00 Airborne observations over the North Atlantic Ocean reveal the importance of gas-phase urea in the atmosphere Matthews, Emily Bannan, Thomas J Khan, M. A. H. Shallcross, Dudley E Stark, Harald Browne, Eleanor C. Archibald, Alexander T. Mehra, Archit Bauguitte, Stephane J.-B. Reed, Chris Thamban, Navaneeth M. Wu, Huihui Barker, Patrick Lee, James Carpenter, Lucy J. Yang, Mingxi Bell, Thomas G. Allen, Grant Jayne, John T. Percival, Carl J. McFiggans, Gordon Gallagher, Martin Coe, Hugh 2023-06-14 https://hdl.handle.net/1983/fa5c12a7-81b8-4645-8483-da3ab0d7affa https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/fa5c12a7-81b8-4645-8483-da3ab0d7affa https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2218127120 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Matthews , E , Bannan , T J , Khan , M A H , Shallcross , D E , Stark , H , Browne , E C , Archibald , A T , Mehra , A , Bauguitte , S J-B , Reed , C , Thamban , N M , Wu , H , Barker , P , Lee , J , Carpenter , L J , Yang , M , Bell , T G , Allen , G , Jayne , J T , Percival , C J , McFiggans , G , Gallagher , M & Coe , H 2023 , ' Airborne observations over the North Atlantic Ocean reveal the importance of gas-phase urea in the atmosphere ' , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , vol. 120 , no. 25 , e2218127120 , pp. e2218127120 . https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2218127120 article 2023 ftubristolcris https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2218127120 2024-01-05T00:03:11Z Reduced nitrogen (N) is central to global biogeochemistry, yet there are large uncertainties surrounding its sources and rate of cycling. Here, we present observations of gas-phase urea (CO(NH2)2) in the atmosphere from airborne high-resolution mass spectrometer measurements over the North Atlantic Ocean. We show that urea is ubiquitous in the lower troposphere in the summer, autumn, and winter but was not detected in the spring. The observations suggest that the ocean is the primary emission source, but further studies are required to understand the responsible mechanisms. Urea is also observed aloft due to long-range transport of biomass-burning plumes. These observations alongside global model simulations point to urea being an important, and currently unaccounted for, component of reduced-N to the remote marine atmosphere. Airborne transfer of urea between nutrient-rich and -poor parts of the ocean can occur readily and could impact ecosystems and oceanic uptake of carbon dioxide, with potentially important climate implications. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic University of Bristol: Bristol Research Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120 25 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Bristol: Bristol Research |
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ftubristolcris |
language |
English |
description |
Reduced nitrogen (N) is central to global biogeochemistry, yet there are large uncertainties surrounding its sources and rate of cycling. Here, we present observations of gas-phase urea (CO(NH2)2) in the atmosphere from airborne high-resolution mass spectrometer measurements over the North Atlantic Ocean. We show that urea is ubiquitous in the lower troposphere in the summer, autumn, and winter but was not detected in the spring. The observations suggest that the ocean is the primary emission source, but further studies are required to understand the responsible mechanisms. Urea is also observed aloft due to long-range transport of biomass-burning plumes. These observations alongside global model simulations point to urea being an important, and currently unaccounted for, component of reduced-N to the remote marine atmosphere. Airborne transfer of urea between nutrient-rich and -poor parts of the ocean can occur readily and could impact ecosystems and oceanic uptake of carbon dioxide, with potentially important climate implications. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Matthews, Emily Bannan, Thomas J Khan, M. A. H. Shallcross, Dudley E Stark, Harald Browne, Eleanor C. Archibald, Alexander T. Mehra, Archit Bauguitte, Stephane J.-B. Reed, Chris Thamban, Navaneeth M. Wu, Huihui Barker, Patrick Lee, James Carpenter, Lucy J. Yang, Mingxi Bell, Thomas G. Allen, Grant Jayne, John T. Percival, Carl J. McFiggans, Gordon Gallagher, Martin Coe, Hugh |
spellingShingle |
Matthews, Emily Bannan, Thomas J Khan, M. A. H. Shallcross, Dudley E Stark, Harald Browne, Eleanor C. Archibald, Alexander T. Mehra, Archit Bauguitte, Stephane J.-B. Reed, Chris Thamban, Navaneeth M. Wu, Huihui Barker, Patrick Lee, James Carpenter, Lucy J. Yang, Mingxi Bell, Thomas G. Allen, Grant Jayne, John T. Percival, Carl J. McFiggans, Gordon Gallagher, Martin Coe, Hugh Airborne observations over the North Atlantic Ocean reveal the importance of gas-phase urea in the atmosphere |
author_facet |
Matthews, Emily Bannan, Thomas J Khan, M. A. H. Shallcross, Dudley E Stark, Harald Browne, Eleanor C. Archibald, Alexander T. Mehra, Archit Bauguitte, Stephane J.-B. Reed, Chris Thamban, Navaneeth M. Wu, Huihui Barker, Patrick Lee, James Carpenter, Lucy J. Yang, Mingxi Bell, Thomas G. Allen, Grant Jayne, John T. Percival, Carl J. McFiggans, Gordon Gallagher, Martin Coe, Hugh |
author_sort |
Matthews, Emily |
title |
Airborne observations over the North Atlantic Ocean reveal the importance of gas-phase urea in the atmosphere |
title_short |
Airborne observations over the North Atlantic Ocean reveal the importance of gas-phase urea in the atmosphere |
title_full |
Airborne observations over the North Atlantic Ocean reveal the importance of gas-phase urea in the atmosphere |
title_fullStr |
Airborne observations over the North Atlantic Ocean reveal the importance of gas-phase urea in the atmosphere |
title_full_unstemmed |
Airborne observations over the North Atlantic Ocean reveal the importance of gas-phase urea in the atmosphere |
title_sort |
airborne observations over the north atlantic ocean reveal the importance of gas-phase urea in the atmosphere |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1983/fa5c12a7-81b8-4645-8483-da3ab0d7affa https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/fa5c12a7-81b8-4645-8483-da3ab0d7affa https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2218127120 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Matthews , E , Bannan , T J , Khan , M A H , Shallcross , D E , Stark , H , Browne , E C , Archibald , A T , Mehra , A , Bauguitte , S J-B , Reed , C , Thamban , N M , Wu , H , Barker , P , Lee , J , Carpenter , L J , Yang , M , Bell , T G , Allen , G , Jayne , J T , Percival , C J , McFiggans , G , Gallagher , M & Coe , H 2023 , ' Airborne observations over the North Atlantic Ocean reveal the importance of gas-phase urea in the atmosphere ' , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , vol. 120 , no. 25 , e2218127120 , pp. e2218127120 . https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2218127120 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2218127120 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
120 |
container_issue |
25 |
_version_ |
1789969037910867968 |