Levoglucosan and phenols in Antarctic marine, coastal and plateau aerosols

• Published in: Science of The Total Environment
• Main Authors: ZANGRANDO, Roberta, BARBARO, ELENA, VECCHIATO, MARCO, KEHRWALD, NATALIE MARIE, BARBANTE, Carlo, GAMBARO, Andrea
• Other Authors: Zangrando, Roberta, Barbaro, Elena, Vecchiato, Marco, Kehrwald, NATALIE MARIE, Barbante, Carlo, Gambaro, Andrea
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Aerosol; Antarctica; Biomass burning; Levoglucosan; Phenolic compound; Environmental Chemistry; Pollution; Waste Management and Disposal; Environmental Engineering; Settore CHIM/01 - Chimica Analitica; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10278/3680486; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.166

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.