Influence of continental organic aerosols to the marine atmosphere over the East China Sea: Insights from lipids, PAHs and phthalates

•Spatial distribution of lipids, PAHs and phthalates were measured in marine aerosols over the East China Sea.•Higher abundance the target compounds was observed in the terrestrially affected aerosols.•Factor analysis inferred the important contribution from terrestrial sources to the marine aerosols.

Total suspended particle (TSP) samples were collected during a marine cruise in the East China Sea from May 18 to June 12, 2014. They were analyzed for solvent extractable organic compounds (lipid compounds, PAHs and phthalates) using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to better understand the sources and source apportionment of aerosol pollution in the western North Pacific. Higher concentrations were observed in the terrestrially influenced aerosol samples on the basis of five-day backward air mass trajectories, especially for aerosols collected near coastal areas. Phthalates were found to be the dominant species among these measured compound classes (707 ± 401 ng m− 3 for daytime and 313 ± 155 ng m− 3 for nighttime), followed by fatty acids, fatty alcohols, n-alkanes and PAHs. In general, the daytime abundances for these compounds are higher than nighttime, possibly attributable to more intensive anthropogenic activities during the daytime. The factor analysis indicates that biomass burning, fungal activities and fossil fuel combustion maybe the main emission sources for organic aerosols over the East China Sea. This study demonstrates that the East Asian continent can be a natural emitter of biogenic and anthropogenic organics to the marine atmosphere through long-range transport, which controls the chemical composition and concentration of organic aerosols over the East China Sea.

Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (197KB)Download full-size image