A43H-3373:
Direction observations of Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound (BVOC) Air-Sea Exchange in the remote North Atlantic from the High-Wind Gas-Exchange Study (HiWinGS)

Thursday, 18 December 2014
Michelle Kim, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States, Ming Xi Yang, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, United Kingdom, Byron Blomquist, NOAA Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, Barry J Huebert, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, United States and Timothy H Bertram, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
Abstract:
Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs) are reactive trace gases that impact both chemistry and climate by regulating oxidant loadings, determining secondary organic aerosol production rates as well as altering particle hygroscopicity. While continental BVOC exchange rates are well studied, global marine flux estimates are poorly constrained. In Fall 2013, a chemical-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (CI-ToF-MS) utilizing benzene cations was deployed as part of the High Wind Gas Exchange Study (HiWinGs) to quantify monoterpenes, isoprene and dimethylsulfide fluxes in the remote North Atlantic. Dimethylsulfide measurements are in strong agreement with those determined by the University of Hawaii's atmospheric pressure ionization mass-spectrometer. In the remote marine boundary layer, positive monoterpene fluxes (i.e. emissions) were observed while isoprene levels rarely exceeded the detection limit.