Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Simultaneous Measurements Of Particulate And Gas-Phase Water-Soluble Organic Carbon Concentrations At Remote And Urban-Influenced Locations, C Anderson, Jack E. Dibb, Robert J. Griffin, M Bergin

Earth Sciences

The sources, sinks, and overall importance of watersoluble organic carbon (WSOC) in the atmosphere are not well understood. Although the primary historical focus has been on particulate WSOC (WSOCP), here we also present results obtained using a newly developed technique that additionally measures gas-phase water-soluble organic carbon (WSOCG). These first-of-their-kind measurements show that WSOCG can often be more than ten times larger than WSOCP at both urban and remote locations. The average fraction of WSOC residing in the gas phase (fg = WSOCG/(WSOCG + WSOCP)) at five various field sites ranged from 0.64 to 0.93, implying significant differences in WSOC …