Atmospheric transport of continentally derived lipids to the tropical North Pacific

Abstract

Lipid class compounds have been used as source markers to ascertain the terrestrial, marine, or anthropogenic origin of atmospheric aerosols from rural continental and coastal oceanic environments^1–11. However, there are only limited data on the composition and source of lipids in remote marine aerosols. Studies off the West African coast suggest that surface waxes of terrestrial vascular plants are a major source of lipid class compounds in dust samples^6,11. Uniform concentrations of lipids found^7,10 in aerosols from urban, rural and oceanic regions imply either a long residence time for continental material or a uniform production rate of the compounds over the oceans. It has also been concluded^1–3,8 that oceanic aerosols have significant marine sources. However, previous organic chemical studies have not been conducted in conjunction with other chemical analyses of the aerosols or with climatological and meteorological studies. We report here, as part of the Sea/Air Exchange Program (SEAREX), the temporal variation of the transport of continentally-derived lipids (hydrocarbons, fatty alcohols and fatty acids) to the central tropical North Pacific.