Observational evidence for the formation of DMS-derived aerosols during Arctic phytoplankton blooms

The connection between marine biogenic dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and the formation of aerosol particles in the Arctic atmosphere was evaluated by analyzing atmospheric DMS mixing ratio, aerosol particle size distribution and aerosol chemical composition data that were concurrently collected at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard (78.5 degrees N, 11.8 degrees E), during April and May 2015. Measurements of aerosol sulfur (S) compounds showed distinct patterns during periods of Arctic haze (April) and phytoplankton blooms (May). Specifically, during the phytoplankton bloom period the contribution of DMS-derived SO42- to the total aerosol SO42- increased by 7-fold compared with that during the proceeding Arctic haze period, and accounted for up to 70% of fine SO42- particles (