New research provides insight into the abundance of natural and anthropogenic organic aerosols in the Arctic

Arctic organic aerosols result from both anthropogenic and natural sources. Credit: NOAA

Organic aerosols (OAs), an important and abundant fraction of the arctic aerosol mass, plays an important role in modulating the radiative balance of the Arctic atmosphere. OAs interact with other aerosol components like black carbon, elemental carbon or sulfate, and can affect their radiative forcing. The magnitude of these effects depends on the photochemical properties of OA, their sources and formation process. However, these processes cannot be traced by satellites and information is primarily collected using ground-based observations. Because of these measurement challenges, OAs in polar regions have received limited attention and their complex composition, sources and role in the arctic atmosphere are poorly understood.

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