Atmospheric transport of soil-derived dicarboxylic acids over the North Pacific Ocean

Long-chain dicarboxylic acids are known to exist in terrestrial higher plants as constituents of surface-protecting biopolymers such as cutin and suberin. However, these compounds have not been reported in the remote marine atmosphere. Recently, we discovered a homologous series of alpha , omega -dicarboxylic acids (C sub(5)-C sub(32)) in remote marine aerosol samples collected from the Pacific Ocean. Here, we report the distributions of dicarboxylic acids in the North Pacific atmosphere and discuss their origins and importance in global atmospheric chemistry.