Effects of natural and anthropogenic emissions on the composition and toxicity of aerosols in the marine atmosphere

The impacts of natural dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and ship emissions on marine environments and particulate matter (PM) over the western and southern sea areas around South Korea were studied based on field campaigns from August–September 2017 and May–June 2018 using the Community Multi-scale Air Quality v5.3.2 modeling system. DMS oxidation enhanced the concentrations of both sulfur dioxide (SO2) and sulfate (SO42−) in PM2.5 by 6.2–6.4% and 2.9–3.6%, respectively, in the marine atmosphere during the study period, whereas it slightly decreased nitrate (NO3−) concentrations (by −1.3%), compared to the simulation without DMS oxidation chemistry. Furthermore, ship emissions increased the concentrations of SO42−, NO3−, and NH4+ by 4.5%, 23%, and 7.3%, respectively. Methane sulfonic acid concentration was 0.17 μg m−3, suggesting the importance of the addition channel in the DMS oxidation pathway. The model simulation indicated that ship emissions in the target area contributed dominantly to non-sea-salt SO42−, and the marine DMS emission source was non-negligible. The geographical distribution of PM toxicity (aerosol oxidative potential) was assessed in the marine atmosphere during the study period. [Display omitted] •Impact of DMS oxidation on PM2.5 in the polluted marine atmosphere was evaluated.•Contribution of ship emissions to PM2.5 concentration was estimated.•Comparison of PM2.5 source apportion-ment between two different models was assessed.•Geographical distribution of the marine aerosol toxicity was investigated.