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Penguin guano is an important source of climate-relevant aerosol particles in Antarctica

Boyer, Matthew ; Quéléver, Lauriane ; Brasseur, Zoé ; McManus, Barry ; Herndon, Scott ; Agnese, Mike ; Nelson, David ; Roscioli, Joseph ; Weis, Frederik and Sel, Sergej , et al. (2025) In Communications Earth and Environment 6(1).
Abstract

Gaseous ammonia, while influential in atmospheric processes, is critically underrepresented in atmospheric measurements. This limits our understanding of key climate-relevant processes, such as new particle formation, particularly in remote regions. Here, we present highly sensitive, online observations of gaseous ammonia from a coastal site in Antarctica, which allows us to constrain the mechanism of new particle formation in this region in unprecedented detail. Our observations show that penguin colonies are a large source of ammonia in coastal Antarctica, whereas ammonia originating from the Southern Ocean is, in comparison, negligible. In conjunction with sulfur compounds sourced from oceanic microbiology, ammonia initiates new... (More)

Gaseous ammonia, while influential in atmospheric processes, is critically underrepresented in atmospheric measurements. This limits our understanding of key climate-relevant processes, such as new particle formation, particularly in remote regions. Here, we present highly sensitive, online observations of gaseous ammonia from a coastal site in Antarctica, which allows us to constrain the mechanism of new particle formation in this region in unprecedented detail. Our observations show that penguin colonies are a large source of ammonia in coastal Antarctica, whereas ammonia originating from the Southern Ocean is, in comparison, negligible. In conjunction with sulfur compounds sourced from oceanic microbiology, ammonia initiates new particle formation and is an important source of cloud condensation nuclei. Dimethylamine, likely originating from penguin guano, also participates in the initial steps of particle formation, effectively boosting particle formation rates up to 10000 times. These findings emphasize the importance of ecosystem processes from penguin/bird colonies and oceanic phytoplankton/bacteria on climate-relevant aerosol processes in coastal Antarctica. This demonstrates an important connection between ecosystem and atmospheric processes that impact the Antarctic climate, which is crucial given the current rate of environmental changes in the region.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Communications Earth and Environment
volume
6
issue
1
article number
368
publisher
Springer Nature
external identifiers
  • scopus:105005619644
ISSN
2662-4435
DOI
10.1038/s43247-025-02312-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2a1c1485-f4ca-4a0a-a6ec-06bbf6d6b23c
date added to LUP
2025-07-15 08:51:05
date last changed
2025-07-15 08:52:05
@article{2a1c1485-f4ca-4a0a-a6ec-06bbf6d6b23c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Gaseous ammonia, while influential in atmospheric processes, is critically underrepresented in atmospheric measurements. This limits our understanding of key climate-relevant processes, such as new particle formation, particularly in remote regions. Here, we present highly sensitive, online observations of gaseous ammonia from a coastal site in Antarctica, which allows us to constrain the mechanism of new particle formation in this region in unprecedented detail. Our observations show that penguin colonies are a large source of ammonia in coastal Antarctica, whereas ammonia originating from the Southern Ocean is, in comparison, negligible. In conjunction with sulfur compounds sourced from oceanic microbiology, ammonia initiates new particle formation and is an important source of cloud condensation nuclei. Dimethylamine, likely originating from penguin guano, also participates in the initial steps of particle formation, effectively boosting particle formation rates up to 10000 times. These findings emphasize the importance of ecosystem processes from penguin/bird colonies and oceanic phytoplankton/bacteria on climate-relevant aerosol processes in coastal Antarctica. This demonstrates an important connection between ecosystem and atmospheric processes that impact the Antarctic climate, which is crucial given the current rate of environmental changes in the region.</p>}},
  author       = {{Boyer, Matthew and Quéléver, Lauriane and Brasseur, Zoé and McManus, Barry and Herndon, Scott and Agnese, Mike and Nelson, David and Roscioli, Joseph and Weis, Frederik and Sel, Sergej and Marincovich, Giselle L. and Quarin, Francisco J. and Buchholz, Angela and Xavier, Carlton and Perchivale, Pablo J. and Kerminen, Veli Matti and Kulmala, Markku and Petäjä, Tuukka and He, Xu Cheng and Sofieva-Rios, Svetlana and Timonen, Hilkka and Aurela, Minna and Barreira, Luis and Virkkula, Aki and Asmi, Eija and Worsnop, Doug and Sipilä, Mikko}},
  issn         = {{2662-4435}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Springer Nature}},
  series       = {{Communications Earth and Environment}},
  title        = {{Penguin guano is an important source of climate-relevant aerosol particles in Antarctica}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02312-2}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s43247-025-02312-2}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}