Iodine speciation in marine aerosols along a 30,000 km round-trip cruise path from Shanghai, China to Prydz Bay, Antarctica

Total suspended particle (TSP) samples were collected onboard a round-trip cruise from Shanghai, China to Prydz Bay, Antarctica from November 2005 to March 2006. Water soluble iodine species were measured using ion chromatography coupled to Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (IC-ICP-MS). The results reveal that soluble organic iodine (SOI) is the most abundant fraction, accounting for approximately 70 % of total soluble iodine (TSI) on average. One unidentified organic iodine (UOI) signal was present in almost all of the samples and was responsible for up to 38.3% of TSI. The abundance of inorganic iodine species, iodate and iodide, was less than 30% of TSI. Iodide was significantly correlated with SOI suggesting a link between iodide formation and SOI decomposition. TSI levels varied considerably over the length of the voyage. In the coastal Antarctic enhanced level of TSI were found to be correlated with the air mass transport from the ice front sector. Citation: Lai, S. C., T. Hoffmann, and Z. Q. Xie (2008), Iodine speciation in marine aerosols along a 30,000 km round-trip cruise path from Shanghai, China to Prydz Bay, Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L21803, doi:10.1029/2008GL035492.