Organic carbon dry deposition outpaces atmospheric processing with unaccounted implications for air quality and freshwater ecosystems

作者：John Liggio, Paul Makar, Shao‐Meng Li, Katherine Hayden, Andrea Darlington, Samar G. Moussa, Sumi N. Wren, Ralf M. Staebler, Jeremy J. B. Wentzell, Michael Wheeler, Amy Leithead, R. L. Mittermeier, J. Narayan, Mengistu Wolde, Dane Blanchard, Julian Aherne, Jane L. Kirk, Colin Lee, Craig Stroud, Junhua Zhang, Ayodeji Akingunola, Ali Katal, Philip Cheung, Roya Ghahreman, Mahtab Majdzadeh, Megan He, Jenna C. Ditto, Drew R. Gentner · 发表于：Science Advances · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1126/sciadv.adr0259 · 被引用次数：9 · 研究领域：Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols、Air Quality and Health Impacts、Vehicle emissions and performance

Dry deposition is an important yet poorly constrained process that removes reactive organic carbon from the atmosphere, making it unavailable for airborne chemical reactions and transferring it to other environmental systems. Using an aircraft-based measurement method, we provide large-scale estimates of total gas-phase organic carbon deposition rates and fluxes. Observed deposition rates downwind of large-scale unconventional oil operations reached up to 100 tC hour −1 , with fluxes exceeding 0.1 gC m −2 hour −1 . The observed deposition lifetimes (τ dep ) were short enough (i.e., 4 ± 2 hours) to compete with chemical oxidation processes and affect the fate of atmospheric reactive carbon. Yet, much of this deposited organic carbon cannot be accounted for using traditional gas-phase deposition algorithms used in regional air quality models, signifying underrepresented, but influential, chemical-physical surface properties and processes. Furthermore, these fluxes represent a major unaccounted contribution of reactive carbon to downwind freshwater ecosystems that outweigh terrestrial sources, necessitating the inclusion of dry deposition in aquatic carbon balances and models.