Articles | Volume 26, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-12355-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-12355-2026
Research article
 | 
01 Sep 2026
Research article |  | 01 Sep 2026

Aircraft observations suggest an important contribution of methanesulfonic and sulfuric acids to tropical Indo-Pacific aerosol

Hannah Klebach, Martin Heinritzi, Katharina Kaiser, Lisa Beck, Samuel Ruhl, Samira Atabakhsh, Nirvan Bhattacharyya, Lucía Caudillo-Plath, Philipp Joppe, Thomas Klimach, Peter Lloyd, Mira Pöhlker, Ulrich Pöschl, Sarah Richter, Douglas M. Russell, Johannes Schneider, Marcel Zauner-Wieczorek, and Joachim Curtius

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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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Cited articles

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Marine atmospheric aerosols remain a major uncertainty in climate models. We report gas and particle phase measurements of two important aerosol forming vapours, sulfuric acid and methanesulfonic acid in the Indo-Pacific. We find that the latter typically dominates over sulfuric acid and contributes significantly to free tropospheric aerosol. Deep convection transports the precursor of both acids to the upper troposphere, providing a key aerosol source in the pristine remote Pacific Ocean.
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