Articles | Volume 26, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-1699-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Aerosol organic nitrogen across the global marine boundary layer: distribution patterns and controlling factors
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- Final revised paper (published on 03 Feb 2026)
- Supplement to the final revised paper
- Preprint (discussion started on 28 Nov 2025)
- Supplement to the preprint
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-5458', Anonymous Referee #1, 04 Jan 2026
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Guitao Shi, 19 Jan 2026
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-5458', Anonymous Referee #2, 04 Jan 2026
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Guitao Shi, 19 Jan 2026
Peer review completion
AR – Author's response | RR – Referee report | ED – Editor decision | EF – Editorial file upload
AR by Guitao Shi on behalf of the Authors (19 Jan 2026)
Author's response
Author's tracked changes
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ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (19 Jan 2026) by James Allan
AR by Guitao Shi on behalf of the Authors (20 Jan 2026)
Manuscript
This manuscript presents the first direct measurements of aerosol organic nitrogen (ON) along a global marine atmospheric boundary layer transect, revealing clear latitudinal and regional patterns. The study is based on substantial and carefully conducted field campaigns and addresses an important knowledge gap in marine atmospheric nitrogen cycling. The results are potentially impactful for understanding ON sources and for improving atmospheric and climate model representations. I therefore recommend publication of this manuscript after the issues and questions raised below are adequately addressed.
Special comments:
(1) Line 33. Please check the unit “ng mm-3” is right?
(2) Line 35. The variance of ON/TN ratio should also be mentioned
(3) Line 56-102. The narrative flow of the "Introduction" could be improved. For example, the first paragraph highlights the limitations of traditional ON analytical approaches but does not immediately introduce your solutions; and the discussion of ON sources in the second and fourth paragraphs is interrupted by the third paragraph on the geochemical significance of ON, which makes the overall structure somewhat difficult to follow.
(4) Line 169-184. Given the very low ON concentrations in marine aerosol samples, it would be helpful for the authors to clarify the detection limit of the new method and whether it offers a clear advantage over traditional IC-based approaches? Additionally, more information on the separation and discrimination between IN and ON would strengthen confidence in the measurements.
(5) Line 191. I didn’t get it. As the ship was continuously moving and each sample integrates air masses over approximately 2–4 degrees of latitude, it is not entirely clear how the backward air-mass trajectories were constructed for an individual sample. The authors should clarify how the temporal and spatial variability during sampling was accounted for in the trajectory analysis.
(6) Line 222. Why 20-km radius was chosen?
(7) Line 245 and Figure5. Given the large variability in the dataset and limited data numbers, it would be advisable to assess the normality of the data in the Supporting Information to confirm whether the use of t-tests is statistically appropriate (or other statistical methos such as Mann-Whitney U test).
(8). Line 276. I am confused about how total nitrogen (TN) was determined using ion chromatography in previous studies (Table 1); could the authors clarify whether the reported WSON/TN ratios in the literature actually refer to WSON/WSTN instead?
(9) Table1: I suggest to add your own dataset in Table1
(10) Line 295 "4.1 Source identification of ON". As correlation alone does not allow one to distinguish between common emission sources and shared atmospheric transport or processing, I suggest that the authors either temper causal language (e.g., “dominated by”, “primarily controlled by”) or provide additional independent evidence to strengthen the source attribution.
(11) Line 327-335. TThe author said that the correlation between ON and nss-Ca2+ is good, but there is no correlation between ON and nss-K+ or EC. Is this a contradiction? I suggest the authors further explain this inconsistency. From the perspective of air masses, the backward trajectories of SATO samples have few intersections with the continental region. Therefore, can nss-Ca²⁺ be regarded as a reliable indicator of continental transport?