Isotopic apportionment of sulfate aerosols between natural and anthropogenic sources in the outflow of South Asia

Clarke, Sean; Holmstrand, Henry; Budhavant, Krishnakant; Remani, Manoj; Haslett, Sophie; Rodiouchkina, Katerina; Kooijman, Ellen; Gustafsson, Örjan

doi:10.5194/acp-26-5333-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5333-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5333-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 8

Research article

|

21 Apr 2026

Research article |

| 21 Apr 2026

Isotopic apportionment of sulfate aerosols between natural and anthropogenic sources in the outflow of South Asia

Sean Clarke, Henry Holmstrand, Krishnakant Budhavant, Manoj Remani, Sophie Haslett, Katerina Rodiouchkina, Ellen Kooijman, and Örjan Gustafsson

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5333-2026-supplement

Data sets

Isotopic apportionment of sulfate aerosols between natural and anthropogenic sources in the outflow of South Asia (Dataset) Sean Clarke et al. https://doi.org/10.17043/clarke-2026-sulfate-aerosols-1

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Short summary

South Asia has the world's highest loadings of sulfate, scattering sunlight, altering clouds and masking greenhouse warming, yet there are large uncertainties regarding the relative contributions of natural and anthropogenic sources to the receptor atmosphere. Here we use δ³⁴S isotopes to distinguish natural versus anthropogenic sulfate sources, revealing strong seasonal contrasts and quantifying the dominance of anthropogenic contributions.