Nutrients Dissolution Kinetics of Aerosols at Qianliyan Island, the Yellow Sea by a High Time-resolution Nutrient Dissolution Experiment, Potential Linkages with Inorganic Compositions and P solubility controlled factors

Abstract. A series of high time-resolution nutrient dissolution experiments were designed to determine the soluble fraction of atmospheric nutrients and reveal the short-time dissolution processes, patterns and kinetics of nutrient elements in aerosols. Aerosols that represented an important part of atmospheric transport path over the East Asian to West Pacific were leached by Milli-Q water and aged seawater at gradient pHs for certain time duration. Varied nutrient dissolution curves indicated that aerosol inorganic N, P and Si species dissolution reactions were quasi-first-order. Particularly, prominent factors influenced P solubility were source and acidity. Ratios of acid-soluble to water-soluble nutrient concentrations in high time-resolution dissolution experiments and ultra-sound extractions were 1.0 (0.9–1.1) for NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻, 2.4 (2.1–2.6) for PO₄³⁻ and 2.5 for SiO₃²⁻, demonstrating that inorganic N species were inclined to immediate and complete dissolution due to fine particles formed by gas-particle transformation, inorganic P (Fe-P, Ca-P and De-P) and Si were tended to dissolve more in strong acidity mainly because of coarse soil-derived mineral particles. Compared with the slow dissolution of inorganic P and Si, the rapid dissolution of inorganic N can affect the composition of marine nutrients and marine primary productivity.