Different characteristics and source contributions to aerosol aminiums over a coastal city and adjacent marginal seas

Environmental context Amines in the atmosphere play important roles in atmospheric chemistry and have potential climate effects. We characterise the concentrations, size distributions and chemical pathways of aerosol aminiums over a coastal city and marginal seas, and estimated the contribution of marine biogenic sources. This study can facilitate our understanding about the interactions between human activities, biogenic emissions and the atmospheric environment. Abstract Atmospheric amines are gaining more and more attention in the field of atmospheric chemistry owing to their important roles in new particle formation and growth. In this study, aerosol aminiums over a coastal city (Shanghai) and the Yellow and East China seas (YECS) were characterised. The concentrations of NH4+, dimethylaminium (DMAH+) and trimethylaminium + diethylaminium (TMDEAH+) over Shanghai were all found to be higher in the winter of 2018 than in the summer of 2019, suggesting their non-negligible terrestrial contributions. DMAH+ and TMDEAH+ concentrations over the YECS in summer were closely correlated and linked to surface phytoplankton biomass, implying that marine biogenic sources might be a predominant contributor to aminiums at this time. Aminiums over Shanghai generally showed a bimodal distribution with a main peak in droplet mode and a secondary peak in condensation mode, suggesting the notable contribution of aqueous-phase or heterogeneous reaction to the formation of aminiums. In contrast, aminiums over the YECS often showed a unimodal distribution, which may be caused by the competition between amines and NH3 for reaction with acidic compounds. We estimated the contributions of marine biogenic sources, ~73.6 % to DMAH+ and 80.1 % to TMDEAH+ over the YECS, using methanesulfonate/non-sea-salt SO42– as an indicator. Our results suggest that marine biogenic emission of amines from China’s marginal seas may have a potential impact on coastal cities, and this source should be considered in modelling new particle formation and air quality in coastal areas.