The effect of marine isoprene emissions on secondary organic aerosol and ozone formation in the coastal United States

The impact of marine isoprene emissions on summertime surface concentrations of isoprene, secondary organic aerosols (SOA), and ozone (O3) in the coastal areas of the continental United States is studied using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional-scale Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system. Marine isoprene emission rates are based on the following five parameters: laboratory measurements of isoprene production from phytoplankton under a range of light conditions, remotely-sensed chlorophyll-a concentration ([Chl–a]), incoming solar radiation, surface wind speed, and sea-water optical properties. Model simulations show that marine isoprene emissions are sensitive to meteorology and ocean ecosystem productivity, with the highest rates simulated over the Gulf of Mexico. Simulated offshore surface layer marine isoprene concentration is less than 10 ppt and significantly dwarfed by terrestrial emissions over the continental United States. With the isoprene reactions included in this study, the average contribution of marine isoprene to SOA and O3 concentrations is predicted to be small, up to 0.004 μg m−3 for SOA and 0.2 ppb for O3 in coastal urban areas. The light-sensitivity of isoprene production from phytoplankton results in a midday maximum for marine isoprene emissions and a corresponding daytime increase in isoprene and O3 concentrations in coastal locations. The potential impact of the daily variability in [Chl-a] on O3 and SOA concentrations is simulated in a sensitivity study with [Chl-a] increased and decreased by a factor of five. Our results indicate that marine emissions of isoprene cause minor changes to coastal SOA and O3 concentrations. Comparison of model simulations with few available measurements shows that the model underestimates marine boundary layer isoprene concentration. This underestimation is likely due to the limitations in current treatment of marine isoprene emission and a coarse spatial resolution used in the model simulations.