Nitrogen Oxides in the Remote Marine Environment: Implications for Oceanic Emissions and Photolysis of Particulate Nitrate
Abstract Nitric oxide (NO) in the remote marine atmosphere is underestimated by chemistry‐climate models. We explore the potential oceanic emissions of NO and its impacts using a global chemistry‐climate model with a newly developed oceanic NO emission inventory, considering the abiotic photochemical production of NO in the seawater. The results are evaluated using global observations from the NASA Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom). We propose that the photochemical production of NO from the photolysis of dissolved inorganic nitrite and nitrate in the surface seawater could lead to an oceanic NO x source of ∼3 Tg N per year, which could explain the missing NO in the remote marine boundary layer. This potential oceanic NO source leads to a small but potentially widespread increase in surface ozone and hydroxyl radicals in the remote marine environment, altering our understanding of the role the remote marine atmosphere plays in the global system. Further, the role of the photolysis of nitrate aerosols may be overestimated in recent studies and warrants further investigation.
Authors
- Ilann Bourgeois (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2875-1258)
- Foroozan Arkian
- Pedro Campuzano‐Jost (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3930-010X)
- Jianghanyang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4965-0031)
- Jack E. Dibb (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3096-7709)
- Brian McDonald (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8600-5096)
- Jeff Peischl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9320-7101)
- Chelsea R. Thompson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7332-9945)
- Steven L. Morey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6585-1688)
- Steven C. Wofsy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3133-2089)
- Jose Luis Jimenez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6203-1847)
- Siyuan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8110-5714)
Institutions
- Planetary Science Institute (US)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of Miami (US)
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US)
- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (US)
- NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (US)
- Université Savoie Mont Blanc (FR)
- Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres
- Published
- 2025-11-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2025jd044077
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration