Active Atmosphere-Ecosystem Exchange of the Vast Majority of Detected Volatile Organic Compounds

Abstract

Two-Way Street: Most studies of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in the atmosphere, which play important roles in atmospheric chemistry, have concentrated on dominant species such as isoprene. There are thousands of other classes of VOCs, and how they are exchanged between the biosphere and the atmosphere is unclear. Park et al. (p. 643 ) measured the fluxes of more than 500 types of VOCs using a highly sensitive type of mass spectrometry and an absolute value eddy covariance method. The majority of these species were actively exchanged between the atmosphere and the biosphere, with more than a quarter showing net deposition. These results should help to improve air quality and global climate models, and strengthen our understanding of atmospheric VOC chemistry.