ORCID
- Simon J. Ussher: 0000-0001-6724-9212
Abstract
A range of leaching protocols have been used to measure the soluble fraction of aerosol trace elements worldwide, and therefore these measurements may not be directly comparable. This work presents the first large-scale international laboratory intercomparison study for aerosol trace element leaching protocols. Eight widely-used protocols are compared using 33 samples that were subdivided and distributed to all participants. Protocols used ultrapure water, ammonium acetate, or acetic acid (the so-called "Berger leach") as leaching solutions, although none of the protocols were identical to any other. The ultrapure water leach resulted in significantly lower soluble fractions, when compared to the ammonium acetate leach or the Berger leach. For Al, Cu, Fe and Mn, the ammonium acetate leach resulted in significantly lower soluble fractions than those obtained with the Berger leach, suggesting that categorizing these two methods together as "strong leach"in global databases is potentially misleading. Among the ultrapure water leaching methods, major differences seemed related to specific protocol features rather than the use of a batch or a flow-through technique. Differences in trace element solubilization among leach solutions were apparent for aerosols with different sources or transport histories, and further studies of this type are recommended on aerosols from other regions. We encourage the development of "best practices"guidance on analytical protocols, data treatment and data validation in order to reduce the variability in soluble aerosol trace element data reported. These developments will improve understanding of the impact of atmospheric deposition on ocean ecosystems and climate.
DOI Link
Publication Date
2025-11-04
Publication Title
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
Volume
18
Issue
21
ISSN
1867-1381
Acceptance Date
2025-09-30
Deposit Date
2026-03-10
Funding
Mingjin Tang was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 42321003 and 42277088), International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. 164GJHZ2024011FN), Guangzhou Bureau of Science and Technology (grant no. 2024A04J6533), and Guangdong Foundation for Program of Science and Technology Research (grant no. 2023B1212060049). Alex R. Baker and Rachel Shelley were funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (grant no. NE/V001213/1). Morgane M. G. Perron was funded by a European Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions fellowship (grant no. GA 101064063). Andrew R. Bowie was funded by the Australian Research Council (grant no. DP190103504) and the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership under the Antarctic Science Collaboration Initiative (grant no. ASCI000002). This work was partially supported from funding to SCOR WG 167 (RUSTED) provided by national committees of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and from a grant to SCOR from the U.S. National Science Foundation (OCE-2513154).
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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
First Page
6125
Last Page
6141
Recommended Citation
Tang, M., Perron, M., Baker, A., Li, R., Bowie, A., Buck, C., Kumar, A., Shelley, R., Ussher, S., Clough, R., Meyerink, S., Panda, P., Townsend, A., & Wyatt, N. (2025) 'Measurement of soluble aerosol trace elements: Inter-laboratory comparison of eight leaching protocols', Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 18(21), pp. 6125-6141. Available at: 10.5194/amt-18-6125-2025
