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ToolsTang, Mingjin, Perron, Morgane M. G., Baker, Alex R., Li, Rui, Bowie, Andrew R., Buck, Clifton S., Kumar, Ashwini, Shelley, Rachel, Ussher, Simon J., Clough, Robert, Meyerink, Scott, Panda, Prema P., Townsend, Ashley T. and Wyatt, Neil (2025) Measurement of soluble aerosol trace elements: Inter-laboratory comparison of eight leaching protocols. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 18 (21). pp. 6125-6141. ISSN 1867-1381
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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.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Data availability: Data used in this paper are available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17295261 (Tang et al., 2025). |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action |
| Faculty \ School: | University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Nov 2025 17:30 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Nov 2025 15:30 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100955 |
| DOI: | 10.5194/amt-18-6125-2025 |
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