The atmospheric chemistry of trace gases and particulate matter emitted by different land uses in Borneo

MacKenzie, A. R. and Langford, B. and Pugh, T. A.M. and Robinson, N. and Misztal, P. K. and Heard, D. E. and Lee, J. D. and Lewis, A. C. and Jones, C. E. and Hopkins, J. R. and Phillips, G. and Monks, P. S. and Karunaharan, A. and Hornsby, K. E. and Nicolas-Perea, V. and Coe, H. and Gabey, A. M. and Gallagher, M. W. and Whalley, L. K. and Edwards, P. M. and Evans, M. J. and Stone, D. and Ingham, T. and Commane, R. and Furneaux, K. L. and McQuaid, J. B. and Nemitz, E. and Seng, Yapkok and Fowler, D. and Pyle, J. A. and Hewitt, C. N. (2011) The atmospheric chemistry of trace gases and particulate matter emitted by different land uses in Borneo. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 366 (1582). pp. 3177-3195. ISSN 0962-8436

Abstract

We report measurements of atmospheric composition over a tropical rainforest and over a nearby oil palm plantation in Sabah, Borneo. The primary vegetation in each of the two landscapes emits very different amounts and kinds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), resulting in distinctive VOC fingerprints in the atmospheric boundary layer for both landscapes. VOCs over the Borneo rainforest are dominated by isoprene and its oxidation products, with a significant additional contribution from monoterpenes. Rather than consuming the main atmospheric oxidant, OH, these high concentrations of VOCs appear to maintain OH, as has been observed previously over Amazonia. The boundary-layer characteristics andmixing ratios ofVOCs observed over theBorneo rainforest are different to those measured previously overAmazonia.Compared with the Bornean rainforest, air over the oil palm plantation contains much more isoprene, monoterpenes are relatively less important, and the flower scent, estragole, is prominent. Concentrations of nitrogen oxides are greater above the agroindustrial oil palm landscape than over the rainforest, and this leads to changes in some secondary pollutant mixing ratios (but not, currently, differences in ozone). Secondary organic aerosol over both landscapes shows a significant contribution from isoprene. Primary biological aerosol dominates the super-micrometre aerosol over the rainforest and is likely to be sensitive to land-use change, since the fungal source of the bioaerosol is closely linked to above-ground biodiversity.