Secondary Organic Aerosol Produced from Non-Measured Hydrocarbons Downwind from the Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

An extensively instrumented NOAA WP-3D research aircraft made airborne measurements of the gaseous and aerosol composition of air over the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill that occurred in April-July of 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. A narrow plume of hydrocarbons was observed downwind from DWH that is attributed to the evaporation of fresh oil on the sea surface. A much wider plume of organic aerosol (OA) was attributed to secondary (SOA) formation from unmeasured, less volatile hydrocarbons that were emitted from a wider area around DWH. These observations provide compelling evidence for the importance of SOA formation from less volatile hydrocarbons, which has been proposed as a significant source of OA in the atmosphere.