The international research group, led by Shohei Hattori from the International Center for Isotope Effects Research at Nanjing University, together with Yoshinori Iizuka (Hokkaido University, Japan) and Sakiko Ishino (Kanazawa University, Japan), has made new breakthroughs in the field of atmospheric chemistry. They discovered that there is a time lag between the changes in atmospheric nitrate concentrations, recorded in Greenland ice cores, and the variation in anthropogenic NOx emissions from the Industrial Revolution to the present. This time lag is attributed to the change in the ease of long-distance transport of atmospheric nitrate, driven by atmospheric acidity-dependent gas-particle partitioning.
The relevant research results were published on May 19, 2025, in the journal Nature Communications under the title "Acidity-driven gas-particle partitioning of nitrate regulates its transport to Arctic through the industrial era" (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59208-0).
