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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-2472</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Molecular characteristics and formation pathways of organosulfur compounds: a comparative field study across contrasting atmospheric environments</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Cai</surname>
<given-names>Dongmei</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Gong</surname>
<given-names>Xianda</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7274-0639</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhang</surname>
<given-names>Ruiqi</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhang</surname>
<given-names>Shenyan</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Cheng</surname>
<given-names>Yuhan</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3566-6563</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Rahaman</surname>
<given-names>Saidur</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Fang</surname>
<given-names>Yin</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Chen</surname>
<given-names>Jianmin</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5859-3070</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of  Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310030, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Research Center for Industries of the Future, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang  310030, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3),  IRDR ICoE on Risk Interconnectivity and Governance on Weather/Climate Extremes  Impact and Public Health, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering,  Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Institute of Eco-Chongming,  Blue Carbon Science and Technology Centre, East China Normal University, Shanghai,  200241, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>13</day>
<month>05</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>37</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Dongmei Cai et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2472/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2472/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2472/egusphere-2026-2472.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2472/egusphere-2026-2472.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Organosulfur compounds (OrgSs), especially organosulfates (OSs), are ubiquitous aerosol components. However, the spatial, seasonal, and diurnal variations of OrgS formation in polluted atmospheres remain poorly understood. Here, we monitored particulate OrgSs at an urban site and a suburban site in Shanghai and examined their molecular composition and formation pathways under contrasting atmospheric conditions. A total of 1964, 1914, and 2689 OrgS molecular formulas were detected in suburban summer, urban summer, and urban winter, respectively. More than 79 % of sulfur-containing molecular formulas had (4&lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; + 3&lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;)/o &amp;le; 1, indicating that OrgSs were dominated by OSs and nitrooxy-OSs (NOSs). Compared with summer, wintertime OrgSs exhibited lower O/C ratios but higher double-bond equivalence and aromaticity, suggesting a stronger influence of anthropogenic emissions and more unsaturated molecular structures. Although OrgSs were mostly present in aliphatic molecular structures, an increase in the number of aromatic OSs in winter revealed an enhanced contribution from anthropogenic sources. Isoprene/monoterpene-derived OSs peaked during the daytime due to photochemical oxidation in summer, whereas monoterpene-derived NOSs were markedly enhanced at night via nighttime NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;-initiated oxidation. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis further revealed that OrgS composition in summer was associated with temperature and O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; during the day but shifted toward RH-driven processing at night. In winter, inorganic nitrogen and sulfur species, aerosol liquid water content, and particle acidity became more important in shaping OrgS composition, suggesting enhanced aqueous-phase and acid-catalyzed formation. These findings provide molecular-level insights into the sources and formation of atmospheric OrgSs across contrasting environments.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="37"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>National Natural Science Foundation of China</funding-source>
<award-id>42505104; 22336001</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
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