Bulk aerosol samples collected during cruise M91 of FS Meteor off the coast of Peru in December 2012 were analysed for their soluble trace metal (Fe, Al, Mn, Ti, Zn, V, Ni, Cu, Co, Cd, Pb, Th) and major ion (including NO−3 and NH+4) content. These data are among the first recorded for trace metals in this relatively poorly studied region of the global marine atmosphere. To the north of ∼ 13◦ S, the concentrations of several elements (Fe, Ti, Zn, V, Ni, Pb) appear to be related to distance from the coast. At the south of the transect (∼ 15–16◦ S), elevated concentrations of Fe, Cu, Co and Ni were observed. These may be related to the activities of the large smelting facilities in the south of Peru or northern Chile. Calculated dry deposition fluxes (3370–17 800 and 16–107 nmolm−2d−1 for inorganic nitrogen and soluble Fe respectively) indicated that atmospheric input to...

Meteor cruise M91 was supported by the BMBF projects SOPRAN II and III (FKZ 03F0611A and FKZ 03F662A). We thank the Peruvian authorities for authorising us to conduct the study in their territorial waters. We also would like to thank our Peruvian colleagues from IMARPE (M. Graco, A. Bernal, G. Flores, and V. León) for their logistical support to our work. Sample analysis was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through grant NE/H00548X/1 and by the School of Natural Sciences, University of East Anglia. We gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and the READY website (http://www.arl.noaa.gov/HYSPLIT.php) and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on our manuscript.