Arctic warming by abundant fine sea salt aerosols from blowing snow

Gong, Xianda; Zhang, Jiaoshi; Croft, Betty; Yang, Xin; Frey, Markus M.; Bergner, Nora; Chang, Rachel Y.-W.; Creamean, Jessie M.; Kuang, Chongai; Martin, Randall V.; Ranjithkumar, Ananth; Sedlacek, Arthur J.; Uin, Janek; Willmes, Sascha; Zawadowicz, Maria A.; Pierce, Jeffrey R.; Shupe, Matthew D.; Schmale, Julia; Wang, Jian

doi:10.1038/s41561-023-01254-8

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…This mechanism could account for the small particles seen during Antarctic winter at coastal stations (Giordano et al, 2018;Frey et al, 2020). Recently, similar PNSD were reported by Gong et al, (2023) in the central 515…”

Section: Possible Primary Sourcessupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Arctic over an entire year from September 2019 to October 2020 during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition, showing that blowing snow was observed more than 20% of the time from November to April. The sublimation of blowing snow generates high concentrations of fine-mode sea salt aerosol (diameter below 300 nm), enhancing 520 cloud condensation nuclei concentrations up to tenfold above background levels (Gong et al, 2023).…”

Section: Possible Primary Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiple eco-regions contribute to the seasonal cycle of Antarctic aerosol size distributions

Brean,

Beddows,

Asmi

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Abstract. In order to reduce the uncertainty of aerosol radiative forcing in global climate models, we need to better understand natural aerosol sources which are important to constrain the current and pre-industrial climate. Here, we analyze Particle Number Size Distributions (PNSD) collected during a year (2015) across four coastal and inland Antarctic research bases (Halley, Marambio, Concordia/Dome C and King Sejong). We find that the four Antarctic locations have striking differences in PNSD, stressing multiple aerosol sources and processes likely exist. We utilise k-means cluster analysis to separate the PNSD data into six main categories. Nucleation and Bursting PNSDs occur 28–48 % of the time between sites, most commonly at coastal sites Marambio and King Sejong where air masses mostly come from the west and travel over extensive regions of sea ice, marginal ice, and open ocean, and likely arise from new particle formation. Aitken high, Aitken low, and bimodal PNSDs occur 37–68 % of the time, most commonly at Concordia/Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau, and likely arise from atmospheric transport and aging from aerosol originating likely in both coastal boundary layer and free troposphere. Pristine PNSDs with low aerosol concentrations occur 12–45 % of the time, most common at Halley located at low altitudes and far from the coastal melting ice, and influenced by air masses from the west. The Antarctic Atmospheric circulation has a strong control on the air mass origin type. Most of the time Marambio and King Sejong stations are affected by Easterly air masses, whereas Halley gets air masses mainly from the Weddell sea marginal and consolidated pack ice. Not only the sea spray primary aerosols and gas to particle secondary aerosols sources, but also the different air masses impacting the research stations should be kept in mind when deliberating upon different aerosol precursors sources across research stations. We provide evidence that both primary and secondary components from pelagic and sympagic regions strongly contribute to the annual seasonal cycle of Antarctic aerosols which add insight on the possible sources of aerosol production/activity in the whole Antarctic region. Our simultaneous aerosol measurements stress the importance of the variation in atmospheric biogeochemistry across the Antarctic region.

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Section: Possible Primary Sourcessupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Possible Primary Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple eco-regions contribute to the seasonal cycle of Antarctic aerosol size distributions

Brean,

Beddows,

Asmi

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…and underestimates AOD along the Canadian archipelago region by -9.3%. This difference may arise from the model inadequately addressing natural aerosol formation due to increased open ocean emissions from sea ice loss, as suggested in prior studies (Breider et al, 2017;Schmale et al, 2021;Gong et al, 2023). It is also possible new particle formation over the high Arctic ice pack occurs.…”

Section: J F M a M J Jmentioning

confidence: 98%

Aerosols in the central Arctic cryosphere: Satellite and model integrated insights during Arctic spring and summer

Swain,

Vountas,

Singh

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Abstract. The central Arctic cryosphere is influenced by the Arctic Amplification (AA) and is warming faster than the lower latitudes. AA affects the formation, loss and transport of aerosols. Efforts to assess the underlying processes determining aerosol variability are currently limited due to the lack of ground-based and space-borne aerosol observations with high spatial coverage in this region. This study addresses the observational gap by making use of total aerosol optical depth (AOD) data sets retrieved by the AEROSNOW algorithm over the vast cryospheric region of the central Arctic during the Arctic spring and summer. GEOS-Chem (GC) simulations combined with AEROSNOW retrieved data are used to investigate the processes controlling aerosol loading and distribution at different temporal and spatial scales. For the first time, an integrated study of AOD over the Arctic cryosphere during sunlight conditions was possible with the AEROSNOW retrieval and GC simulations. The results show that the spatial patterns observed by AEROSNOW differ from those simulated by GC. During spring, which is characterised by long-range transport of anthropogenic aerosols in the Arctic, the GC underestimates the AOD in the vicinity of Alaska. At the same time, it overestimates the AOD along the Bering Strait, Northern Europe, and the Siberian central Arctic sea ice regions, with differences of -12.3 % and 21.7 %, respectively. In contrast, the GC consistently underestimates AOD compared to AEROSNOW in summer, when transport from lower latitudes is insignificant and local natural processes are the dominant source of aerosol, especially north of 70° N. This underestimation is particularly pronounced over the central Arctic sea ice region, where it is -10.6 %. Conversely, the GC tends to overestimate AOD along the Siberian and Greenland marginal sea ice zones by 19.5 %, but underestimates AOD along the Canadian Archipelago by -9.3 %. The differences in summer AOD between AEROSNOW data products and GC simulated AOD highlight the need to integrate improved knowledge of the summer aerosol process into existing models to constrain its effects on cloud condensation nuclei, ice nucleating particles, and any effects on the radiation budget over central Arctic sea ice during the developing AA period.

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“…In particular, the model representations of the effects and development of clouds (Pithan et al, 2014;Kretzschmar et al, 2020;Stevens and Kluft, 2023), and of the interactions of the atmosphere with sea ice, snow on sea ice, and ocean physics as well as biogeochemical feedback processes are challenging (Rinke et al, 2019;Huang et al, 2019;Pefanis et al, 2020). In addition, the role of aerosol particles in Arctic amplification has not been sufficiently investigated (Schmale et al, 2021;Dada et al, 2022;Gong et al, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview: Quasi-Lagrangian observations of Arctic air mass transformations – Introduction and initial results of the HALO–(AC)³ aircraft campaign

Wendisch,

Crewell,

Ehrlich

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Abstract. The global warming is amplified in the Arctic. To collect data that help to constrain weather and climate models, which often do not realistically represent the enhanced Arctic warming, the HALO-(AC)³ aircraft campaign was conducted in March and April 2022 over the Norwegian and Greenland Seas, the Fram Strait, and the central Arctic Ocean. Observations were made over areas of open ocean, the marginal sea ice zone, and the central Arctic sea ice. Two low-flying and one long-range, high-altitude research aircraft have been employed. Whenever possible, the three aircraft were flown in collocated formation. The campaign focused on one specific challenge posed by the models: The reasonable representation of transformations of air masses during their meridional transport into (northward by moist and warm air intrusions, WAIs) and out of (southward via marine cold air outbreaks, CAOs) the Arctic. To observe the air mass transformations, a quasi-Lagrangian flight strategy using trajectory calculations was realized enabling to sample the moving air mass parcels twice along their trajectories. Eight distinct WAI and 12 CAO cases were probed extensively. From the quasi-Lagrangian measurements, we have derived the diabatic heating and moistening of the moving air masses during CAOs and WAIs, the development of cloud macrophysical and microphysical properties along the southward pathways of the air masses during CAOs, and the moisture budget of WAIs. As an example result, we have obtained typical values of the surface-driven diabatic heating between 1–3 K h-1 and of the near-surface moistening between 0.05–0.3 g kg-1 h-1 within the lowest about 0.5 km. From the observations of WAIs, a weak diabatic cooling of up to 0.4 K h-1 and a moisture loss of up to 0.1 g kg-1 h-1 from the ground to about 5 km altitude were derived. In addition, we discuss the frequency of occurrence of the different thermodynamic phases of Arctic low-level clouds, the interaction of Arctic cirrus with sea ice, water vapor, and aerosol particles, and the characteristic microphysical and chemical properties of Arctic aerosol particles. Finally, we provide proof of a concept to measure mesoscale divergence and subsidence in the Arctic using data from dropsondes released during circular flight patterns.

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Arctic warming by abundant fine sea salt aerosols from blowing snow

Cited by 20 publications

References 76 publications

Multiple eco-regions contribute to the seasonal cycle of Antarctic aerosol size distributions

Multiple eco-regions contribute to the seasonal cycle of Antarctic aerosol size distributions

Aerosols in the central Arctic cryosphere: Satellite and model integrated insights during Arctic spring and summer

Overview: Quasi-Lagrangian observations of Arctic air mass transformations – Introduction and initial results of the HALO–(AC)³ aircraft campaign

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Arctic warming by abundant fine sea salt aerosols from blowing snow

Cited by 20 publications

References 76 publications

Multiple eco-regions contribute to the seasonal cycle of Antarctic aerosol size distributions

Multiple eco-regions contribute to the seasonal cycle of Antarctic aerosol size distributions

Aerosols in the central Arctic cryosphere: Satellite and model integrated insights during Arctic spring and summer

Overview: Quasi-Lagrangian observations of Arctic air mass transformations – Introduction and initial results of the HALO–(AC)3 aircraft campaign

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Overview: Quasi-Lagrangian observations of Arctic air mass transformations – Introduction and initial results of the HALO–(AC)³ aircraft campaign