Elemental carbon measurements in European Arctic snow packs

Forsstrom, S.; Isaksson, Elisabeth; Skeie, Ragnhild Bieltvedt; Ström, Johan; Pedersen, C. A.; Hudson, Stephen R.; Berntsen, Terje; Lihavainen, Heikki; Godtliebsen, Fred; Gerland, Sebastian

doi:10.1002/2013jd019886

Cited by 54 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…1) on Holtedahlfonna. Forsström et al, 2013;Delaney et al, 2015). Consequently, the similarity in EC concentrations measured at stake 10 (2015 coring site) from the surface snow, snow pack and firn core samples gives confidence on the reproducibility of the used EC analysis method.…”

Section: Post-depositional Processes Affecting Ec Deposition At the Tmentioning

confidence: 86%

Do contemporary (1980–2015) emissions determine the elemental carbon deposition trend at Holtedahlfonna glacier, Svalbard?

et al. 2017

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Abstract. The climate impact of black carbon (BC) is notably amplified in the Arctic by its deposition, which causes albedo decrease and subsequent earlier snow and ice spring melt. To comprehensively assess the climate impact of BC in the Arctic, information on both atmospheric BC concentrations and deposition is essential. Currently, Arctic BC deposition data are very scarce, while atmospheric BC concentrations have been shown to generally decrease since the 1990s. However, a 300-year Svalbard ice core showed a distinct increase in EC (elemental carbon, proxy for BC) deposition from 1970 to 2004 contradicting atmospheric measurements and modelling studies. Here, our objective was to decipher whether this increase has continued in the 21st century and to investigate the drivers of the observed EC deposition trends. For this, a shallow firn core was collected from the same Svalbard glacier, and a regional-to-meso-scale chemical transport model (SILAM) was run from 1980 to 2015. The ice and firn core data indicate peaking EC deposition values at the end of the 1990s and lower values thereafter. The modelled BC deposition results generally support the observed glacier EC variations. However, the ice and firn core results clearly deviate from both measured and modelled atmospheric BC concentration trends, and the modelled BC deposition trend shows variations seemingly independent from BC emission or atmospheric BC concentration trends. Furthermore, according to the model ca. 99 % BC mass is wet-deposited at this Svalbard glacier, indicating that meteorological processes such as precipitation and scavenging efficiency have most likely a stronger influence on the BC deposition trend than BC emission or atmospheric concentration trends. BC emission source sectors contribute differently to the modelled atmospheric BC concentrations and BC deposition, which further supports our conclusion that different processes affect atmospheric BC concentration and deposition trends. Consequently, Arctic BC deposition trends should not directly be inferred based on atmospheric BC measurements, and more observational BC deposition data are required to assess the climate impact of BC in Arctic snow.

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Section: Post-depositional Processes Affecting Ec Deposition At the Tmentioning

confidence: 86%

Do contemporary (1980–2015) emissions determine the elemental carbon deposition trend at Holtedahlfonna glacier, Svalbard?

et al. 2017

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“…As black carbon (BC) effectively absorbs visible radiation, it causes acceleration in the growth of snow grains, and therefore an overall decrease in albedo. In particular, Hansen et al (2005) suggested that the effect of BC on snow albedo contributes substantially to rapid warming and sea ice loss in the Arctic, although recent measurements (Forsström et al, 2009(Forsström et al, , 2013Doherty et al, 2010) have shown substantially lower levels of BC than was observed in the 1980s (Clarke and Noon, 1985). In view of these findings, parameterizations of BC and soot concentration in snow have been recently developed (Flanner and Zender, 2006;Yasunari et al, 2011;Aoki et al, 2011).…”

Section: Aerosol Deposition On Snow and Icementioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in understanding and parameterization of small-scale physical processes in the marine Arctic climate system: a review

et al. 2014

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Abstract. The Arctic climate system includes numerous highly interactive small-scale physical processes in the atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean. During and since the International Polar Year 2007-2009, significant advances have been made in understanding these processes. Here, these recent advances are reviewed, synthesized, and discussed. In atmospheric physics, the primary advances have been in cloud physics, radiative transfer, mesoscale cyclones, coastal, and fjordic processes as well as in boundary layer processes and surface fluxes. In sea ice and its snow cover, advances have been made in understanding of the surface albedo and its relationships with snow properties, the internal structure of sea ice, the heat and salt transfer in ice, the formation of superimposed ice and snow ice, and the small-scale dynamics of sea ice. For the ocean, significant advances have been related to exchange processes at the ice-ocean interface, diapycnal mixing, double-diffusive convection, tidal currents and diurnal resonance. Despite this recent progress, some of these small-scale physical processes are still not sufficiently understood: these include wave-turbulence interactions in the atmosphere and ocean, the exchange of heat and salt at the ice-ocean interface, and the mechanical weakening of sea ice. Many other processes are reasonably well understood as stand-alone processes but the challenge is to understand their interactions with and impacts and feedbacks on other processes. Uncertainty in the parameterization of small-scale processes continues to be among the greatest challenges facing climate modelling, particularly in high latitudes. Further improvements in parameterization require new year-round field campaigns on the Arctic sea ice, closely combined with satellite remote sensing studies and numerical model experiments.

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“…Huang et al (2011) showed BC-in-snow concentrations decrease rapidly towards the northeast and away from major industrial regions. In the Arctic, Doherty et al (2010) and Forsstrom et al (2013) showed that the spatial differences in BC depended on the emission source intensity, the distance from the source to the deposition region, and the prevailing wind direction. In the eastern Sierra Nevada, Sterle et al (2013) noted that BC concentrations in aged snow were enhanced seven-fold relative to those in fresh snow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate effect of black carbon aerosol in a Tibetan Plateau glacier

Song

Cao

et al. 2015

Atmospheric Environment

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h i g h l i g h t sWe sampled surface snow and snow pits in the snowmelt season in a Tibetan glacier. We depicted the variability of BC, OC, and dust concentrations. Scavenging efficiency and enrichment for BC and OC were derived. We evaluated BC radiative forcing in snow using SNICAR. a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c tIn the Tibetan Plateau, the black carbon (BC) concentration in surface snow and snow pits has received much attention, whereas the seasonal behavior of aerosol-in-snow concentration, vertical profile, meltscavenging, and enrichment have received relatively little attention. Here we investigate these processes and their impacts on radiative forcing on the Muji glacier in the westernmost Tibetan Plateau during the 2012 snowmelt season. Increasing impurity concentrations were mostly due to post-deposition effects rather than new deposition. On 5 July, BC concentrations in the surface snow were higher than those of fresh snow, implying enrichment via sublimation and/or melting of previous snow. Fresh snow contained 25 ng g À1 BC on 27 July; afterward, BC gradually increased, reaching 730.6 ng g À1 in September. BC, organic carbon (OC), and dust concentrations co-varied but differed in magnitude. Melt-scavenging efficiencies were estimated at 0.19 ± 0.05 and 0.04 ± 0.01 for OC and BC, respectively, and the BC in surface snow increased by 20e25 times depending on melt intensity. BC-in-snow radiative forcing (RF) was approximately 2.2 W m À2 for fresh snow and 18.1e20.4 W m À2 for aged snow, and was sometimes reduced by the presence of dust.

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Elemental carbon measurements in European Arctic snow packs

Cited by 54 publications

References 82 publications

Do contemporary (1980–2015) emissions determine the elemental carbon deposition trend at Holtedahlfonna glacier, Svalbard?

Do contemporary (1980–2015) emissions determine the elemental carbon deposition trend at Holtedahlfonna glacier, Svalbard?

Advances in understanding and parameterization of small-scale physical processes in the marine Arctic climate system: a review

Climate effect of black carbon aerosol in a Tibetan Plateau glacier

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