Forty-seven years of weekly atmospheric black carbon measurements in the Finnish Arctic: Decrease in black carbon with declining emissions

Dutkiewicz, Vincent A.; Dejulio, A.; Ahmed, Tanveer; Laing, James R.; Hopke, Philip K.; Skeie, Ragnhild Bieltvedt; Viisanen, Y.; Paatero, Jussi; Husain, Liaquat

doi:10.1002/2014jd021790

Cited by 42 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…In our results the modelled atmospheric BC concentration decreases between 1980 and 2015 (Fig. 6), as has also been observed between 1990 and 2009 at the three long-term Arctic BC monitoring stations in Alert, Barrow and Ny-Ålesund (Sharma et al, 2013), and in a 47-year weekly measurement record from north-ern Finland (Dutkiewicz et al, 2014). The modelled atmospheric BC concentrations at Holtedahlfonna underestimate the values measured at the closest measurement station, NyÅlesund (Zeppelin), from 2001 to 2015 by an order of magnitude (see Sharma et al, 2013).…”

Section: Variation In Modelled Atmospheric Bc Deposition At Holtedahlsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Such underestimations of atmospheric BC concentrations are particularly common for the Arctic where previous comparisons to observations have shown atmospheric BC concentrations being underestimated in chemistry models by up to a magnitude (e.g. Koch et al, 2009;Lee et al, 2013;Dutkiewicz et al, 2014). Figure 5b and c present the seasonality of observed and modelled monthly BC concentrations for 2006 and 2007.…”

Section: Modelled Bc Datamentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Furthermore, measurements from northern Finland showed a 78 % decrease in atmospheric BC concentrations between 1971 and 2011 (Dutkiewicz et al, 2014). This observed decrease is mostly attributed to the fall of the USSR and a resulting decrease in BC emissions in major source areas of Arctic BC (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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: Variation In Modelled Atmospheric Bc Deposition At Holtedahlsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Modelled Bc Datamentioning

confidence: 94%

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

et al. 2017

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“…The average black carbon concentrations at these stations are close to our data, obtained over the Arctic Ocean (region A). It can also be noted that the average M BC values near the Kola Peninsula (region K) agree well with multiyear average black carbon concentrations (127 ng m −3 ) at the station nearest to the route, at Kevo in the north of Finland (Dutkiewicz et al, 2014), consistent with the fact that black carbon content in region K is determined by continental sources. …”

Section: Region and Period Of Measurementssupporting

confidence: 79%

On measurements of aerosol-gas composition of the atmosphere during two expeditions in 2013 along the Northern Sea Route

et al. 2015

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Abstract. We presented the results of expedition measurements of the set of physical-chemical characteristics of atmospheric aerosol in areas of the Arctic and Far East seas, performed onboard RV Akademik Fedorov (17 August-22 September 2013) and RV Professor Khljustin (24 July-7 September 2013). The specific features of spatial distribution and time variations of aerosol optical depth (AOD) of the atmosphere in the wavelength range of 0.34-2.14 µm and boundary layer height, aerosol and black carbon mass concentrations, and disperse and chemical composition of aerosol are discussed. Over the Arctic Ocean (on the route of RV Akademik Fedorov) there is a decrease in aerosol and black carbon concentrations in a northeastern direction: higher values were observed in the region of Spitsbergen and near the Kola Peninsula; and minimum values were observed at northern margins of the Laptev Sea. Average AOD (0.5 µm) values in this remote region were 0.03; the aerosol and black carbon mass concentrations were 875 and 22 ng m −3 , respectively. The spatial distributions of most aerosol characteristics over Far East seas show their latitudinal decrease in the northern direction. On transit of RV Professor Khljustin from the Japan Sea to the Chukchi Sea, the aerosol number concentration decreased on average from 23.7 to 2.5 cm −3 , the black carbon mass concentration decreased from 150 to 50 ng m −3 , and AOD decreased from 0.19 to 0.03. We analyzed the variations in the boundary layer height, measured by ship-based lidar: the average value was 520 m, and the maximal value was 1200 m. In latitudinal distribution of the boundary layer height, there is a characteristic minimum at a latitude of ∼ 55 • N. For water basins of eight seas, we present the chemical compositions of the water-soluble aerosol fraction (ions, elements) and small gasphase species, as well as estimates of their vertical fluxes. It is shown that substances are mainly (75-89 %) supplied from the atmosphere to the sea surface together with gas-phase species. The deposited ions account for from 11 to 24.5 %, and trace elements account for 0.2-0.4 % of the total sum of water-soluble components. The average vertical fluxes of aerosol substance are a factor of 4-7 larger in the Japan Sea than in the water basins of Arctic seas.

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“…Several snow studies have already been conducted in Svalbard in order to assess the BC impact on surface albedo (Clarke and Noone, 1985;Doherty et al, 2010;Forsström et al, 2009Forsström et al, , 2013 and the contribution from local BC sources such as coal mining (Aamaas et al, 2011) (Table 1). Atmospheric BC concentrations at Zeppelin station show a decreasing trend in the most recent years (Eleftheriadis et al, 2009;Hirdman et al, 2010b), confirmed elsewhere in the Arctic (Dutkiewicz et al, 2014;Gong et al, 2010;Sharma et al, 2004). However, only one long-term ice-core record, drilled at 35 Holtedahlfonna (HDF) (Fig.…”

mentioning

confidence: 52%

An 800 year high-resolution black carbon ice-core record from Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard

Osmont¹,

Wendl²,

Schmidely³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Abstract.Produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuel and biomass, black carbon (BC) contributes to Arctic warming by reducing snow albedo and thus triggering a snow-albedo feedback leading to increased snow melting. Therefore, 15 it is of high importance to assess past BC emissions to better understand and constrain their role. However, only few longterm BC records are available from the Arctic, mainly originating from Greenland ice cores. Here, we present the first longterm and high-resolution refractory black carbon (rBC) record from Svalbard, derived from the analysis of two ice cores formate, VA and p-HBA experience multi-decadal peaks reflecting periods of enhanced biomass burning. Most of the background variations and single peak events are corroborated by other ice-core records from Greenland and Siberia. We suggest that the paleofire record from the LF ice core primarily reflects biomass burning episodes from Northern Eurasia, 30 induced by decadal-scale climatic variations.

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Forty-seven years of weekly atmospheric black carbon measurements in the Finnish Arctic: Decrease in black carbon with declining emissions

Cited by 42 publications

References 86 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?

On measurements of aerosol-gas composition of the atmosphere during two expeditions in 2013 along the Northern Sea Route

An 800 year high-resolution black carbon ice-core record from Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard

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