Origin of elemental carbon in snow from Western Siberia and northwestern European Russia during winter–spring 2014, 2015 and 2016

Abstract

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Short–lived climate forcers have been proven important both for the climate and human health. In particular, black carbon (BC) is an important climate forcer both as an aerosol and when deposited on snow and ice surface, because of its strong light absorption. This paper presents measurements of elemental carbon (EC; a measurement-based definition of BC) in snow collected from Western Siberia and northwestern European Russia during 2014, 2015 and 2016. The Russian Arctic is of great interest to the scientific community due to the large uncertainty of emission sources there. We have determined the major contributing sources of BC in snow in Western Siberia and northwestern European Russia using a Lagrangian atmospheric transport model. For the first time, we use a recently developed feature that calculates deposition in backwards (so-called retroplume) simulations allowing estimation of the specific locations of sources that contribute to the deposited mass. <br><br> EC was found in higher levels compared to previously reported concentrations and it was highly variable depending on the sampling location. Modelled BC was in good agreement (<i>R</i> = 0.53–0.83) with measured EC. However, a systematic region–specific model underestimation was found. For EC sampled in northwestern European Russia the underestimation by the model was smaller (> &munus;100 %). In this region, the major sources were transportation activities and domestic combustion in Finland. When sampling shifted to Western Siberia, the model underestimation was more significant (< −100 %). There, the sources included emissions from gas flaring as a major contributor to snow BC. The accuracy of the model calculations was also evaluated using two independent datasets of BC measurements in snow covering the entire Arctic. The model reproduced snow BC concentrations quite accurately, although small discrepancies occurred mainly for samples collected in springtime. Nevertheless, EC concentrations in snow presented here are about 20 % lower than previously reported ones in Western Siberia and northwestern European Russia.</p>

Impact of snow deposition on major and trace element concentrations and elementary fluxes in surface waters of the Western Siberian Lowland across a 1700 km latitudinal gradient

“…The ae-olian transport of soil particles under these conditions may be efficient even in winter (Evseeva et al, 2003). The main source of ash particles in the southern part of the profile is the industry and transport of the city of Tomsk (Boyarkina et al, 1993;Yazikov et al, 2000;Talovskaya et al, 2014).…”

“…In boreal and subarctic regions, both dissolved and particulate fractions of snow water reflect the air chemistry in winter, when the land is covered by snow and the water surfaces are frozen. During winter, the input of mineral compounds from adjacent regions is minimal and the main factor controlling chemical composition of snow is long-range, over hundreds and thousands of kilometers, atmospheric transport (Franzén et al, 1994;Huang et al, 2015;, Shevchenko et al, 2000, 2010Welch et al, 1991;Zdanowicz et al, 1998Zdanowicz et al, , 2006Krachler et al, 2005;Zhang et al, 2015).…”