Seasonal fluxes of major ions to a high altitude cold alpine glacier

Maupetit, François; Wagenbach, Dietmar; Weddeling, P.; Delmas, Robert J.

doi:10.1016/1352-2310(94)00222-7

Cited by 65 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Generally these chemical species have been found to be highly correlated with one another in rain in Valtellina, Central Alps (Balestrini et al, 2000), and in snow in the Western Alps (Maupetit and Delmas, 1994). This correlation is often preserved in firn from cold glaciers, as observed by Maupetit et al (1995). Furthermore, the average Na/Cl ratio (1.7) is only slightly higher than that (1.05) measured in a 5-yr wet deposition monitoring program in Val Masino, a side valley of the Valtellina (Balestrini et al, 2000).…”

Section: Chemical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 57%

An Old Relict Glacier Body Preserved in Permafrost Environment: The Foscagno Rock Glacier Ice Core (Upper Valtellina, Italian Central Alps)

Guglielmin

Camusso

Polesello

2004

Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research

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Section: Chemical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 57%

An Old Relict Glacier Body Preserved in Permafrost Environment: The Foscagno Rock Glacier Ice Core (Upper Valtellina, Italian Central Alps)

Guglielmin

Camusso

Polesello

2004

Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research

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“…(2) Col du Doˆme (CDD) glacier (4250 m a.s.l.) located nearby the Mont Blanc summit within the French Alps (Maupetit et al, 1995). (3) The Colle del Lys (CDL) saddle, located in the upper part of the Lys Glacier, about 2 km SW from Colle Gnifetti (Monte Rosa Group, 4250 m a.s.l., Smiraglia et al, 2000).…”

Section: Ice Cores Studies From High-altitude Alpine Glaciersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Italy, Germany, France) represent a suitable area for investigating the direct impact of man-made compounds on the atmosphere. Despite the snow accumulation on alpine glaciers is often affected by local meteorological conditions, and although the time period spanned by the records is often very short (ranging from several decades to several centuries) and occasionally affected by lack of accumulation due to wind erosion, the alpine firn/ice cores constitute irreplaceable natural historical archives of anthropogenic impact on the atmosphere and the European environment (Oeschger et al, 1977;Maupetit et al, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability of Anthropogenic and Natural Compounds in High Altitude–high Accumulation Alpine Glaciers

et al. 2006

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Mid-latitude glaciers represent one of the most important archive of environmental and atmospheric data. In the absence of summer melting, the accumulation of snow on the upper part of mountain chains can allow preservation of the chemical, isotopic and insoluble mineral dust composition of the atmosphere in stratigraphic sequence. The European Alps are located in an area of intense human impact, lying in between some of the most industrialized countries of the world (Italy, France, Germany) and facing the Mediterranean basin. Ice cores recovered from alpine sites above 4000 m a.s.l., where the mean annual temperature is normally below )10°C, allow obtaining precious environmental records. While low-accumulation high-altitude sites provide the longest alpine sequences (Colle Gnifetti, Italian Alps), high-accumulation sites as Col du Dome (CDD, French Alps) and Colle del Lys (CDL, Italian Alps), both located about 4250 m a.s.l. are suitable for obtaining information about the seasonal variability of some compounds. We synthesize in this work the main results from alpine ice cores investigations held by various authors, focusing on high-altitude-high-accumulation sites in particular. Behind the seasonal natural variability of the data, all records point out an unequivocal anthropogenic contribution to mid-troposphere pollution during the second half of the 20th century. These changes could have been associated also to modifications of the mean long-range atmospheric circulation patterns within the Mediterranean basin.

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“…In the Alps, the high observed means (68 and 131 L −1 for surface snow and throughout the snowpack, respectively) are based predominantly on springtime observations. Convection, which is active in spring and summer, lifts regional pollution (Maupetit et al, 1995;Cozic et al, 2008;Marusczak et al, 2011). Newly published results from Marusczak et al (2011), which are not included in the plotted observed mean, provide a mean concentration of total mercury in Alpine surface snow during the first four months of 2009 of ∼3.5 ng L −1 , which agrees well with this region's simulated concentration of mercury in both the top snowpack layer and the top and bottom layers combined (∼2 ng L −1 ).…”

Section: Snowpack-related Mercurymentioning

confidence: 99%

How relevant is the deposition of mercury onto snowpacks? – Part 2: A modeling study

Durnford¹,

Dastoor

Ryzhkov

et al. 2012

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. An unknown fraction of mercury that is deposited onto snowpacks is revolatilized to the atmosphere. Determining the revolatilized fraction is important since mercury that enters the snowpack meltwater may be converted to highly toxic bioaccumulating methylmercury. In this study, we present a new dynamic physically-based snowpack/meltwater model for mercury that is suitable for large-scale atmospheric models for mercury. It represents the primary physical and chemical processes that determine the fate of mercury deposited onto snowpacks. The snowpack/meltwater model was implemented in Environment Canada's atmospheric mercury model GRAHM. For the first time, observed snowpack-related mercury concentrations are used to evaluate and constrain an atmospheric mercury model. We find that simulated concentrations of mercury in both snowpacks and the atmosphere's surface layer agree closely with observations. The simulated concentration of mercury in both in the top 30 cm and the top 150 cm of the snowpack, averaged over 2005-2009, is predominantly below 6 ng L −1 over land south of 66.5°N but exceeds 18 ng L −1 over sea ice in extensive areas of the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay. The average simulated concentration of mercury in snowpack meltwater runoff tends to be higher on the Russian/European side (>20 ng L −1 ) of the Arctic Ocean than on the Canadian side (<10 ng L −1 ). The correlation coefficient between observed and simulated monthly mean atmospheric surface-level gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) concentrations increased significantly with the inclusion of the new snowpack/meltwater model at two of the three stations (midlatitude, subarctic) studied and remained constant at the third (arctic). Oceanic emissions are postulated to produce the observed summertime maximum in concentrations of surface-level atmospheric GEM at Alert in the Canadian Arctic and to generate the summertime volatility observed in these concentrations at both Alert and Kuujjuarapik on subarctic Hudson Bay, Canada. We find that the fraction of deposited mercury that is revolatilized from snowpacks increases with latitude from 39 % between 30 and 45°N, to 57 % from 45 to 60°N, 67 % from 60 to 66.5°N, and 75 % polewards of 66.5°N on an annual basis. Combining this latitudinal gradient with the latitudinally increasing coverage of snowpacks causes yearly net deposition as a fraction of gross deposition to decrease from 98 % between 30 and 45°N to 89 % between 45 and 60°N, 73 % between 60 and 66.5°N, and 44 % within the Arctic Circle. The yearly net deposition and net accumulation of mercury at the surface within the Arctic Circle north of 66.5°N are estimated at 153 and 117 Mg, respectively. We calculate that 58 and 50 Mg of mercury are deposited annually to the Arctic Ocean directly and indirectly via melting snowpacks, respectively. For terrestrial surfaces within the Arctic Circle, we find that 29 and 16 Mg of mercury are deposited annually directly and indirectly via melting snowpacks, respectively. Within the Arctic Circle, multi-s...

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Seasonal fluxes of major ions to a high altitude cold alpine glacier

Cited by 65 publications

References 17 publications

An Old Relict Glacier Body Preserved in Permafrost Environment: The Foscagno Rock Glacier Ice Core (Upper Valtellina, Italian Central Alps)

An Old Relict Glacier Body Preserved in Permafrost Environment: The Foscagno Rock Glacier Ice Core (Upper Valtellina, Italian Central Alps)

Variability of Anthropogenic and Natural Compounds in High Altitude–high Accumulation Alpine Glaciers

How relevant is the deposition of mercury onto snowpacks? – Part 2: A modeling study

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