Transport of polluted boundary layer air from the Po Valley to high-alpine sites

Seibert, Petra; Kromp-Kolb, Helga; Kasper, A.; Kalina, M.; Puxbaum, Hans; Jost, D.T.; Schwikowski, Margit; Baltensperger, Urs

doi:10.1016/s1352-2310(97)00174-x

Cited by 83 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…80% (282 samples) of the analysis revealed values below the detection limit of 0.001 mg l−1, whereas the remaining samples showed an average concentration of 0.003 mg l−1. Thus, pre-industrial concentrations of MSA in alpine ice are significantly lower than the 0.0029 mg l−1 found in interglacial Greenland ice (Legrand et al, 1997), indicating that DMS oxidation is an unimportant source of SO2− 4 in Europe, as expected. The anthropogenic sulphate source in the indusAn ice core from the high-altitude Alpine glacier Colle Gnifetti was analysed in order to reconstruct trial period can now be estimated having contributed 79% of the total sulphate, thus being the the history of aerosol SO2− 4 concentrations in Europe.…”

Section: Natural Sources: Volcanic Emissionssupporting

confidence: 60%

“…in soils ( Vinogradov, 1959). For glacial ice from Quiescent degassing from volcanoes and moderate Summit, Greenland, a higher nssSO2− 4 /Ca2+ ratio or small eruptions have also been discussed as of about 0.25 was reported (Legrand et al, 1997).…”

Section: Natural Sources: Volcanic Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This 7% represent directions, and is in agreement with results from trajectory analyses studying the transport from an upper limit. Nevertheless, in pre-industrial times they may have amounted to a significant the Po valley, the major source area in Italy, to high-alpine sites (Seibert et al, 1998). The SO 2 38% of the SO2− 4 burden.…”

Section: Anthropogenic Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anthropogenic versus natural sources of atmospheric sulphate from an Alpine ice core

Schwikowski¹,

Döscher²,

Gäggeler³

et al. 1999

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

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Opposite to greenhouse gases, sulphate aerosol particles are expected to cause climate cooling, but uncertainties exist about source variability and strength. We analysed an ice core from a European glacier to quantify source strengths of aerosol-borne sulphate over a 200-year period. Sulphate from emissions of SO 2 increased by more than an order of magnitude during this century. This anthropogenic source is responsible for about 80% of total sulphate in the industrial period, and reflects emissions of west European countries. In the pre-industrial period mineral dust was the dominant contributor, followed by sulphate from SO 2 emissions with volcanoes or biomass burning as possible sources.

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Section: Natural Sources: Volcanic Emissionssupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Natural Sources: Volcanic Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Anthropogenic Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Anthropogenic versus natural sources of atmospheric sulphate from an Alpine ice core

Schwikowski¹,

Döscher²,

Gäggeler³

et al. 1999

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

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“…This is consistent with the known regional sources in the densely populated and highly industrialized Po Valley, north Italy. As Seibert et al (1998) showed, there can be significant advection of the pollutants in the Po Valley to the northwest high alpine region. Reimann et al (2008) analyzed 7 years of continuous observations of halocarbons at Jungfraujoch and concluded that a strong influence on the halocarbon levels was found from the Po Valley.…”

Section: Attributions Of Pollutant Sources By Air Mass History Weathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single particle characterization of black carbon aerosols at a tropospheric alpine site in Switzerland

et al. 2010

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Abstract.The refractory black carbon (rBC) mass, size distribution (190-720 nm) and mixing state in submicron aerosols were characterized from late February to March 2007 using a single particle incandescence method at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch (JFJ), Switzerland (46.33 • N, 7.59 • E, 3580 m a.s.l.). JFJ is a ground based location, which is at times exposed to continental free tropospheric air. A median mass absorption coefficient (MAC) of 10.2 ± 3.2 m 2 g −1 at λ = 630 nm was derived by comparing single particle incandescence measurements of black carbon mass with continuous measurements of absorption coefficient. This value is comparable with other estimates at this location. The aerosols measured at the site were mostly well mixed and aged during transportation via the free troposphere. Pollutant sources were traced by air mass back trajectories, trace gases concentrations and the mass loading of rBC. In southeasterly wind directions, mixed or convective weather types provided the potential to vent polluted boundary layer air from the southern Alpine area and industrial northern Italy, delivering enhanced rBC mass loading and CN concentrations to the JFJ. The aerosol loadings at this site were also significantly influenced by precipitation, which led to the removal of rBC from the atmosphere. Precipitation events were shown to remove about 65% of the rBC mass from the free tropospheric background reducing the mean loading from 13 ± 5 ng m −3 to 6± 2 ng m −3 (corrected Correspondence to: D. Liu (dantong.liu@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk) to standard temperature and pressure). Overall, 40± 15% of the observed rBC particles within the detectable size range were mixed with large amounts of non-refractory materials present as a thick coating. The growth of particle size into the accumulation mode was positively linked with the degree of rBC mixing, suggesting the important role of condensable materials in increasing particle size and leading to enhanced internal mixing of these materials with rBC. It is the first time that BC mass, size distribution and mixing state are reported in the free troposphere over Europe. These ground based measurements also provide the first temporal study of rBC in the European free troposphere quantitatively measured by single particle methods. At the present time there is only limited information of BC and its mixing state in the free troposphere, especially above Europe. The results reported in this paper provide an important constraint on modelled representation of BC.

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“…At Jungfraujoch itself, however, terrain channels the wind into a bimodal distribution with maxima towards the north-west and south-east. Distinct pollution sources that have been identified at Jungfraujoch include: aerosols from the Swiss Plateau and Rhône Valley , a range of species from the industrialised Po Valley (Reimann et al, , 2004Seibert et al, 1998) and regional-scale European pollution, mainly from Switzerland, France and Germany (Uglietti et al, 2011). In addition to these surface sources, stratospheric incursions can affect air composition, especially ozone concentration (Stohl et al, 2000;Trickl et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface-to-mountaintop transport characterised by radon observations at the Jungfraujoch

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Atmospheric composition measurements at Jungfraujoch are affected intermittently by boundary-layer air which is brought to the station by processes including thermally driven (anabatic) mountain winds. Using observations of radon-222, and a new objective analysis method, we quantify the land-surface influence at Jungfraujoch hour by hour and detect the presence of anabatic winds on a daily basis. During 2010-2011, anabatic winds occurred on 40 % of days, but only from April to September. Anabatic wind days were associated with warmer air temperatures over a large fraction of Europe and with a shift in air-mass properties, even when comparing days with a similar mean radon concentration. Excluding days with anabatic winds, however, did not lead to a better definition of the unperturbed aerosol background than a definition based on radon alone. This implies that a radon threshold reliably excludes local influences from both anabatic and non-anabatic vertical-transport processes.

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Transport of polluted boundary layer air from the Po Valley to high-alpine sites

Cited by 83 publications

References 13 publications

Anthropogenic versus natural sources of atmospheric sulphate from an Alpine ice core

Anthropogenic versus natural sources of atmospheric sulphate from an Alpine ice core

Single particle characterization of black carbon aerosols at a tropospheric alpine site in Switzerland

Surface-to-mountaintop transport characterised by radon observations at the Jungfraujoch

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