Continental, Volcanic, and Marine Aerosols Arriving at Summit, Greenland as Recorded by Continuous Aerosol Monitoring

An ongoing program to continuously collect time- and size- resolved aerosol samples from ambient air at Summit Station, Greenland (72.6N, 38.5W) is building a long-term data base to both record individual transport events and provide long-term temporal context for past and future intensive studies at the site. As a "first look" at this data set, analysis of samples collected from summer 2005 to April 2006 demonstrates the utility of continuous sampling to characterize air masses over the ice pack, document individual aerosol transport events, and develop a long term record. Source-related aerosol types identified in this analysis are consistent with those reported from previous work using snow pits and intermittent ambient air sampling during intensive study campaigns. Continuous sampling complements the fundamental characterization of Greenland aerosols developed in intensive field programs by providing a year-round record of aerosol size and composition at all temporal scales relevant to ice core analysis, ranging from individual deposition events and seasonal cycles, to a record of inter-annual variability of aerosols from both natural and anthropogenic sources.