Black carbon and other light-absorbing aerosols in snow
Abstract
Black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and mineral dust are the most important light-absorbing aerosols (LAA) in snow. The physical, chemical and optical properties of these aerosols differ greatly; the different spectral dependences of their light-absorption can be used to quantify their concentrations in snow. A field campaign was conducted in January and February of 2010 to measure the LAA in snow across northern China. About 400 snow samples were collected at 46 sites in 6 provinces (Huang et al. 2011). Light absorption by mineral dust is due to iron oxides, so iron was determined by chemical analysis of filters and meltwater. To obtain concentrations of the absorbers, BC, OC, and Fe were assumed to have mass absorption cross-sections at 550 nm of 6.3, 0.3, and 0.9 m2/g respectively, and absorption Ångstrom exponents of 1.1, 6, and 3. The lowest values of all LAA are in the remote northeast, at latitude 51°N on the border of Siberia.Median values in surface snow there are 75 ppb BC, 150 ppb OC, and 45 ppb Fe. Farther south, in the industrial northeast, median values are 1000 ppb BC, 4200 ppb OC, and 500 ppb Fe. The grassland of Inner Mongolia is dominated by OC in soil dust of local origin: 560 ppb BC, 8000 ppb OC, 430 ppb Fe. In the Qilian Mountains at the northern boundary of the Tibetan Plateau the surface snow has 70 ppb BC, 2800 ppb OC, and 550 ppb Fe. The fraction of light absorption due to Fe is ~30% in the Qilian Mountains. Elsewhere BC and OC dominate the absorption, so Fe contributes <10% even though the Fe concentrations are as high as the Qilian values.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFM.A53A0308W
- Keywords:
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- 0305 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Aerosols and particles;
- 0335 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Ion chemistry of the atmosphere;
- 0345 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Pollution: urban and regional