Blowing Snow - A Major Source of Aerosol in the Polar Regions?

Sea salt aerosol is the dominant aerosol component in unpolluted Polar Regions, particularly in the sea ice zone. In the lower latitude liquid ocean, wave action and bubble bursting is thought to be the main mechanism for sea salt aerosol production. However there is growing evidence that in the Polar Regions, particularly near sea ice, that the sublimation of wind lofted salty snow may be a dominant source of sea salt aerosol. An extensive set of aerosol sizing and compositional measurements was made at sea ice location near Ross Island, Antarctica during two field measurement campaigns - a summer campaign in 2014 and late winter campaign in 2015. Sizing measurements from both open and closed path aerosol instruments, and compositional measurements from an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer suggest that there is a significant enhancement in both super and sub micron aerosol associated with high wind events and blowing snow in the boundary layer. While the composition of this aerosol indicates that it is primarily of marine origin, the ratios of the major sea salt ions suggest that processing in the snow pack significantly modifies the aerosol. This alternate sea salt aerosol production mechanism could have significant impact on the modeling of tropospheric halogen chemistry and on the interpretation of sea salt-based proxies in the ice core record.