Light-absorbing aerosols in snow—estimates on the contribution of non-EC refractory impurities on the reduction of snow albedo
Abstract
Light-absorbing aerosol (LAA) deposited on snow and ice negatively affects the radiative balance. Black carbon (BC) is the most effective light-absorber by mass, and a lot of focus has been put to quantify and model it worldwide. Additional particles, such as dust, have also been shown to be equal or even greater in reducing snow albedo, depending on location. Estimating the different constituents in snow and ice samples is not straight forward as no measurement method directly quantifies them all. Here we present a new approach to measuring these particles using the filter based thermal-optical method to measure the elemental carbon (EC, used as a proxy for BC) and a custom built particle soot absorption photometer to estimate the non-EC refractory particles. Laboratory experiments were conducted by preparing different liquid solutions consisting of BC and minerals which were filtered using previously used protocols. The overall trend is well reproduced, especially for solutions with lower concentrations (<500 ppb), and this method could provide a useful tool in estimating all of the light-absorbing particles in snow and ice.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFM.C13B0814S
- Keywords:
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- 0305 Aerosols and particles;
- ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTUREDE: 0762 Mass balance 0764 Energy balance;
- CRYOSPHEREDE: 0792 Contaminants;
- CRYOSPHEREDE: 1863 Snow and ice;
- HYDROLOGY