Observations of blowing snow impacts on ambient particle abundance and chemical composition in the springtime Arctic

Previous modeling studies have hypothesized blowing snow sublimation to play an important role in the sea salt aerosol and reactive halogen budgets in the Arctic atmospheric boundary layer. However, a lack of observational constraints has led to uncertainty of the importance of this mechanism. In this study, we measured atmospheric turbulence, size-resolved ambient particle number concentrations and chemical composition, and snow chemical composition, at a coastal Arctic tundra site during springtime when wind speed occasionally exceeded the blowing snow wind threshold. Comparison of size-resolved particle number concentration during blowing snow periods and other periods suggests blowing snow may represent a net source of particles in the submicron range but a net sink in the supermicron range, due to a combination of sublimation and scavenging processes. A comparison of the bulk and single-particle chemical composition between blowing snow and non-blowing snow periods allows an assessment of the processes contributing to the springtime aerosol composition. Sea salt aerosol production from local open sea ice leads is also evaluated.