No abstract

Snow is a critically important and rapidly changing feature of the Arctic. However, snow-cover and snowpack conditions change through time pose challenges for measuring and prediction of snow. Plausible scenarios of how Arctic snow cover will respond to changing Arctic climate are important for impact assessments and adaptation strategies. Although much progress has been made in understanding and predicting snow-cover changes and their multiple consequences, many uncertainties remain. In this paper, we review advances in snow monitoring and modelling, and the impact of snow changes on ecosystems and society in Arctic regions. Interdisciplinary activities are required to resolve the current limitations on measuring and modelling snow characteristics through the cold season and at different spatial scales to assure human well-being, economic stability, and improve the ability to predict manage and adapt to natural hazards in the Arctic region.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-016-0770-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

No abstract

No abstract

The water retention curve (WRC), which shows the relationship between the volumetric liquid water content,θv, and suction,h, is a fundamental part of the characterization of hydraulic properties. Therefore, the formulation of the WRC as a function of snow characteristics is essential for establishing a model of water movement through the snow cover. In this study, we measured the WRC of several snow samples, which had different characteristics (grain size, bulk dry density and grain type), using a gravity drainage column experiment and then analysed these data using the Van Genuchten soil physics model (VG model). The shape of the WRC depended strongly on both the sample grain size,d, and bulk dry density,ρ. Therefore, we introduced the parameterρ/dto model the WRC of snow. The relationships between the parametersαandnof the VG model andρ/dchange with grain type. For melt forms,α, which is related to the inverse value of the air-entry suction, increases quickly asρ/ddecreases, whereasn, which is related to the gradient ofθvvsh, increases withρ/d. Conversely, neither of these parameters of the VG model for rounded grains showed obvious dependence onρ/d. These results suggest that water movement through snow cover can be modelled using grain size, bulk dry density and grain type based on the soil physics model.

No abstract

Because aluminum is a less-noble metal which has the standard electrode potential of −1.676 V vs normal hydrogen electrode, it is impossible to obtain the electrodeposition of aluminum from an aqueous solution. No one has reported an electroless plating method of aluminum. We succeeded in demonstrating the electroless plating of aluminum from a room-temperature ionic liquid ͑RTIL͒. It was found from measurements of inductively coupled plasma, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy ͑SEM͒, SEM-energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, and glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy that dense, smooth, and pure aluminum plating was obtained from the RTIL by the electroless plating method. Moreover, the reaction mechanism of the electroless plating of aluminum from the RTIL electrolyte was electrochemically analyzed.

Black carbon (BC) deposited on snow lowers its albedo, potentially contributing to warming in the Arctic. Atmospheric distributions of BC and inorganic aerosols, which contribute directly and indirectly to radiative forcing, are also greatly influenced by depositions. To quantify these effects, accurate measurement of the spatial distributions of BC and ionic species representative of inorganic aerosols (ionic species hereafter) in snowpack in various regions of the Arctic is needed, but few such measurements are available. We measured mass concentrations of size‐resolved BC (CMBC) and ionic species in snowpack by using a single‐particle soot photometer and ion chromatography, respectively, over Finland, Alaska, Siberia, Greenland, and Spitsbergen during early spring in 2012–2016. Total BC mass deposited per unit area (DEPMBC) during snow accumulation periods was derived from CMBC and snow water equivalent (SWE). Our analyses showed that the spatial distributions of anthropogenic BC emission flux, total precipitable water, and topography strongly influenced latitudinal variations of CMBC, BC size distributions, SWE, and DEPMBC. The average size distributions of BC in Arctic snowpack shifted to smaller sizes with decreasing CMBC due to an increase in the removal efficiency of larger BC particles during transport from major sources. Our measurements of CMBC were lower by a factor of ~13 than previous measurements made with an Integrating Sphere/Integrating Sandwich spectrophotometer due mainly to interference from coexisting non‐BC particles such as mineral dust. The SP2 data presented here will be useful for constraining climate models that estimate the effects of BC on the Arctic climate.