An Alpine ice‐core record of anthropogenic HF and HCl emissions

Eichler, Anja; Schwikowski, Margit; Gäggeler, H. W.

doi:10.1029/2000gl012006

Cited by 24 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…The slight Na + excess could be attributed to a minor contribution from crustal sources such as gypsum, which is present in regional closed-basin lakes. This correlation is in accordance with results from other glaciological records in the Western Alps (Eichler et al, 2000;Schwikowski et al, 1999;Maupetit and Delmas, 1994) but not consistent with data from winter snow collected in the Eastern Alps at low-medium elevation (Gabrielli et al, 2008). In the Eastern Alps a slight Cl − excess was attributed to a minor anthropogenic HCl contribution.…”

Section: Ionic Compounds Concentrations and Fluxessupporting

confidence: 81%

Impact of Po Valley emissions on the highest glacier of the Eastern European Alps

et al. 2011

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Abstract. In June 2009, we conducted the first extensive glaciological survey of Alto dell'Ortles, the uppermost glacier of Mt. Ortles (3905 m a.s.l.), the highest summit of the Eastern European Alps. This section of the Alps is located in a rain shadow and is characterized by the lowest precipitation rate in the entire Alpine arc. Mt. Ortles offers a unique opportunity to test deposition mechanisms of chemical species that until now were studied only in the climatically-different western sector. We analyzed snow samples collected on Alto dell'Ortles from a 4.5 m snow-pit at 3830 m a.s.l., and we determined a large suite of trace elements and ionic compounds that comprise the atmospheric deposition over the past two years.Trace element concentrations measured in snow samples are extremely low with mean concentrations at pg g −1 levels. Only Al and Fe present median values of 1.8 and 3.3 ng g −1 , with maximum concentrations of 21 and 25 ng g −1 . The median crustal enrichment factor (EFc) values for Be, Rb, Sr, Ba, U, Li, Al, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ga and V are lower than 10 suggesting that these elements originated mainly from soil and mineral aerosol. EFc higher than 100 are reported for Zn (118), Ag (135), Bi (185), Sb (401) and Cd (514), demonstrating the predominance of non-crustal depositions and suggesting an anthropogenic origin.Correspondence to: J. Gabrieli (gabrieli@unive.it) Our data show that the physical stratigraphy and the chemical signals of several species were well preserved in the uppermost snow of the Alto dell'Ortles glacier. A clear seasonality emerges from the data as the summer snow is more affected by anthropogenic and marine contributions while the winter aerosol flux is dominated by crustal sources. For trace elements, the largest mean EFc seasonal variations are displayed by V (with a factor

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Section: Ionic Compounds Concentrations and Fluxessupporting

confidence: 81%

Impact of Po Valley emissions on the highest glacier of the Eastern European Alps

et al. 2011

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“…Major ions (MIs) and trace elements (TEs) serve as important proxies for reconstructing past environmental conditions from high‐Alpine snow pits (e.g., Gabrieli et al, ; Greilinger et al, ; Hiltbrunner et al, ; Kuhn et al, ; Kutuzov et al, ; Nickus et al, ) and ice cores (e.g., Döscher et al, ; Eichler et al, ; Preunkert et al, ; Schwikowski et al, , ). For instance, concentration records of ammonium, mainly released from livestock breeding and agriculture (Döscher et al, ; Schwikowski et al, ); nitrate, primarily emitted by traffic (Döscher et al, ; Preunkert et al, ; Wagenbach et al, ); sulfate, typically from fossil fuel burning (Döscher et al, ; Preunkert et al, ; Schwikowski et al, ); and lead, a heavy metal mainly emitted by mining activities, metal production, coal combustion, or the use of leaded gasoline (Schwikowski et al, ), revealed the strong impact of Western European industry and society on the atmosphere over the last decades.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Melt‐Induced Fractionation of Major Ions and Trace Elements in an Alpine Snowpack

et al. 2019

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Understanding the impact of melting on the preservation of atmospheric compounds in high-Alpine snow and glacier ice is crucial for future reconstruction of past atmospheric conditions. However, detailed studies investigating melt-related changes of such proxy information are rare. Here we present a series of five snow pit profiles of 6 major ions and 34 trace elements at Weissfluhjoch, Switzerland, collected between January and June 2017. Atmospheric composition was preserved during the cold season, while melting toward the summer resulted in preferential loss of certain species from the snowpack or enrichment at the base of the snowpack. Increasing mobilization of major ions with meltwater) can be related to their stronger enrichment at ice crystal surfaces during snow metamorphism. Results for trace elements show that less abundant elements such as Ce, Eu, La, Mo, Nd, Pb, Pr, Sb, Sc, Sm, U, and W were best preserved and may still serve as tracers to reconstruct past natural and anthropogenic atmospheric emissions from melt-affected snow pit and ice core records. The obtained elution behavior matches the findings from another high-Alpine site (upper Grenzgletscher) for major ions and the large majority of investigated trace elements. Both studies indicate that water solubility and location at the microscopic scale are likely to determine the relocation behavior with meltwater and also suggest that the observed species-dependent preservation from melting snow and ice is representative for the Alpine region, reflecting Central European atmospheric aerosol composition.

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“…The temporal evolution of a number of chemical trace species and gases over the last 50-250 years has previously been investigated in several studies (Döscher et al, 1995;Döscher et al, 1996;Eichler et al, 2000b;Lavanchy et al, 1999;Legrand et al, 2002;Preunkert et al, 2001a;Preunkert et al, 2001b;Schwikowski et al, 1999a;Schwikowski et al, 1999b;van de Velde, 1999;van de Velde, 2000;Wagenbach et al, 1988). However, although comprehensive data sets for each of these high-altitude glacier sites in the Alps exist independently, comparative studies between different locations to investigate geographical variability in precipitation chemistry are rare.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sources and distribution of trace species in Alpine precipitation inferred from two 60-year ice core paleorecords

Eichler

Schwikowski

Furger

et al. 2004

Preprint

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Abstract. The Alps represent the largest barrier to meridional air flow in Europe, strongly influencing the weather and hence the distribution of atmospheric trace components. Here for the first time, chemical records from two ice cores retrieved from glaciers located in the northern and southern Swiss Alps were compared in conjunction with an analysis of "weather type", in order to assess geographical and seasonal trends in the deposition of trace species and to identify source regions and transport patterns. Using a correlation analysis, investigated trace species (NH4+, NO3−, SO42−, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, and Cl− were grouped into classes of different origin (anthropogenic, sea salt, or Saharan dust). Over the last 60 years, precipitation chemistry at both sites was dominated by NH4+, NO4−, and SO42−, all of anthropogenic origin and deposited mainly in summer by way of convective precipitation. The similarity of the SO42− profiles with historical records of SO4 emissions from France and Italy indicated these two countries as key source areas for the anthropogenic species. In contrast, sea salt and Saharan dust showed major differences in transport pattern and deposition across the Alps. Currently, the sea-salt constituents Na+, K+, and Cl− are transported to the northern site during advective westerly-wind situations, independent of Saharan dust events. At the southern site, sea salt and Saharan dust are deposited simultaneously, indicating a coupled transport active mainly in summer during south-westerly wind situations.

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An Alpine ice‐core record of anthropogenic HF and HCl emissions

Cited by 24 publications

References 21 publications

Impact of Po Valley emissions on the highest glacier of the Eastern European Alps

Impact of Po Valley emissions on the highest glacier of the Eastern European Alps

Melt‐Induced Fractionation of Major Ions and Trace Elements in an Alpine Snowpack

Sources and distribution of trace species in Alpine precipitation inferred from two 60-year ice core paleorecords

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