Black carbon and organic carbon dataset over the Third Pole

Abstract

Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings, also known as the Third Pole, play an important role in the global and regional climate and hydrological cycle. Carbonaceous aerosols (CAs), including black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC), can directly or indirectly absorb and scatter solar radiation and change the energy balance on the Earth. CAs, along with the other atmospheric pollutants (e.g., mercury), can be frequently transported over long distances into the inland Tibetan Plateau. During the last decades, a coordinated monitoring network and research program named “Atmospheric Pollution and Cryospheric Changes” (APCC) has been gradually set up and continuously operated within the Third Pole regions to investigate the linkage between atmospheric pollutants and cryospheric changes. This paper presents a systematic dataset of BC, OC, water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), and water-insoluble organic carbon (WIOC) from aerosols (20 stations), glaciers (17 glaciers, including samples from surface snow and ice, snow pits, and 2 ice cores), snow cover (2 stations continuously observed and 138 locations surveyed once), precipitation (6 stations), and lake sediment cores (7 lakes) collected across the Third Pole, based on the APCC program. These data were created based on online (in situ) and laboratory measurements. High-resolution (daily scale) atmospheric-equivalent BC concentrations were obtained by using an Aethalometer (AE-33) in the Mt. Everest (Qomolangma) region, which can provide new insight into the mechanism of BC transportation over the Himalayas. Spatial distributions of BC, OC, WSOC, and WIOC from aerosols, glaciers, snow cover, and precipitation indicated different features among the different regions of the Third Pole, which were mostly influenced by emission sources, transport pathways, and deposition processes. Historical records of BC from ice cores and lake sediment cores revealed the strength of the impacts of human activity since the Industrial Revolution. BC isotopes from glaciers and aerosols identified the relative contributions of biomass and fossil fuel combustion to BC deposition on the Third Pole. Mass absorption cross sections of BC and WSOC from aerosol, glaciers, snow cover, and precipitation samples were also provided. This updated dataset is released to the scientific communities focusing on atmospheric science, cryospheric science, hydrology, climatology, and environmental science. The related datasets are presented in the form of excel files. BC and OC datasets over the Third Pole are available to download from the National Cryosphere Desert Data Center (https://doi.org/10.12072/ncdc.NIEER.db0114.2021; Kang and Zhang, 2021).

A comprehensive dataset of microbial abundance, dissolved organic carbon, and nitrogen in Tibetan Plateau glaciers

“…Microbial abundance in ice cores is only available in three TP glaciers (i.e., Puruoganri, East Rongbuk, and Malan;Yao et al, 2006;Zhang et al, 2008Zhang et al, , 2010 using the epifluorescence microscopy method, and there is as yet no publicly available dataset on the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and total nitrogen (TN) in ice cores from the TP. Even for the surface ice and snow, the data on microbial abundances, DOC, or TN have only been reported in less than 10 glaciers (Hood et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2016b;Hu et al, 2018;Yan et al, 2020;Kang et al, 2022). Data scarcity has significantly hindered our understanding of the biogeochemical cycle in TP glaciers and downstream ecosystems.…”

Impact of global warming on regional cycling of mercury and persistent organic pollutants on the Tibetan Plateau: current progress and future prospects

“…116,117 Therefore, more research is necessarily required centering on the warming and contamination of “three poles”, to systematically deeply understand the environment and climate change in the “three poles” region. 35,118…”

“…116,117 Therefore, more research is necessarily required centering on the warming and contamination of "three poles", to systematically deeply understand the environment and climate change in the "three poles" region. 35,118 2.6. POP deposition Dry and wet deposition is an important process affecting the deposition of POPs, which can accumulate and concentrate in snow and lakes.…”

High-resolution physicochemical dataset of atmospheric aerosols over the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings

“…Numerous in-situ measurements have been conducted in the TP and its surroundings during the past few years to characterize the aerosol properties, sources, transport pathways, and regional distributions through the filter sample collection of atmospheric aerosol and the aerosol depositions in glaciers, snow cover, precipitation, and lake sediment (Kang et al, 2022). The off-line atmospheric filter sampling was one of the most important and popular in-situ aerosol collection method in the TP because it was relatively low-cost and easy to carry out under the extreme harsh natural conditions and difficult logistical supports (Cao et al, 2009;Zhao et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2014a;Zhang et al, 2014;Cong et al, 2015;Wan et al, 2015;Xu et al, 2015;Kang et al, 2016;Li et al, 2016b;Dong et al, 2017;Xu et al, 2020).…”

“…The off-line atmospheric filter sampling was one of the most important and popular in-situ aerosol collection method in the TP because it was relatively low-cost and easy to carry out under the extreme harsh natural conditions and difficult logistical supports (Cao et al, 2009;Zhao et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2014a;Zhang et al, 2014;Cong et al, 2015;Wan et al, 2015;Xu et al, 2015;Kang et al, 2016;Li et al, 2016b;Dong et al, 2017;Xu et al, 2020). Meantime, characterizing the regional distribution of atmospheric aerosols over a large area of the TP was another important advantage of the off-line filter sampling through their simultaneous observations at multiple sites (Li et al, 2016a;Chen et al, 2019;Kang et al, 2022). However, studies on the atmospheric aerosols over the remote TP regions are still insufficient at present.…”