Insoluble Particles in the Snowpack of the Ob River Basin (Western Siberia) a 2800 km Submeridional Profile

Abstract

Snowpack exhibits properties that make it a unique natural archive of airborne pollution. The data on insoluble particles in the Ob River catchment (Western Siberia) snowpack are limited. Insoluble particles in the snowpack of Western Siberia were studied at 36 sites on a 2800 km submeridional profile from the city of Barnaul to Salekhard in February 2020. Snow samples were collected over the full depth of the snow core, from the surface of the snow cover to the boundary with soil, except for the lower 1–2 cm. After the filtration of melted snow through a 0.45-µm membrane, the particle composition was studied using a scanning electron microscope with an energy microprobe. In the background areas, the concentration of insoluble particles in the snow was below 2 mg/L. Significantly higher particle concentrations were encountered near cities and hydrocarbon production areas. Particulate matter in snow mainly consists of biogenic and lithogenic particles mixed with anthropogenic particles (ash and black carbon aggregates). The proportion of anthropogenic particles increases near cities and areas of active hydrocarbon production.

Source Apportionment of Particulate Matter in Urban Snowpack Using End-Member Mixing Analysis and Positive Matrix Factorization Model

“…Snowpack was used as the study object because it is a unique natural archive of particles deposited from the atmosphere [50], which provides the time-weighted information on aerosol composition and abundance of anthropogenic PM sources without using expensive up-to-date equipment. The use of PM deposited in the snowpack instead of PM dispersed in air allows for the exclusion of the influence of short-term weather conditions and anthropogenic activities on PM chemistry in whiner.…”

Evaluating the potential of capillary rise for the migration of Pt nanoparticles in Luvisols and Phaeozems (Western Siberia)

“…This transfer involves both solutes and insoluble particles, including nanoscale ones. One of such regions is Western Siberia in Russia, which contains huge native biomes and industrial centers producing insoluble particles which enter the atmosphere (Shevchenko et al, 2020). The aim of this work was to study the possibility of the transfer of PtNPs with a capillary water flow, including such aspects as i) the identification of relationships between the physical and chemical properties of soils and the intensity of this process and ii) the determination of the potential role of capillary processes in assessing the migration of PtNPs in different horizons of soils characteristic for the southwest of Western Siberia (Russia) in the context of an explanation of common pedogenic processes.…”

Interaction of Air Pollution with Snow and Seasonality Effects

“…Field observation, laboratory-experimental, and modeling studies are included, along with environmental monitoring and source apportionment research of local, regional, or global relevance. The fieldwork covered in the articles was conducted in various types of locations: urban sites (e.g., the cities of Chengdu, Gucheng [1], Helsinki [2], Montreal [3], and Moscow [4]); small cities and rural areas (e.g., Yulin, Huimin, and Zhengzhou [1], Tien Shan [5], Valday [6], and "36 sites on a 2800 km submeridional profile from the city of Barnaul to Salekhard" [7]); industrial [6]; remote (e.g., the Arctic, Antarctic [8], and Tibetan Plateau [9]); and other locations (e.g., along highways [10] and in the mountains [11]).…”

“…The articles collected in this Special Issue focus on the following aspects of the interaction of air pollution with snow and the effects of seasonality: (1) the impact of deposited air pollutants on the snow albedo [2,11,12], (2) the composition and properties of particulate and volatile air pollutants detected in snow [4,7,8,11], (3) links with the sources and impact assessment, including, more specifically, seasonality of black carbon in the air and snow [1,2,5,9,12], (4) metals and metalloids in snow [4,6], (5) radioactive isotopes in snow [10], (6) snowpack pollution as an indicator of atmospheric pollution [1,[6][7][8]10,12], (7) photochemistry of compounds released due to interactions with anthropogenic particles that became mixed with snow [3], and (8) the effect of snow on greenhouse gas fluxes from the underlying peat [13].…”

“…Shevchenko and colleagues [7] investigated the morphology and sources of biogenic, lithogenic, and anthropogenic particles in snow and their correlations with proximity to cities and areas of active hydrocarbon production. They note sharp differences in the mineralogical composition of particulate matter in snow and explore its association with geography.…”