Meteorological potential for contamination of arctic troposphere: Boundary layer structure and turbulent diffusion characteristics

Strunin, M. A.; Postnov, A.A.; Mezrin, M.Yu.

doi:10.1016/s0169-8095(97)00008-2

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Open leads perturb the stable ABL because the temperature difference between the pack ice and the open water induces convection over and downstream of the lead (Anderson and Neff, 2008;Serreze et al, 1992;Andreas and Murphy, 1986). Another aircraft study in the Arctic troposphere has shown up to one-third removal of total aerosol in the ABL attributed to increased turbulent diffusion associated with open leads in the sea-ice (Strunin et al, 1997). Open leads may enhance (i) mixing in the ABL facilitating the deposition of BC to the snow or ice and (ii) entrainment of air from the free troposphere which is often polluted in the springtime Arctic due to long-range transport.…”

Section: Bc Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, dry removal may play a more important role than wet removal in depositing BC particles to the snow because of limited precipitation scavenging in the Arctic in winter and spring . Atmospheric perturbations that facilitate the mixing of BC from the free troposphere into the Arctic boundary layer (ABL), such as through open leads (Serreze et al, 1992;Andreas and Murphy, 1986) or enhanced vertical wind shear, might lead to increased dry deposition of BC aerosol to the snow (Strunin et al, 1997).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Aircraft observations of enhancement and depletion of black carbon mass in the springtime Arctic

et al. 2010

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Abstract. Understanding the processes controlling black carbon (BC) in the Arctic is crucial for evaluating the impact of anthropogenic and natural sources of BC on Arctic climate. Vertical profiles of BC mass loadings were observed from the surface to near 7-km altitude in April 2008 using a Single-Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) during flights on the NOAA WP-3D research aircraft from Fairbanks, Alaska. These measurements were conducted during the NOAAsponsored Aerosol, Radiation, and Cloud Processes affecting Arctic Climate (ARCPAC) project. In the free troposphere, the Arctic air mass was influenced by long-range transport from biomass-burning and anthropogenic source regions at lower latitudes especially during the latter part of the campaign. Average BC mass mixing ratios peaked at about 150 ng BC (kg dry air ) −1 near 5.5 km altitude in the aged Arctic air mass and 250 ng kg −1 at 4.5 km in biomassburning influenced air. BC mass loadings were enhanced by up to a factor of 5 in biomass-burning influenced air compared to the aged Arctic air mass. At the bottom of some of the profiles, positive vertical gradients in BC were observed over the sea-ice. The vertical profiles generally occurred in the vicinity of open leads in the sea-ice. In the aged ArcticCorrespondence to: J. R. Spackman (ryan.spackman@noaa.gov) air mass, BC mass loadings more than doubled with increasing altitude within the ABL and across the boundary layer transition while carbon monoxide (CO) remained constant. This is evidence for depletion of BC mass in the ABL. BC mass loadings were positively correlated with O 3 in ozone depletion events (ODEs) for all the observations in the ABL. Since bromine catalytically destroys ozone in the ABL after being released as molecular bromine in regions of new seaice formation at the surface, the BC-O 3 correlation suggests that BC particles were removed by a surface process such as dry deposition. We develop a box model to estimate the dry deposition flux of BC mass to the snow constrained by the vertical profiles of BC mass in the ABL. Open leads in the sea-ice may increase vertical mixing and entrainment of pollution from the free troposphere possibly enhancing the deposition of BC aerosol to the snow.

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Section: Bc Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Aircraft observations of enhancement and depletion of black carbon mass in the springtime Arctic

et al. 2010

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“…Leads and polynyas can occupy up to 12% of the Arctic ice area (Gloersen and Campbell, 1991) and provide a source region for sea salt aerosols. Water vapor over those leads exerts a major control on the regional energy budget through cloud formation and radiative effects (Dethleff, 1994;Strunin et al, 1997;Morales Maqueda et al, 2004). Moisture fluxes over sea water induce significant growth of aerosol particles, changing the particle composition and the gas-particulate partitioning.…”

Section: Open Leadsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moisture fluxes over sea water induce significant growth of aerosol particles, changing the particle composition and the gas-particulate partitioning. We compared sensible and latent heat fluxes as well as the turbulent kinetic energy flux in our model with values from field data (Strunin et al, 1997;Hartmann et al, 1999;Georgiadis et al, 2000;Argentini et al, 2003). The comparison showed satisfactory agreements (in MISTRA ω T OL 300 W m −2 and ω q OL 45 W m −2 ; data from Hartmann et al (1999): ω T open water 300 − 350 W m −2 and ω q open water 60 − 75 W m −2 ).…”

Section: Open Leadsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The potential importance of frost flowers, recycling on snow, and open leads for ozone depletion events

2008

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Abstract.We present model studies with the one-dimensional model MISTRA to investigate the potential role of frost flowers, recycling on snow, and open leads in the depletion of tropospheric ozone in the Arctic spring. In our model, we assumed frost flower aerosols to be the major source of bromine. We show that a major ozone depletion event can be satisfactorily reproduced only if the recycling on snow of deposited bromine into gas phase bromine is assumed. In the model, this cycling is more efficient than the bromine explosion process and maintains sufficiently high levels of bromine to deplete ozone down to few nmol mol −1 within four days. We assessed the influence of different surface combinations (open lead/frost flowers) on the chemistry in the model. Results showed noticeable modifications affecting the composition of aerosols and the deposition velocities. A model run with a series of coupled frost flower fields and open leads, separated by large areas of snow, showed results comparable with field observations. In addition, we studied the effects of modified temperature of either the frost flower field or the ambient airmass. A warmer frost flower field increases the relative humidity and the aerosol deposition rate. The deposition/re-emission process gains in importance, inducing more reactive bromine in the gas phase, and a stronger ozone depletion. A decrease of 1 K in airmass temperature shows in our model that the aerosol uptake capacities of all gas phase species substantially increases, leading to enhanced uptake of acids from the gas phase. Consequently, the so-called bromine explosion accelerated and O 3 mixing ratios decreased. In our model representation, variations in wind speed affected the aerosol source function and influenced the amount of bromine in the atmosphere and thus the ozone depletion strength. Recent studies have suggested Correspondence to: M. Piot (matthias.piot@iup.uni-heidelberg.de) the important role of the precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) out of the brine layer for the possible acidification of the liquid phase by acid uptake. Our investigation showed that this precipitation is a crucial process for the timing of the bromine explosion in aerosols. Nevertheless, model runs with either 50% precipitation or complete precipitation displayed a relatively weak difference in ozone mixing ratios after four simulated days. By considering conditions typical for "Arctic Haze" pollution events at the start of the run we obtained a low pH in frost flower aerosols due to a greater mixing ratio of SO 2 , and a strong recycling efficiency via large aerosol number concentration. The aerosol acidification during a haze event most likely intensifies the ozone depletion strength and occurrence. The comparison between our modeled deposition on snow and sampled snow at Barrow (Alaska) shows that approximately 75% of deposited bromine may be re-emitted into the gas phase as Br 2 /BrCl. Among several non-halogen fluxes from the snow, model simulations showed that only HONO affects th...

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“…To some extent, Lagrangian models may also be affected by numerical problems near the pole as the meteorological data which force them are calculated by Eulerian models. The long transport pathways, long lifetimes of pollutants in the cold Arctic air, and strong vertical temperature gradients close to the surface (Strunin et al, 1997) are further challenges for all atmospheric transport calculations in polar regions. To our knowledge, simulations of transport in the Arctic atmosphere from both model types have not yet been compared directly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Episodes of cross-polar transport in the Arctic troposphere during July 2008 as seen from models, satellite, and aircraft observations

et al. 2011

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Abstract. During the POLARCAT summer campaign in 2008, two episodes (2-5 July and 7-10 July 2008) occurred where low-pressure systems traveled from Siberia across the Arctic Ocean towards the North Pole. The two cyclones had extensive smoke plumes from Siberian forest fires and anthropogenic sources in East Asia embedded in their associated air masses, creating an excellent opportunity to use satellite and aircraft observations to validate the performance of atmospheric transport models in the Arctic, which is a challenging model domain due to numerical and other complications.Here we compare transport simulations of carbon monoxide (CO) from the Lagrangian transport model FLEXPART and the Eulerian chemical transport model TOMCAT with retrievals of total column CO from the IASI passive infrared sensor onboard the MetOp-A satellite. The main aspect of the comparison is how realistic horizontal and vertical structures are represented in the model simulations. Analysis of CALIPSO lidar curtains and in situ aircraft measurements provide further independent reference points to assess how reliable the model simulations are and what the main limitations are.The horizontal structure of mid-latitude pollution plumes agrees well between the IASI total column CO and the model simulations. However, finer-scale structures are too quickly Correspondence to: H. Sodemann (hso@nilu.no) diffused in the Eulerian model. Applying the IASI averaging kernels to the model data is essential for a meaningful comparison. Using aircraft data as a reference suggests that the satellite data are biased high, while TOMCAT is biased low. FLEXPART fits the aircraft data rather well, but due to added background concentrations the simulation is not independent from observations. The multi-data, multi-model approach allows separating the influences of meteorological fields, model realisation, and grid type on the plume structure. In addition to the very good agreement between simulated and observed total column CO fields, the results also highlight the difficulty to identify a data set that most realistically represents the actual pollution state of the Arctic atmosphere.

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Meteorological potential for contamination of arctic troposphere: Boundary layer structure and turbulent diffusion characteristics

Cited by 18 publications

References 2 publications

Aircraft observations of enhancement and depletion of black carbon mass in the springtime Arctic

Aircraft observations of enhancement and depletion of black carbon mass in the springtime Arctic

The potential importance of frost flowers, recycling on snow, and open leads for ozone depletion events

Episodes of cross-polar transport in the Arctic troposphere during July 2008 as seen from models, satellite, and aircraft observations

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