SNOSP: Ion deposition and concentration in high alpine snow packs

The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term glacier mass balance

“…The same also applies to variations with altitude: at higher elevation ion concentrations are lower compared to valleys, but the general increase in precipitation with elevation compensates for this effect, so that ionic loads are expected to be in the same order of magnitude independent of absolute elevation. A more detailed investigation of selected sampling locations in the vicinity of Colle Gnifetti/Fiescherhorn (Breithorn, Gorner-/Theodulgletscher, Colle Vincent, Jungfraujoch) revealed that there is no distinct altitudinal trend in ionic loads (Nickus et al, 1997). A recent study about atmospheric deposition in alpine and subalpine areas confirms these results and concludes that there are no clear regional gradients but a significant spatial variability of atmospheric ion deposition over the Alps (Rogora et al, 2006).…”

“…Several studies performed detailed investigations of the regional and altitudinal distribution of major ions in the high Alpine region (e.g. Nickus et al, 1997;Rogora et al, 2006 nor in altitude. Due to a lack of clear indication, we assumed that Fe/BC concentrations at Claridenfirn are in a similar range as the concentrations observed on Colle Gnifetti and Fiescherhorn, respectively, and employed measured Fe/BC concentrations directly without a transfer function.…”

“…For this reason we relied on time series at locations other than Claridenfirn and had to transpose the measurements to the study site for which long-term mass balance measurements were available. In the 1990s a large-scale study about the chemical composition of high-alpine winter snow packs was carried out in the Alps with the aim of detecting the regional and altitudinal distribution of major ions (SNOSP; Nickus et al, 1997). It was found that the concentration of most ionic species in winter snow increases by about one third from west to east and that ionic loads show no regional preference due to opposite gradients in the prevailing precipitation patterns.…”

“…In addition, a unique data set of monthly means of global solar radiation for Davos covering the period 1936-2014 is provided by the Global En- Figures ergy Balance Archive (GEBA; Ohmura et al, 1989) and was employed to improve the performance of the cloud factor parameterisation. A firn/ice core from the cold glacier saddle of Colle Gnifetti (4455 m a.s.l., Monte Rosa, Switzerland), retrieved in 2003, provides a continuous record of annual iron (Fe) concentrations over 1914-1997(Sigl, 2009 which was used to infer the mineral dust concentration in precipitation ( Fig. 2a).…”

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

“…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.…”