Direct observation of Arctic Sea salt aerosol production from blowing snow and modeling over a changing sea ice environment
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19568633 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ananth Ranjithkumar (0000-0002-6780-456X, British Antarctic Survey), Eliza Duncan (0009-0006-3777-516X, University of Exeter), Xin Yang (0000-0002-0154-737X, British Antarctic Survey), Daniel G Partridge (0000-0002-5970-901X, University of Exeter), Thomas Lachlan-Cope (1British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK), Tom Lachlan‐Cope (0000-0002-0657-3235, British Antarctic Survey), Xianda Gong (0000-0001-7274-0639, Westlake University), Kouichi Nishimura (0000-0003-2521-2491, Nagoya University), Markus M Frey (0000-0003-0535-0416, British Antarctic Survey) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2025-02-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Elementa Science of the Anthropocene (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2325-1026 • E-ISSN: 2325-1026 |
| Publisher | University of California Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1525/elementa.2024.00006 |
| OpenAlex | W4407162840 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 79 |
In the polar regions, there is significant model bias in the number concentrations and seasonality of sea salt aerosol (SSA) due to the lack of understanding of aerosol sources associated with sea ice, which is hampering accurate climate forecasts at high latitudes. Recently, SSA originating from the sublimation of blowing snow has been directly observed to be an important source of aerosol particles in the Antarctic during winter/spring, validating a mechanism proposed a decade ago. Here, we report in situ observations of coarse aerosol production (particle diameter 0.5–20.0 μm) dominated by sea salt from blowing snow above sea ice during winter/spring in the Central Arctic during the MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition from October 2019 to September 2020. Blowing snow conditions occurred 20–40% of the time during each of the months from December 2019 to April 2020, with a total of 26 blowing snow events. During blowing snow periods, coarse aerosol number concentrations increased often by an order of magnitude compared to no-blowing snow periods. Mass fractions of sodium chloride in sub-micron aerosol (particle diameter 0.01–0.625 μm) available during December 2019 and 10 m wind speed showed a significant correlation (R = 0.61, P < 0.05), indicating that much of the aerosol observed during storms is sea salt released by sublimating blowing snow. We use these observations to refine the current model parameterization by considering the spatial and temporal variability of atmospheric and sea ice conditions. Snow particle size distributions and snow salinities are expressed as a function of wind speed and snowpack depth, respectively, which can be easily implemented into climate models. Validation of the snow particle size distribution parameterization with previous polar winter observations showed agreement in the Arctic (N-ICE2015 cruise, March 2015) above the threshold for drift and blowing snow, but a negative bias in the Antarctic (Weddell Sea, June to August 2013). Updating the blowing snow mechanism in the chemical transport model p-TOMCAT with wind-dependent snow particle size distributions results in 14% more SSA produced and a slightly better correlation with MOSAiC observations of coarse aerosol (R = 0.28). Significant increases in aerosol number concentration due to blowing snow sublimation are calculated by as much as 70 cm−3 during the Antarctic winter and 50 cm−3 during the Arctic winter compared to a baseline simulation with no blowing snow. Thus, taking into account SSA from blowing snow above sea ice will be important to improve model predictions of polar aerosol and climate
Aerosol · Arctic · Arctic ice pack · Atmospheric sciences · Cryosphere · Geography · Meteorology · Sea ice · Sea salt · Sea salt aerosol · Snow · The arctic · Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics · Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols · Cryospheric studies and observations · Environmental Science · Geology · Oceanography
The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the globe since 1979
Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century
Overview of the MosaiC expedition
Snowpack measurements suggest role for multi-year sea ice regions in Arctic atmospheric bromine and chlorine chemistry
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |