References

ACPD

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions

ACPD

1680-7375

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acpd-7-1215-2007

Changes in aerosol properties during spring-summer period in the Arctic troposphere

Engvall

A.-C.

¹ Krejci

¹ Ström

² Treffeisen

³ Scheele

⁴ Hermansen

⁵ Paatero

⁶

Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, S 10691, Stockholm, Sweden

Department of Applied Environmental Science – Atmospheric Science Unit, University of Stockholm, Stockholm, S 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Telegrafenberg A43, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany

Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut, Postbus201, NL 3730, AE De Bilt, Netherlands

Norsk institutt for luftforskning, Postboks100, 2027 Kjeller, Norway

Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O.B. 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland

25 01 2007

7 1 1215 1260

This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/1215/2007/acpd-7-1215-2007.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/1215/2007/acpd-7-1215-2007.pdf

The change in aerosol properties during the transition from the more polluted spring to the clean summer Arctic troposphere was studied. A six year data set of observations from Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, covering the months April through June serve as the basis for the characterisation of this time period. In addition four-day-back trajectories were used to describe air mass histories. The observed transition in aerosol properties from an accumulation mode dominated to an Aitken mode dominated size distribution is discussed with respect to long-range transport and influences from natural and anthropogenic sources of aerosols and pertinent trace gases. Our study shows that the air-mass transport is an important factor modulating the physical and chemical properties observed. However, the air-mass transport cannot alone explain the yearly repeatable systematic and rather rapid change in aerosol properties, occurring within a limited time window of approximately 10 days. With a simplified phenomenological model, which delivers the nucleation potential for new particle formation, we suggest that the rapid shift in aerosol microphysical properties between the Arctic spring and summer is mainly driven by the incoming solar radiation in concert with transport of precursor gases and changes in condensational sink.

References 1

Barrie, L. A.: Arctic air pollution: an overview of current knowledge, Atmos. Environ., vol. 20, 643–663, 1986.

Beine, H. J.: Measurements of CO in the high Arctic, Global change science 1, 1999, 145–151, 1998.

Bodhaine, B. A. and Dutton, E G.: A long-term decrease in Arctic-Haze at Barrow,Alaska, Geophys. Res. Lett., 20, 947–950, 1993.

Dianov-Klokov, V. I. and Yurganov, L. N.: Spectroscopic Measurements of Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide and Methane. 2: Seasonal Variations and Long-Term Trends, J. Atm. Chem. 8, 153–164, 1989.

Eneroth, K., Kjellström, E., and Holmén, K. : A trajectory climatology for Svalbard; investigating how atmospheric flow patterns infuence observed tracer concentration, Phys. Chem. Earth, 28, 1191–1203, 2003.

Fuchs, N. A. and Sutugin, A. G.: Highly dispersed aerosols, Ann. Arbor Science Publ., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1970.

Heintzenberg, J. and Larsson, S.: SO2 and SO4 in the Arctic: interpretation of observations at three Norwegian arctic-subarctic stations, Tellus, 35B, 255–265, 1983.

Heintzenberg, J.: Arctic Haze: Air pollution in polar regions, Ambio, 18, 50–55, 1989.

Heintzenberg, J., Ström, J., Ogren, J.-A., and Fimpel, H.-P.: Vertical profiles of aerosol properties in the summer troposphere of the European Arctic. Atmos. Environ., 25A, 621–628, 1991.

Jokinen, V. and Mäkelä, J. M.: Closed-loop arrangement with criticalorifice fro DMA sheat/excess flow system, J. Aerosol Sci. 28, 643–648, 1997.

Knutson, E. O. and Whitby, K. T.: Aerosol classification by electric mobility: apparatus, theory and applicatons, J. Aerosol Sci., 6, 443–451, 1975.

Kulmala, M., Petäjä, T., Mönkkönen, P., Koponen, I. K., Dal Maso, M., Aalto, P. P., Lehtinen, K. E. J., and Kerminen, V.-M.: On the growth of nucleation mode particles: source rates of condesable vapor in polluted and clean environments, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 409–416, 2005.

Kulmala, M., Dal Maso, J., Mäkelä, L., Pirjola, M., Väkevä, P, Aalto, P., Miikkulainen, K., Hämeri, K., and O'dowd, C., D.: On the formation, growth and composition of nucleaton mode particles, Tellus, 53B, 479–490, 2001.

Li, S.-M. and Barrie, L. A.,: Biogenic Sulfur Aerosol in the Arctic Troposphere: 1. Contributions to total sulfate, J. Geophys. Res., 98, No D11 20 613–20 622, 1993.

Li, S.-M., Barrie, L. A., and Sirois, A.,: Biogenic Sulfur Aerosol in the Arctic Troposphere: 2. Trends and seasonal variations, J. Geophys. Res., 98, No D11 20 623–20 631, 1993.

Mattsson, R., Paatero, J., and Hatakka, J.: Automatic Alpha/Beta Analyser for Air Filter Samples – Absolute Determination of Radon Progeny by Pseudo-coincidence Techniques, Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 63(\refeq2), 133–139, 1996.

Mitchell, J. M.: Viusal range in the polar regions with particular referenceto Alaskann Arctic, J. Atmos. Terr. Phys. Spec. Suppl., 1995–211, 1957.

Paatero, J. and Hatakka, J.: Source Areas of Airborne $^7$Be and $^210$Pb Measured in Northern Finland, Health Physics, 79(6), 691–696, 2000.

Paatero, J., Hatakka, J., Holmén, K., Eneroth, K., and Viisanen, Y.: Lead-210 concentration in the air at Mt. Zeppelin, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Phys. Chem. Earth, 28, 1175–1180, 2003.

Seinfeld J. H. and Pandis, S. P.: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, A Wiley-Interscience publication, 250, Canada, 1998.

Shaw, G. E.: Production of condensation nuclei in clean air by nucleation of H2SO4, Atmos. Environ., 12, 2841–2846, 1989.

Shiobara, M., Yabuki, M., and Kobayashi, H.: A polar cloud analysis based on Micor-pulse Lidar measurements at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard and Syowa, Antarctica, Phys. Chem. Earth, 28, 1205–1212, 2003.

Sirois, A. and Barrie, L. A.: Arctic lower tropospheric aerosol trends and composition at Alert, Canada: 1980–1995, J. Geophys. Res., 104 D9, 11 599–11 618, 1999.

Stohl, A., Haimberger, L., Scheele, M. P., and Wernli, H.: An intercomparison of results from three trajectory models, Meteorol. Appl., 8, 127–135, 2001.

Stohl A.: Characteristic of atmospheric transport into the Arctic troposphere, J. Geophys. Res., 11, D11306, 2006.

Ström, J., Umegård, J., Törseth, K. Tunved, P., Hansson, H.-C., Holmén, K., Wismann, V., Herber, A., and König-Langlo, G.: One year of particle size distribution and aerosol chemical composition measurements at the Zeppelin Station, Svalbard, March 2000–March 2001, Phys. Chem. Earth, 28, 1181–1190, 2003.

Tjernström, M.: The summer Arctic boundary layer during the Arctic Ocean Experiment 2001 (AOE-2001), Boundary-Layer Meteorology 117, 5–36, 2005.

Treffeisen, R., Thomason, L. W., Ström, J. Herber, A. B., Burton, S. P., and Yamanouchi, T.: SAGE II and SAGE III aerosol extinction measurements in the Arctic middle and upper troposphere, Vol D111, doi:10-1029/2005JDO06271, J. Geophys. Res., 2006.

Quinn, P., Miller, T., Bates, T., Ogren, J. A., Andrews, E., and Shaw, G.: A 3-year record simultaneously measured aerosol chemical and optical properties at Barrow, Alaska, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D11), 2002.

Williams, J., de Reus, M., Krejci, R., Fischer, H, and Ström, J: Application of the Variability-Size relationship to atmospheric aerosol studies: Estimating aerosol lifetimes, Atm. Chem. Phys., 2, 133–145, 2002.

Yurganov, L. N., Grechko, E. I., and Dzhola, A. V. : Carbon monoxide and total ozone in Arctic and Antarctic regions: seasonal variations, long-term trends and relationships, The science of the total environment 160/161, 831–840, 1995.

Virkkula, A., Mäkinen, M., Hillamo, R.,and Stohl, A.: Atmospheric aerosol in the Finnish Arctic: particle number concentrations, chemical characteristics, and source analysis, Water, Air, & Soil Poll., 85, 1997–2002, 1995.

Wiedensohler, A.: An approximation of the bipolar charge distribution for particles in the submicron size range, J. Aerosol Sci., 19, 1804–1809, 1988.