A Seasonal Record of Total Particulate Matter Embedded in Greenland Surface Snow

• Published in: Microscopy and Microanalysis
• Main Authors: Kessler, J.D., Currie, L.A., Windsor, E.S., Newbury, D.E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2001
• Subjects: Instrumentation; Greenland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1431927600028464; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1431927600028464

Atmospheric aerosols are often investigated in order to gain insight into their effects on the global radiative heat budget, optical properties of the atmosphere, and their effects on human health. Characterizing the seasonal behavior of these aerosols is fundamental in understanding their climatological and air quality impacts. As part of a larger program to study the present and recent history of chemical species transported to Greenland, we analyzed a seasonal cycle of total aerosol matter scavenged from the air by surface snow. During a “winter-over” experiment in Summit, Greenland, extending from June 1997 through March 1998, kilogram quantities of surface snow were collected, melted, and filtered onto high-purity quartz fiber filters in the field. Upon the receipt of these filters at NIST, the total particulate matter was removed from the filters and transferred to boron substrates with protocols involving resuspension, centrifugation, and filtration.’ Previous techniques that quantified multi-element particles used several different substrates.