Understanding ozone and mercury in the air over the Arctic Ocean (OASIS)

Previous studies took place at the coast, but this project took the next step by making measurements at several locations over the frozen ocean. The composition of the air was measured to learn how it changes over time and space, and the results are now being used to determine what causes ozone and...

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Main Authors: Jan Bottenheim, Alexandra Steffen, David Barber, Gary Stern, Jim McConnell, Jim Whiteway, Ralf Staebler, Stoyka Netcheva, Tim Papakyriakou
Language:unknown
Published: Borealis
Subjects:
IPY
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10864/10220
id ftborealisdata:hdl:10864/10220
record_format openpolar
spelling ftborealisdata:hdl:10864/10220 2023-05-15T14:54:29+02:00 Understanding ozone and mercury in the air over the Arctic Ocean (OASIS) Jan Bottenheim Alexandra Steffen David Barber Gary Stern Jim McConnell Jim Whiteway Ralf Staebler Stoyka Netcheva Tim Papakyriakou https://hdl.handle.net/10864/10220 unknown Borealis https://hdl.handle.net/10864/10220 Arctic Ocean Ozone Modeling Atmospheric elemental mercury Sea ice Greenhouse gas Atmosphere Hudson Bay Beaufort Sea ftborealisdata 2022-10-10T05:52:35Z Previous studies took place at the coast, but this project took the next step by making measurements at several locations over the frozen ocean. The composition of the air was measured to learn how it changes over time and space, and the results are now being used to determine what causes ozone and mercury to disappear from the surface air. To undertake these studies over the ocean required the development of novel strategies to bring highly sophisticated instruments, that could operate on batteries, to a hostile environment. The approaches taken were (1) the development of the "OOTI" sled ("Out On The Ice"), a movable chemical laboratory that could be deployed by snow mobile to suitable locations on the frozen Arctic Ocean to make detailed short term measurements, and (2) the development of the O-buoy (ozone-buoy) that could be deployed on the ice to make unattended measurements of key chemical species (ozone, carbon dioxide, and bromine monoxide) of the air for about two years, while transmitting the results daily by satellite communication to a ground receiving station. The OOTI sled was deployed during several IPY projects in the spring and summer of 2008-2009. The O-buoy program is operational and growing, measuring atmospheric components on the frozen Hudson Bay, the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Results have confirmed speculations on the large scale of the disappearance of ozone and mercury - depletion episodes in the spring were observed everywhere, were severe, and often lasted several days or weeks - and yielded spectacular information on the processes that are involved. Direct ozone loss to frozen surfaces was usually slow, but mercury was found to deplete and emit around the snow pack. There are indications that these processes may be different over frost flower-covered ice. During some studies it was observed that the disappearances only occurred when the air temperature was below ~ -20 C. This may turn out to be a crucial observation towards understanding how the depletion processes actually ... Other/Unknown Material Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Hudson Bay IPY Sea ice Borealis Arctic Arctic Ocean Hudson Hudson Bay
institution Open Polar
collection Borealis
op_collection_id ftborealisdata
language unknown
topic Arctic Ocean
Ozone
Modeling
Atmospheric elemental mercury
Sea ice
Greenhouse gas
Atmosphere
Hudson Bay
Beaufort Sea
spellingShingle Arctic Ocean
Ozone
Modeling
Atmospheric elemental mercury
Sea ice
Greenhouse gas
Atmosphere
Hudson Bay
Beaufort Sea
Jan Bottenheim
Alexandra Steffen
David Barber
Gary Stern
Jim McConnell
Jim Whiteway
Ralf Staebler
Stoyka Netcheva
Tim Papakyriakou
Understanding ozone and mercury in the air over the Arctic Ocean (OASIS)
topic_facet Arctic Ocean
Ozone
Modeling
Atmospheric elemental mercury
Sea ice
Greenhouse gas
Atmosphere
Hudson Bay
Beaufort Sea
description Previous studies took place at the coast, but this project took the next step by making measurements at several locations over the frozen ocean. The composition of the air was measured to learn how it changes over time and space, and the results are now being used to determine what causes ozone and mercury to disappear from the surface air. To undertake these studies over the ocean required the development of novel strategies to bring highly sophisticated instruments, that could operate on batteries, to a hostile environment. The approaches taken were (1) the development of the "OOTI" sled ("Out On The Ice"), a movable chemical laboratory that could be deployed by snow mobile to suitable locations on the frozen Arctic Ocean to make detailed short term measurements, and (2) the development of the O-buoy (ozone-buoy) that could be deployed on the ice to make unattended measurements of key chemical species (ozone, carbon dioxide, and bromine monoxide) of the air for about two years, while transmitting the results daily by satellite communication to a ground receiving station. The OOTI sled was deployed during several IPY projects in the spring and summer of 2008-2009. The O-buoy program is operational and growing, measuring atmospheric components on the frozen Hudson Bay, the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Results have confirmed speculations on the large scale of the disappearance of ozone and mercury - depletion episodes in the spring were observed everywhere, were severe, and often lasted several days or weeks - and yielded spectacular information on the processes that are involved. Direct ozone loss to frozen surfaces was usually slow, but mercury was found to deplete and emit around the snow pack. There are indications that these processes may be different over frost flower-covered ice. During some studies it was observed that the disappearances only occurred when the air temperature was below ~ -20 C. This may turn out to be a crucial observation towards understanding how the depletion processes actually ...
author Jan Bottenheim
Alexandra Steffen
David Barber
Gary Stern
Jim McConnell
Jim Whiteway
Ralf Staebler
Stoyka Netcheva
Tim Papakyriakou
author_facet Jan Bottenheim
Alexandra Steffen
David Barber
Gary Stern
Jim McConnell
Jim Whiteway
Ralf Staebler
Stoyka Netcheva
Tim Papakyriakou
author_sort Jan Bottenheim
title Understanding ozone and mercury in the air over the Arctic Ocean (OASIS)
title_short Understanding ozone and mercury in the air over the Arctic Ocean (OASIS)
title_full Understanding ozone and mercury in the air over the Arctic Ocean (OASIS)
title_fullStr Understanding ozone and mercury in the air over the Arctic Ocean (OASIS)
title_full_unstemmed Understanding ozone and mercury in the air over the Arctic Ocean (OASIS)
title_sort understanding ozone and mercury in the air over the arctic ocean (oasis)
publisher Borealis
url https://hdl.handle.net/10864/10220
geographic Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Hudson
Hudson Bay
geographic_facet Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Hudson
Hudson Bay
genre Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Beaufort Sea
Hudson Bay
IPY
Sea ice
genre_facet Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Beaufort Sea
Hudson Bay
IPY
Sea ice
op_relation https://hdl.handle.net/10864/10220
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