Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics A trajectory analysis of atmospheric transport of black carbon aerosols to Canadian high Arctic in winter and spring (1990–2005)

• Main Authors: L. Huang, S. L. Gong, S. Sharma, D. Lavoué, C. Q. Jia
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Arctic; Canada; Nunavut; black carbon
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.401.2869; http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/5065/2010/acp-10-5065-2010.pdf

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) particles accumulated in the Arctic troposphere and deposited on snow have been calculated to have significant effects on radiative forcing of the Arctic regional climate. Applying cluster analysis technique on 10-day backward trajectories, seven distinct transport pathways (or clusters) affecting Alert (82.5 ◦ N, 62.5 ◦ W), Nunavut in Canada are identified in this work. Transport frequency associated with each pathway is obtained as the fraction of trajectories in that cluster. Based on atmospheric transport frequency and BC surface flux from surrounding regions (i.e. North America, Europe, and former USSR), a linear regression model is constructed to investigate the interannual variations of BC observed at Alert in January and April, representative of winter and spring respectively, between 1990 and 2005. Strong correlations are found between