Enhanced light absorption and reduced snow albedo due to internally mixed mineral dust in grains of snow
Mineral dust is a major light-absorbing aerosol, which can significantly reduce snow albedo and accelerate snow/glacier melting via wet and dry deposition on snow. In this study, three scenarios of internal mixing of dust in ice grains were analyzed theoretically by combining asymptotic radiative tr...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:acp89847 2023-05-15T13:10:46+02:00 Enhanced light absorption and reduced snow albedo due to internally mixed mineral dust in grains of snow Shi, Tenglong Cui, Jiecan Chen, Yang Zhou, Yue Pu, Wei Xu, Xuanye Chen, Quanliang Zhang, Xuelei Wang, Xin 2021-04-22 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6035-2021 https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/6035/2021/ eng eng doi:10.5194/acp-21-6035-2021 https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/6035/2021/ eISSN: 1680-7324 Text 2021 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6035-2021 2021-04-26T16:22:13Z Mineral dust is a major light-absorbing aerosol, which can significantly reduce snow albedo and accelerate snow/glacier melting via wet and dry deposition on snow. In this study, three scenarios of internal mixing of dust in ice grains were analyzed theoretically by combining asymptotic radiative transfer theory and (core–shell) Mie theory to evaluate the effects on absorption coefficient and albedo of the semi-infinite snowpack consisting of spherical snow grains. In general, snow albedo was substantially reduced at wavelengths of <1.0 µm by internal dust–snow mixing, with stronger reductions at higher dust concentrations and larger snow grain sizes. Moreover, calculations showed that a nonuniform distribution of dust in snow grains can lead to significant differences in the values of the absorption coefficient and albedo of dust-contaminated snowpack at visible wavelengths relative to a uniform dust distribution in snow grains. Finally, using comprehensive in situ measurements across the Northern Hemisphere, we found that broadband snow albedo was further reduced by 5.2 % and 9.1 % due to the effects of internal dust–snow mixing on the Tibetan Plateau and North American mountains. This was higher than the reduction in snow albedo caused by black carbon in snow over most North American and Arctic regions. Our results suggest that significant dust–snow internal mixing is important for the melting and retreat of Tibetan glaciers and North American mountain snowpack. Text albedo Arctic black carbon Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 21 8 6035 6051 |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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English |
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Mineral dust is a major light-absorbing aerosol, which can significantly reduce snow albedo and accelerate snow/glacier melting via wet and dry deposition on snow. In this study, three scenarios of internal mixing of dust in ice grains were analyzed theoretically by combining asymptotic radiative transfer theory and (core–shell) Mie theory to evaluate the effects on absorption coefficient and albedo of the semi-infinite snowpack consisting of spherical snow grains. In general, snow albedo was substantially reduced at wavelengths of <1.0 µm by internal dust–snow mixing, with stronger reductions at higher dust concentrations and larger snow grain sizes. Moreover, calculations showed that a nonuniform distribution of dust in snow grains can lead to significant differences in the values of the absorption coefficient and albedo of dust-contaminated snowpack at visible wavelengths relative to a uniform dust distribution in snow grains. Finally, using comprehensive in situ measurements across the Northern Hemisphere, we found that broadband snow albedo was further reduced by 5.2 % and 9.1 % due to the effects of internal dust–snow mixing on the Tibetan Plateau and North American mountains. This was higher than the reduction in snow albedo caused by black carbon in snow over most North American and Arctic regions. Our results suggest that significant dust–snow internal mixing is important for the melting and retreat of Tibetan glaciers and North American mountain snowpack. |
format |
Text |
author |
Shi, Tenglong Cui, Jiecan Chen, Yang Zhou, Yue Pu, Wei Xu, Xuanye Chen, Quanliang Zhang, Xuelei Wang, Xin |
spellingShingle |
Shi, Tenglong Cui, Jiecan Chen, Yang Zhou, Yue Pu, Wei Xu, Xuanye Chen, Quanliang Zhang, Xuelei Wang, Xin Enhanced light absorption and reduced snow albedo due to internally mixed mineral dust in grains of snow |
author_facet |
Shi, Tenglong Cui, Jiecan Chen, Yang Zhou, Yue Pu, Wei Xu, Xuanye Chen, Quanliang Zhang, Xuelei Wang, Xin |
author_sort |
Shi, Tenglong |
title |
Enhanced light absorption and reduced snow albedo due to internally mixed mineral dust in grains of snow |
title_short |
Enhanced light absorption and reduced snow albedo due to internally mixed mineral dust in grains of snow |
title_full |
Enhanced light absorption and reduced snow albedo due to internally mixed mineral dust in grains of snow |
title_fullStr |
Enhanced light absorption and reduced snow albedo due to internally mixed mineral dust in grains of snow |
title_full_unstemmed |
Enhanced light absorption and reduced snow albedo due to internally mixed mineral dust in grains of snow |
title_sort |
enhanced light absorption and reduced snow albedo due to internally mixed mineral dust in grains of snow |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6035-2021 https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/6035/2021/ |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
albedo Arctic black carbon |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic black carbon |
op_source |
eISSN: 1680-7324 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/acp-21-6035-2021 https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/6035/2021/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6035-2021 |
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Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
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21 |
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8 |
container_start_page |
6035 |
op_container_end_page |
6051 |
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1766241979754086400 |