Differentiation of coarse-mode anthropogenic, marine and dust particles in the High Arctic islands of Svalbard

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: Song, Congbo, Dall'Osto, Manuel, Lupi, Angelo, Mazzola, Mauro, Traversi, Rita, Becagli, Silvia, Gilardoni, Stefania, Vratolis, Stergios, Yttri, Karl Espen, Beddows, D.C.S., Schmale, Julia, Brean, James, Kramawijaya, Agung Ghani, Harrison, Roy M., Shi, Zongbo
• Other Authors: Natural Environment Research Council (UK), CSIC - Unidad de Recursos de Información Científica para la Investigación (URICI), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: European Geosciences Union 2021
• Subjects: Arctic; Svalbard; Svalbard Archipelago; black carbon
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/250130; https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11317-2021; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000270; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033

19 pages, 8 figures,1 table, 1 appendix.-- Data availability: The APS data can be accessed from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3961473 (Traversi et al., 2020). The absorption coefficient data are available upon request from Gilardoni et al. (2020). Data supporting this publication can be accessed upon request from the corresponding authors Understanding aerosol–cloud–climate interactions in the Arctic is key to predicting the climate in this rapidly changing region. Whilst many studies have focused on submicrometer aerosol (diameter less than 1 µm), relatively little is known about the supermicrometer aerosol (diameter above 1 µm). Here, we present a cluster analysis of multiyear (2015–2019) aerodynamic volume size distributions, with diameter ranging from 0.5 to 20 µm, measured continuously at the Gruvebadet Observatory in the Svalbard archipelago. Together with aerosol chemical composition data from several online and offline measurements, we apportioned the occurrence of the coarse-mode aerosols during the study period (mainly from March to October) to anthropogenic (two sources, 27 %) and natural (three sources, 73 %) origins. Specifically, two clusters are related to Arctic haze with high levels of black carbon, sulfate and accumulation mode (0.1–1 µm) aerosol. The first cluster (9 %) is attributed to ammonium sulfate-rich Arctic haze particles, whereas the second one (18 %) is attributed to larger-mode aerosol mixed with sea salt. The three natural aerosol clusters were open-ocean sea spray aerosol (34 %), mineral dust (7 %) and an unidentified source of sea spray-related aerosol (32 %). The results suggest that sea-spray-related aerosol in polar regions may be more complex than previously thought due to short- and long-distance origins and mixtures with Arctic haze, biogenic and likely blowing snow aerosols. Studying supermicrometer natural aerosol in the Arctic is imperative for understanding the impacts of changing natural processes on Arctic aeroso This research has been supported by the Natural ...