Salinity and SO4 and Br enrichment of seawater and frost flowers near Barrow, Alaska ...

• Main Authors: Alvarez-Aviles, Laura, Simpson, William R, Douglas, Thomas A, Sturm, Matthew, Perovich, Donald K, Domine, Florent
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2008
• Subjects: Snow/ice sample; International Polar Year 2007-2008 IPY; Barrow; International Polar Year; IPY; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.806702; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.806702

Frost flowers have been proposed to be the major source of sea-salt aerosol to the atmosphere during polar winter and a source of reactive bromine during polar springtime. However little is known about their bulk chemical composition or microstructure, two important factors that may affect their ability to produce aerosols and provide chemically reactive surfaces for exchange with the atmosphere. Therefore, we chemically analyzed 28 samples of frost flowers and parts of frost flowers collected from sea ice off of northern Alaska. Our results support the proposed mechanism for frost flower growth that suggests water vapor deposition forms an ice skeleton that wicks brine present on newly grown sea ice. We measured a high variability in sulfate enrichment factors (with respect to chloride) in frost flowers and seawater from the vicinity of freezing sea ice. The variability in sulfate indicates that mirabilite precipitation (Na2SO4 x 10 H2O) occurs during frost flower growth. Brine wicked up by frost flowers is ... : Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150 ...