Organic Compounds, Radiocarbon, Trace Elements and Atmospheric Transport Illuminating Sources of Elemental Carbon in a 300‐Year Svalbard Ice Core ...

• Main Authors: Ruppel, M. M., Khedr, M., Liu, X., Beaudon, E., Szidat, S., Tunved, P., Ström, J., Koponen, H., Sippula, O., Isaksson, E., Gallet, J.‐C., Hermanson, M., Manninen, S., Schnelle‐Kreis, J.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2023
• Subjects: 570 Life sciences; biology; 540 Chemistry; Arctic; Svalbard; black carbon; Climate change; ice core
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/188278; https://boris.unibe.ch/188278/

Black carbon (BC) particles produced by incomplete combustion of biomass and fossil fuels warm the atmosphere and decrease the reflectivity of snow and ice, hastening their melt. Although the significance of BC in Arctic climate change is widely acknowledged, observations on its deposition and sources are few. We present BC source types in a 300-year (1700–2005) Svalbard ice core by analysis of particle-bound organic compounds, radiocarbon, and trace elements. According to the radiocarbon results, 58% of the deposited elemental carbon (EC, thermal-optical proxy of BC) is of non-fossil origin throughout the record, while the organic compounds suggest a higher percentage (68%). The contribution of fossil fuels to EC is suggested to have been elevated between 1860 and 1920, particularly based on the organics and trace element data. A second increase in fossil fuel sources seems to have occurred near the end of the record: according to radiocarbon measurements between 1960 and 1990, while the organics and trace ...