Where does the optically detectable aerosol in the European Arctic come from?

In this paper, we pose the question where the source regions of the aerosol, which occurs in the European Arctic, are located. Long-term aerosol optical depth (AOD) data from Ny-Ålesund and Sodankylä as well as short-term data from a campaign on a Russian drifting station were analysed by air backtr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology
Main Authors: Maria Stock, Christoph Ritter, Veijo Aaltonen, Wenche Aas, DõRthe Handorff, Andreas Herber, Renate Treffeisen, Klaus Dethloff
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Stockholm University Press 2014
Subjects:
Arctic haze
photometer
AOD
pollution pathways
EOF analysis
Meteorology. Climatology
QC851-999
Arctic
Ny-Ålesund
Sodankylä
North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
Ny Ålesund
Siberia
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v66.21450
https://doaj.org/article/659e81e1889e4e1ba6b0e710c21b06d9
Description
Summary:In this paper, we pose the question where the source regions of the aerosol, which occurs in the European Arctic, are located. Long-term aerosol optical depth (AOD) data from Ny-Ålesund and Sodankylä as well as short-term data from a campaign on a Russian drifting station were analysed by air backtrajectories, analysis of the general circulation pattern and a correlation to chemical composition from in-situ measurements. Surprisingly, our data clearly shows that direct transport of pollutants from Europe does not play an important role. Instead, Arctic haze in Ny-Ålesund has been found for air masses from the Eastern Arctic, while events with increased AOD but chemically more diverse composition have been found for air from Siberia or the central Arctic. Moreover, the AOD in Ny-Ålesund does not depend on the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Hence, either the pollution pathways of aerosol are more complex or aerosol is significantly altered by clouds.

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