Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic
The transport and distribution of short-lived climate forcers in the Arctic are influenced by the prevailing atmospheric circulation patterns. Understanding the coupling between pollutant distribution and dominant atmospheric circulation types is therefore important, not least to understand the proc...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:82434d6c21004eb490deabffccc16683 2023-05-15T14:38:44+02:00 Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic M. A. Thomas A. Devasthale T. Nygård 2021-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16593-2021 https://doaj.org/article/82434d6c21004eb490deabffccc16683 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/16593/2021/acp-21-16593-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-21-16593-2021 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/82434d6c21004eb490deabffccc16683 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 21, Pp 16593-16608 (2021) Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16593-2021 2022-12-31T10:32:53Z The transport and distribution of short-lived climate forcers in the Arctic are influenced by the prevailing atmospheric circulation patterns. Understanding the coupling between pollutant distribution and dominant atmospheric circulation types is therefore important, not least to understand the processes governing the local processing of pollutants in the Arctic, but also to test the fidelity of chemistry transport models to simulate the transport from the southerly latitudes. Here, we use a combination of satellite-based and reanalysis datasets spanning over 12 years (2007–2018) and investigate the concentrations of NO 2 , O 3 , CO and aerosols and their co-variability during eight different atmospheric circulation types in the spring season (March, April and May) over the Arctic. We carried out a self-organizing map analysis of mean sea level pressure to derive these circulation types. Although almost all pollutants investigated here show statistically significant sensitivity to the circulation types, NO 2 exhibits the strongest sensitivity among them. The circulation types with low-pressure systems located over the northeast Atlantic show a clear enhancement of NO 2 and aerosol optical depths (AODs) in the European Arctic. The O 3 concentrations are, however, decreased. The free tropospheric CO is increased over the Arctic during such events. The circulation types with atmospheric blocking over Greenland and northern Scandinavia show the opposite signal in which the NO 2 concentrations are decreased and AODs are smaller than the climatological values. The O 3 concentrations are, however, increased, and the free tropospheric CO is decreased during such events. The study provides the most comprehensive assessment so far of the sensitivity of springtime pollutant distribution to the atmospheric circulation types in the Arctic and also provides an observational basis for the evaluation of chemistry transport models. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland Northeast Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Greenland Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 21 21 16593 16608 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
spellingShingle |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 M. A. Thomas A. Devasthale T. Nygård Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic |
topic_facet |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
description |
The transport and distribution of short-lived climate forcers in the Arctic are influenced by the prevailing atmospheric circulation patterns. Understanding the coupling between pollutant distribution and dominant atmospheric circulation types is therefore important, not least to understand the processes governing the local processing of pollutants in the Arctic, but also to test the fidelity of chemistry transport models to simulate the transport from the southerly latitudes. Here, we use a combination of satellite-based and reanalysis datasets spanning over 12 years (2007–2018) and investigate the concentrations of NO 2 , O 3 , CO and aerosols and their co-variability during eight different atmospheric circulation types in the spring season (March, April and May) over the Arctic. We carried out a self-organizing map analysis of mean sea level pressure to derive these circulation types. Although almost all pollutants investigated here show statistically significant sensitivity to the circulation types, NO 2 exhibits the strongest sensitivity among them. The circulation types with low-pressure systems located over the northeast Atlantic show a clear enhancement of NO 2 and aerosol optical depths (AODs) in the European Arctic. The O 3 concentrations are, however, decreased. The free tropospheric CO is increased over the Arctic during such events. The circulation types with atmospheric blocking over Greenland and northern Scandinavia show the opposite signal in which the NO 2 concentrations are decreased and AODs are smaller than the climatological values. The O 3 concentrations are, however, increased, and the free tropospheric CO is decreased during such events. The study provides the most comprehensive assessment so far of the sensitivity of springtime pollutant distribution to the atmospheric circulation types in the Arctic and also provides an observational basis for the evaluation of chemistry transport models. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
M. A. Thomas A. Devasthale T. Nygård |
author_facet |
M. A. Thomas A. Devasthale T. Nygård |
author_sort |
M. A. Thomas |
title |
Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic |
title_short |
Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic |
title_full |
Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic |
title_sort |
influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the arctic |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16593-2021 https://doaj.org/article/82434d6c21004eb490deabffccc16683 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland Northeast Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland Northeast Atlantic |
op_source |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 21, Pp 16593-16608 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/16593/2021/acp-21-16593-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-21-16593-2021 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/82434d6c21004eb490deabffccc16683 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16593-2021 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
21 |
container_issue |
21 |
container_start_page |
16593 |
op_container_end_page |
16608 |
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1766310766645870592 |