Mass spectrometric analysis of unprecedented high levels of carbonaceous aerosol particles long-range transported from wildfires in the Siberian Arctic

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: E. Schneider, H. Czech, O. Popovicheva, M. Chichaeva, V. Kobelev, N. Kasimov, T. Minkina, C. P. Rüger, R. Zimmermann
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2024
• Subjects: Physics; QC1-999; Chemistry; QD1-999; Arctic; Nadym; Yakutia; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-553-2024; https://doaj.org/article/9e48f4b0a8c0449298933bff51be7c5a

Wildfires in Siberia generate large amounts of aerosols, which may be transported over long distances and pose a threat to the sensitive ecosystem of the Arctic. Particulate matter (PM) of aged wildfire plumes originating from Yakutia in August 2021 was collected in Nadym and on Bely Island (both in northwestern Siberia). An advanced analysis of the chemical composition of aerosol particles was conducted through a multi-wavelength thermal–optical carbon analyzer (TOCA) coupled to resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (REMPI-TOFMS) as well as through ultra-high-resolution Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). In Nadym, concentrations of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) peaked at 100 and 40 µg m −3 , respectively, associated with Angström absorption exponents for 405 and 808 nm ( AAE 405 / 808 <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="55pt" height="14pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="fd16eafbafd8a190ba2ac3fbe027207e"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="acp-24-553-2024-ie00001.svg" width="55pt" height="14pt" src="acp-24-553-2024-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg> ) between 1.5 and 3.3. The weekly average on Bely Island peaked at 8.9 µg m −3 of OC and 0.3 µg m −3 of EC and AAE 405 / 808 <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="55pt" height="14pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="70286dc4148320356e5a7de59d6003b4"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="acp-24-553-2024-ie00002.svg" width="55pt" height="14pt" src="acp-24-553-2024-ie00002.png"/></svg:svg> close to unity. In particular, ambient aerosol in Nadym had a distinct biomass burning profile with pyrolysis products from carbohydrates, such as cellulose and hemicellulose, as well as lignin and resinoic acids. However, temporarily higher concentrations of five- and six-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), different from the PAH ...