Drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the Arctic lower troposphere
Black carbon (BC) is a short-lived climate forcer affecting Arctic climate through multiple mechanisms, which vary substantially from winter to summer. Several models still fail in reproducing BC seasonal variability, limiting the ability to fully describe BC climate implications. This study aims at...
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ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/653330 2024-02-11T10:00:14+01:00 Drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the Arctic lower troposphere Gilardoni, Stefania Heslin-Rees, Dominic Mazzola, Mauro Vitale, Vito Sprenger, Michael Krejci, Radovan 2023-06-27 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/653330 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000653330 en eng Copernicus info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1376 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/653330 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000653330 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International EGUsphere info:eu-repo/semantics/workingPaper 2023 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/65333010.3929/ethz-b-00065333010.5194/egusphere-2023-1376 2024-01-22T00:53:57Z Black carbon (BC) is a short-lived climate forcer affecting Arctic climate through multiple mechanisms, which vary substantially from winter to summer. Several models still fail in reproducing BC seasonal variability, limiting the ability to fully describe BC climate implications. This study aims at gaining insights into the mechanisms controlling BC transport from lower latitudes to the Arctic lower troposphere. Here we investigate the drivers controlling black carbon daily and seasonal variability in the Arctic using Generalized Additive Models (GAM). We analysed equivalent black carbon (eBC) concentration measured at the Gruvebadet Atmospheric Laboratory (GAL - Svalbard archipelago) from March 2018 to December 2021. The eBC showed a marked seasonality with higher values in winter and early spring. The eBC concentration averaged 22 ± 20 ng m-3 in the cold season (November–April) and 11 ± 11 ng m-3 in the warm season (May–October). The seasonal and interannual variability was mainly modulated by the efficiency of wet scavenging removal during transport towards the higher latitudes. Conversely, the short-term variability was controlled by boundary layer dynamics, local-scale, and synoptic-scale circulation patterns. During both the cold and the warm season, the transport of air masses from western Europe and northern Russia was an effective pathway for the convey of pollution to the European Arctic. Finally, in the warm season we observed a link between the intrusion of warm air from lower latitudes and the increase in eBC concentration. Changes in synoptic scale circulation system and precipitation rate in the northern hemisphere, linked to climate change, are expected to modify BC burden in the Arctic. Report Arctic black carbon Climate change Svalbard ETH Zürich Research Collection Arctic Gam ENVELOPE(-57.955,-57.955,-61.923,-61.923) Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ETH Zürich Research Collection |
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ftethz |
language |
English |
description |
Black carbon (BC) is a short-lived climate forcer affecting Arctic climate through multiple mechanisms, which vary substantially from winter to summer. Several models still fail in reproducing BC seasonal variability, limiting the ability to fully describe BC climate implications. This study aims at gaining insights into the mechanisms controlling BC transport from lower latitudes to the Arctic lower troposphere. Here we investigate the drivers controlling black carbon daily and seasonal variability in the Arctic using Generalized Additive Models (GAM). We analysed equivalent black carbon (eBC) concentration measured at the Gruvebadet Atmospheric Laboratory (GAL - Svalbard archipelago) from March 2018 to December 2021. The eBC showed a marked seasonality with higher values in winter and early spring. The eBC concentration averaged 22 ± 20 ng m-3 in the cold season (November–April) and 11 ± 11 ng m-3 in the warm season (May–October). The seasonal and interannual variability was mainly modulated by the efficiency of wet scavenging removal during transport towards the higher latitudes. Conversely, the short-term variability was controlled by boundary layer dynamics, local-scale, and synoptic-scale circulation patterns. During both the cold and the warm season, the transport of air masses from western Europe and northern Russia was an effective pathway for the convey of pollution to the European Arctic. Finally, in the warm season we observed a link between the intrusion of warm air from lower latitudes and the increase in eBC concentration. Changes in synoptic scale circulation system and precipitation rate in the northern hemisphere, linked to climate change, are expected to modify BC burden in the Arctic. |
format |
Report |
author |
Gilardoni, Stefania Heslin-Rees, Dominic Mazzola, Mauro Vitale, Vito Sprenger, Michael Krejci, Radovan |
spellingShingle |
Gilardoni, Stefania Heslin-Rees, Dominic Mazzola, Mauro Vitale, Vito Sprenger, Michael Krejci, Radovan Drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the Arctic lower troposphere |
author_facet |
Gilardoni, Stefania Heslin-Rees, Dominic Mazzola, Mauro Vitale, Vito Sprenger, Michael Krejci, Radovan |
author_sort |
Gilardoni, Stefania |
title |
Drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the Arctic lower troposphere |
title_short |
Drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the Arctic lower troposphere |
title_full |
Drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the Arctic lower troposphere |
title_fullStr |
Drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the Arctic lower troposphere |
title_full_unstemmed |
Drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the Arctic lower troposphere |
title_sort |
drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the arctic lower troposphere |
publisher |
Copernicus |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/653330 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000653330 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-57.955,-57.955,-61.923,-61.923) |
geographic |
Arctic Gam Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Gam Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
genre |
Arctic black carbon Climate change Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic black carbon Climate change Svalbard |
op_source |
EGUsphere |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1376 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/653330 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000653330 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11850/65333010.3929/ethz-b-00065333010.5194/egusphere-2023-1376 |
_version_ |
1790595933033988096 |