Photolytic modification of seasonal nitrate isotope cycles in East Antarctica
International audience Abstract. Nitrate in Antarctic snow has seasonal cycles in nitrogen and oxygen isotopic ratios that reflect its sources and atmospheric formation processes, and as a result, nitrate archived in Antarctic ice should have great potential to record atmospheric chemistry changes o...
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ftinsu:oai:HAL:hal-04418360v1 2024-04-21T07:48:42+00:00 Photolytic modification of seasonal nitrate isotope cycles in East Antarctica Akers, Pete Savarino, Joël Caillon, Nicolas Magand, Olivier Le Meur, Emmanuel Trinity College Dublin Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ) Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2022-12-14 https://hal.science/hal-04418360 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15637-2022 en eng HAL CCSD European Geosciences Union info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/acp-22-15637-2022 hal-04418360 https://hal.science/hal-04418360 doi:10.5194/acp-22-15637-2022 ISSN: 1680-7316 EISSN: 1680-7324 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics https://hal.science/hal-04418360 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2022, 22 (24), pp.15637-15657. ⟨10.5194/acp-22-15637-2022⟩ [SDE]Environmental Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2022 ftinsu https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15637-2022 2024-04-05T00:27:06Z International audience Abstract. Nitrate in Antarctic snow has seasonal cycles in nitrogen and oxygen isotopic ratios that reflect its sources and atmospheric formation processes, and as a result, nitrate archived in Antarctic ice should have great potential to record atmospheric chemistry changes over thousands of years. However, sunlight that strikes the snow surface results in photolytic nitrate loss and isotopic fractionation that can completely obscure the nitrate's original isotopic values. To gain insight into how photolysis overwrites the seasonal atmospheric cycles, we collected 244 snow samples along an 850 km transect of East Antarctica during the 2013–2014 CHICTABA traverse. The CHICTABA route's limited elevation change, consistent distance between the coast and the high interior plateau, and intermediate accumulation rates offered a gentle environmental gradient ideal for studying the competing pre- and post-depositional influences on archived nitrate isotopes. We find that nitrate isotopes in snow along the transect are indeed notably modified by photolysis after deposition, and drier sites have more intense photolytic impacts. Still, an imprint of the original seasonal cycles of atmospheric nitrate isotopes is present in the top 1–2 m of the snowpack and likely preserved through archiving in glacial ice at these sites. Despite this preservation, reconstructing past atmospheric values from archived nitrate in similar transitional regions will remain a difficult challenge without having an independent proxy for photolytic loss to correct for post-depositional isotopic changes. Nevertheless, nitrate isotopes should function as a proxy for snow accumulation rate in such regions if multiple years of deposition are aggregated to remove the seasonal cycles, and this application can prove highly valuable in its own right. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Institut national des sciences de l'Univers: HAL-INSU Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 22 24 15637 15657 |
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Institut national des sciences de l'Univers: HAL-INSU |
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English |
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[SDE]Environmental Sciences |
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[SDE]Environmental Sciences Akers, Pete Savarino, Joël Caillon, Nicolas Magand, Olivier Le Meur, Emmanuel Photolytic modification of seasonal nitrate isotope cycles in East Antarctica |
topic_facet |
[SDE]Environmental Sciences |
description |
International audience Abstract. Nitrate in Antarctic snow has seasonal cycles in nitrogen and oxygen isotopic ratios that reflect its sources and atmospheric formation processes, and as a result, nitrate archived in Antarctic ice should have great potential to record atmospheric chemistry changes over thousands of years. However, sunlight that strikes the snow surface results in photolytic nitrate loss and isotopic fractionation that can completely obscure the nitrate's original isotopic values. To gain insight into how photolysis overwrites the seasonal atmospheric cycles, we collected 244 snow samples along an 850 km transect of East Antarctica during the 2013–2014 CHICTABA traverse. The CHICTABA route's limited elevation change, consistent distance between the coast and the high interior plateau, and intermediate accumulation rates offered a gentle environmental gradient ideal for studying the competing pre- and post-depositional influences on archived nitrate isotopes. We find that nitrate isotopes in snow along the transect are indeed notably modified by photolysis after deposition, and drier sites have more intense photolytic impacts. Still, an imprint of the original seasonal cycles of atmospheric nitrate isotopes is present in the top 1–2 m of the snowpack and likely preserved through archiving in glacial ice at these sites. Despite this preservation, reconstructing past atmospheric values from archived nitrate in similar transitional regions will remain a difficult challenge without having an independent proxy for photolytic loss to correct for post-depositional isotopic changes. Nevertheless, nitrate isotopes should function as a proxy for snow accumulation rate in such regions if multiple years of deposition are aggregated to remove the seasonal cycles, and this application can prove highly valuable in its own right. |
author2 |
Trinity College Dublin Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ) Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Akers, Pete Savarino, Joël Caillon, Nicolas Magand, Olivier Le Meur, Emmanuel |
author_facet |
Akers, Pete Savarino, Joël Caillon, Nicolas Magand, Olivier Le Meur, Emmanuel |
author_sort |
Akers, Pete |
title |
Photolytic modification of seasonal nitrate isotope cycles in East Antarctica |
title_short |
Photolytic modification of seasonal nitrate isotope cycles in East Antarctica |
title_full |
Photolytic modification of seasonal nitrate isotope cycles in East Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Photolytic modification of seasonal nitrate isotope cycles in East Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Photolytic modification of seasonal nitrate isotope cycles in East Antarctica |
title_sort |
photolytic modification of seasonal nitrate isotope cycles in east antarctica |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-04418360 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15637-2022 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica |
op_source |
ISSN: 1680-7316 EISSN: 1680-7324 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics https://hal.science/hal-04418360 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2022, 22 (24), pp.15637-15657. ⟨10.5194/acp-22-15637-2022⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/acp-22-15637-2022 hal-04418360 https://hal.science/hal-04418360 doi:10.5194/acp-22-15637-2022 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15637-2022 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
22 |
container_issue |
24 |
container_start_page |
15637 |
op_container_end_page |
15657 |
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1796951000111644672 |