Atmospheric nitric oxide and ozone at the WAIS Divide deep coring site: a discussion of local sources and transport in West Antarctica

The first measurements of atmospheric nitric oxide (NO) along with observations of ozone (O3), hydroperoxides (H2O2 and MHP) and snow nitrate (NO3–) on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) were carried out at the WAIS Divide deep ice-coring site between 10 December 2008 and 11 January 2009. Average ±...

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Published in:Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Main Authors: Masclin, S., Frey, M. M., Rogge, W. F., Bales, R. C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503325/
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503325/1/acp-13-8857-2013.pdf
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8857-2013
id ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:503325
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spelling ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:503325 2023-05-15T13:48:08+02:00 Atmospheric nitric oxide and ozone at the WAIS Divide deep coring site: a discussion of local sources and transport in West Antarctica Masclin, S. Frey, M. M. Rogge, W. F. Bales, R. C. 2013-09-05 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503325/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503325/1/acp-13-8857-2013.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8857-2013 en eng Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503325/1/acp-13-8857-2013.pdf Masclin, S.; Frey, M. M. orcid:0000-0003-0535-0416 Rogge, W. F.; Bales, R. C. 2013 Atmospheric nitric oxide and ozone at the WAIS Divide deep coring site: a discussion of local sources and transport in West Antarctica. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 13 (17). 8857-8877. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8857-2013 <https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8857-2013> cc_by CC-BY Chemistry Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2013 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8857-2013 2023-02-04T19:37:46Z The first measurements of atmospheric nitric oxide (NO) along with observations of ozone (O3), hydroperoxides (H2O2 and MHP) and snow nitrate (NO3–) on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) were carried out at the WAIS Divide deep ice-coring site between 10 December 2008 and 11 January 2009. Average ±1σ mixing ratios of NO were 19 ± 31 pptv and confirmed prior model estimates for the summer boundary layer above WAIS. Mean ±1σ mixing ratios of O3 of 14 ± 4 ppbv were in the range of previous measurements from overland traverses across WAIS during summer, while average ±1σ concentrations of H2O2 and MHP revealed higher levels with mixing ratios of 743 ± 362 and 519 ± 238 pptv, respectively. An upper limit for daily average NO2 and NO emission fluxes from snow of 8.6 × 108 and 33.9 × 108 molecule cm–2 s–1, respectively, were estimated based on photolysis of measured NO3– and nitrite (NO2–) in the surface snowpack. The resulting high NOx emission flux may explain the little preservation of NO3– in snow (~ 30%) when compared to Summit, Greenland (75–93%). Assuming rapid and complete mixing into the overlying atmosphere, and steady state of NOx, these snow emissions are equivalent to an average (range) production of atmospheric NOx of 30 (21–566) pptv h–1 for a typical atmospheric boundary-layer depth of 250 (354–13) m. These upper bounds indicate that local emissions from the snowpack are a significant source of short-lived nitrogen oxides above the inner WAIS. The net O3 production of 0.8 ppbv day–1 triggered with NO higher than 2 pptv is too small to explain the observed O3 variability. Thus, the origins of the air masses reaching WAIS Divide during this campaign were investigated with a 4-day back-trajectory analysis every 4 h. The resulting 168 back trajectories revealed that in 75% of all runs air originated from the Antarctic coastal slopes (58%) and the inner WAIS (17%). For these air sources O3 levels were on average 13 ± 3 ppbv. The remaining 25% are katabatic outflows from the East Antarctic Plateau above 2500 ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet West Antarctica Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic The Antarctic West Antarctica West Antarctic Ice Sheet Greenland Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 13 17 8857 8877
institution Open Polar
collection Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive
op_collection_id ftnerc
language English
topic Chemistry
spellingShingle Chemistry
Masclin, S.
Frey, M. M.
Rogge, W. F.
Bales, R. C.
Atmospheric nitric oxide and ozone at the WAIS Divide deep coring site: a discussion of local sources and transport in West Antarctica
topic_facet Chemistry
description The first measurements of atmospheric nitric oxide (NO) along with observations of ozone (O3), hydroperoxides (H2O2 and MHP) and snow nitrate (NO3–) on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) were carried out at the WAIS Divide deep ice-coring site between 10 December 2008 and 11 January 2009. Average ±1σ mixing ratios of NO were 19 ± 31 pptv and confirmed prior model estimates for the summer boundary layer above WAIS. Mean ±1σ mixing ratios of O3 of 14 ± 4 ppbv were in the range of previous measurements from overland traverses across WAIS during summer, while average ±1σ concentrations of H2O2 and MHP revealed higher levels with mixing ratios of 743 ± 362 and 519 ± 238 pptv, respectively. An upper limit for daily average NO2 and NO emission fluxes from snow of 8.6 × 108 and 33.9 × 108 molecule cm–2 s–1, respectively, were estimated based on photolysis of measured NO3– and nitrite (NO2–) in the surface snowpack. The resulting high NOx emission flux may explain the little preservation of NO3– in snow (~ 30%) when compared to Summit, Greenland (75–93%). Assuming rapid and complete mixing into the overlying atmosphere, and steady state of NOx, these snow emissions are equivalent to an average (range) production of atmospheric NOx of 30 (21–566) pptv h–1 for a typical atmospheric boundary-layer depth of 250 (354–13) m. These upper bounds indicate that local emissions from the snowpack are a significant source of short-lived nitrogen oxides above the inner WAIS. The net O3 production of 0.8 ppbv day–1 triggered with NO higher than 2 pptv is too small to explain the observed O3 variability. Thus, the origins of the air masses reaching WAIS Divide during this campaign were investigated with a 4-day back-trajectory analysis every 4 h. The resulting 168 back trajectories revealed that in 75% of all runs air originated from the Antarctic coastal slopes (58%) and the inner WAIS (17%). For these air sources O3 levels were on average 13 ± 3 ppbv. The remaining 25% are katabatic outflows from the East Antarctic Plateau above 2500 ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Masclin, S.
Frey, M. M.
Rogge, W. F.
Bales, R. C.
author_facet Masclin, S.
Frey, M. M.
Rogge, W. F.
Bales, R. C.
author_sort Masclin, S.
title Atmospheric nitric oxide and ozone at the WAIS Divide deep coring site: a discussion of local sources and transport in West Antarctica
title_short Atmospheric nitric oxide and ozone at the WAIS Divide deep coring site: a discussion of local sources and transport in West Antarctica
title_full Atmospheric nitric oxide and ozone at the WAIS Divide deep coring site: a discussion of local sources and transport in West Antarctica
title_fullStr Atmospheric nitric oxide and ozone at the WAIS Divide deep coring site: a discussion of local sources and transport in West Antarctica
title_full_unstemmed Atmospheric nitric oxide and ozone at the WAIS Divide deep coring site: a discussion of local sources and transport in West Antarctica
title_sort atmospheric nitric oxide and ozone at the wais divide deep coring site: a discussion of local sources and transport in west antarctica
publisher Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union
publishDate 2013
url http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503325/
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503325/1/acp-13-8857-2013.pdf
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8857-2013
geographic Antarctic
The Antarctic
West Antarctica
West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Greenland
geographic_facet Antarctic
The Antarctic
West Antarctica
West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Greenland
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
Greenland
Ice Sheet
West Antarctica
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
Greenland
Ice Sheet
West Antarctica
op_relation https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503325/1/acp-13-8857-2013.pdf
Masclin, S.; Frey, M. M. orcid:0000-0003-0535-0416
Rogge, W. F.; Bales, R. C. 2013 Atmospheric nitric oxide and ozone at the WAIS Divide deep coring site: a discussion of local sources and transport in West Antarctica. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 13 (17). 8857-8877. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8857-2013 <https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8857-2013>
op_rights cc_by
op_rightsnorm CC-BY
op_doi https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8857-2013
container_title Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
container_volume 13
container_issue 17
container_start_page 8857
op_container_end_page 8877
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