The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term mass balance of an Alpine glacier
Light-absorbing impurities in snow and ice control glacier melt as shortwave radiation represents the main component of the surface energy balance. Here, we investigate the long-term effect of snow impurities, i.e., mineral dust and black carbon (BC), on albedo and glacier mass balance. The analysis...
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Copernicus Publications
2015
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:970da30629224dd79962dcfdfec638e9 2023-05-15T18:32:23+02:00 The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term mass balance of an Alpine glacier J. Gabbi M. Huss A. Bauder F. Cao M. Schwikowski 2015-07-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1385-2015 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/9/1385/2015/tc-9-1385-2015.pdf https://doaj.org/article/970da30629224dd79962dcfdfec638e9 en eng Copernicus Publications 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-9-1385-2015 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/9/1385/2015/tc-9-1385-2015.pdf https://doaj.org/article/970da30629224dd79962dcfdfec638e9 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 9, Iss 4, Pp 1385-1400 (2015) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2015 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1385-2015 2023-01-22T19:27:51Z Light-absorbing impurities in snow and ice control glacier melt as shortwave radiation represents the main component of the surface energy balance. Here, we investigate the long-term effect of snow impurities, i.e., mineral dust and black carbon (BC), on albedo and glacier mass balance. The analysis was performed over the period 1914–2014 for two sites on Claridenfirn, Swiss Alps, where an outstanding 100-year record of seasonal mass balance measurements is available. Information on atmospheric deposition of mineral dust and BC over the last century was retrieved from two firn/ice cores of high-alpine sites. A combined mass balance and snow/firn layer model was employed to assess the effects of melt and accumulation processes on the impurity concentration at the surface and thus on albedo and glacier mass balance. Compared to pure snow conditions, the presence of Saharan dust and BC lowered the mean annual albedo by 0.04–0.06 depending on the location on the glacier. Consequently, annual melt was increased by 15–19 %, and the mean annual mass balance was reduced by about 280–490 mm w.e. BC clearly dominated absorption which is about 3 times higher than that of mineral dust. The upper site has experienced mainly positive mass balances and impurity layers were continuously buried whereas at the lower site, surface albedo was more strongly influenced by re-exposure of dust and BC-enriched layers due to frequent years with negative mass balances. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Unknown The Cryosphere 9 4 1385 1400 |
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English |
topic |
geo envir |
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geo envir J. Gabbi M. Huss A. Bauder F. Cao M. Schwikowski The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term mass balance of an Alpine glacier |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
Light-absorbing impurities in snow and ice control glacier melt as shortwave radiation represents the main component of the surface energy balance. Here, we investigate the long-term effect of snow impurities, i.e., mineral dust and black carbon (BC), on albedo and glacier mass balance. The analysis was performed over the period 1914–2014 for two sites on Claridenfirn, Swiss Alps, where an outstanding 100-year record of seasonal mass balance measurements is available. Information on atmospheric deposition of mineral dust and BC over the last century was retrieved from two firn/ice cores of high-alpine sites. A combined mass balance and snow/firn layer model was employed to assess the effects of melt and accumulation processes on the impurity concentration at the surface and thus on albedo and glacier mass balance. Compared to pure snow conditions, the presence of Saharan dust and BC lowered the mean annual albedo by 0.04–0.06 depending on the location on the glacier. Consequently, annual melt was increased by 15–19 %, and the mean annual mass balance was reduced by about 280–490 mm w.e. BC clearly dominated absorption which is about 3 times higher than that of mineral dust. The upper site has experienced mainly positive mass balances and impurity layers were continuously buried whereas at the lower site, surface albedo was more strongly influenced by re-exposure of dust and BC-enriched layers due to frequent years with negative mass balances. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
J. Gabbi M. Huss A. Bauder F. Cao M. Schwikowski |
author_facet |
J. Gabbi M. Huss A. Bauder F. Cao M. Schwikowski |
author_sort |
J. Gabbi |
title |
The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term mass balance of an Alpine glacier |
title_short |
The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term mass balance of an Alpine glacier |
title_full |
The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term mass balance of an Alpine glacier |
title_fullStr |
The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term mass balance of an Alpine glacier |
title_full_unstemmed |
The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term mass balance of an Alpine glacier |
title_sort |
impact of saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term mass balance of an alpine glacier |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1385-2015 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/9/1385/2015/tc-9-1385-2015.pdf https://doaj.org/article/970da30629224dd79962dcfdfec638e9 |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 9, Iss 4, Pp 1385-1400 (2015) |
op_relation |
1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-9-1385-2015 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/9/1385/2015/tc-9-1385-2015.pdf https://doaj.org/article/970da30629224dd79962dcfdfec638e9 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1385-2015 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1385 |
op_container_end_page |
1400 |
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