2014 Volume 32 Pages 21-31
Light-absorbing snow impurities of elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), and mineral dust have been measured at three locations at elevations from 1,469 to 1,992 m on August 1, 2011, and at the site SIGMA-A (78°N, 68°W, elevation 1,490 m) on the northwest Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) during the period from June 28 to July 12, 2012. At SIGMA-A, a remarkable snow surface lowering together with snow melting was observed during the observation period in 2012, when a record surface melting event occurred over the GrIS. The concentrations in the surface were 0.9, 3.8, and 107 ppbw for EC, OC, and dust, respectively, at the beginning of the period, which increased to 4.9, 17.2, and 1327 ppbw for EC, OC, and dust, respectively, at the end. The EC and dust concentrations were remarkably higher than those at the three locations in 2011 and the recent measurements at Summit. However, our measurements for EC and OC could be underestimated because a recent study indicates that the collection efficiency of a quartz fiber filter, which we employed, is low. We confirm that the snow surface impurity concentrations were enhanced in the observation period, which can be explained by the effects of sublimation/evaporation and snow melt amplification associated with drastic melting. Scanning electron microscopy analysis of surface snow impurities on July 12 revealed that the major component of snow impurities is mineral dust with size larger than 5 μm, which suggests possible emission source areas are peripheral bare soil regions of Greenland and/or the Canadian Arctic.
