Articles | Volume 14, issue 24
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-13361-2014
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-13361-2014
Research article
 | 
16 Dec 2014
Research article |  | 16 Dec 2014

On the origin of the occasional spring nitrate peak in Greenland snow

L. Geng, J. Cole-Dai, B. Alexander, J. Erbland, J. Savarino, A. J. Schauer, E. J. Steig, P. Lin, Q. Fu, and M. C. Zatko

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Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
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Cited articles

Alexander, B., Savarino, J., Kreutz, K. J., and Thiemens, M. H.: Impact of preindustrial biomass-burning emissions on the oxidation pathways of tropospheric sulfur and nitrogen, J. Geophys. Res., 109, D08303, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003jd004218, 2004.
Alexander, B., Hastings, M. G., Allman, D. J., Dachs, J., Thornton, J. A., and Kunasek, S. A.: Quantifying atmospheric nitrate formation pathways based on a global model of the oxygen isotopic composition (Δ17O) of atmospheric nitrate, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 5043–5056, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-5043-2009, 2009.
Atkinson, R., Baulch, D. L., Cox, R. A., Crowley, J. N., Hampson, R. F., Hynes, R. G., Jenkin, M. E., Rossi, M. J., and Troe, J.: Evaluated kinetic and photochemical data for atmospheric chemistry: Volume II – gas phase reactions of organic species, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 3625–4055, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-6-3625-2006, 2006.
Beine, H. J., and Krognes, T.: The seasonal cycle of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) in the European Arctic, Atmos. Environ., 34, 933–940, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(99)00288-5, 2000.
Berhanu, T. A., Meusinger, C., Erbland, J., Jost, R., Bhattacharya, S. K., Johnson, M. S., and Savarino, J.: Laboratory study of nitrate photolysis in Antarctic snow. II. Isotopic effects and wavelength dependence, J. Chem. Phys., 140, 244306, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4882899, 2014.
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Examinations on snowpit and firn core results from Summit, Greenland suggest that there are two mechanisms leading to the observed double nitrate peaks in some years in the industrial era: 1) long-rang transport of nitrate and 2) enhanced local photochemical production of nitrate. Both of these mechanisms are related to pollution transport, as the additional nitrate from either direct transport or enhanced local photochemistry requires enhanced nitrogen sources from anthropogenic emissions.
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