Multi-year record of atmospheric and snow surface nitrate in the central Antarctic plateau

Abstract

Continuous all year-round samplings of atmospheric aerosol and surface snow at high (daily to 4-day) resolution were carried out at Dome C since 2004-05 to 2013 and nitrate records are here presented. Basing on a larger statistical data set than previous studies, results confirm that nitrate seasonal pattern is characterized by maxima during austral summer for both aerosol and surface snow, occurring in-phase with solar UV irradiance. This temporal pattern is likely due to a combination of nitrate sources and post-depositional processes whose intensity usually enhances during the summer. Moreover, it should be noted that a case study of the synoptic conditions, which took place during a major nitrate event, showed the occurrence of a stratosphere-troposphere exchange. The sampling of both matrices at the same time with high resolution allowed the detection of a an about one-month long recurring lag of summer maxima in snow with respect to aerosol. This result can be explained by deposition and post-deposition processes occurring at the atmosphere-snow interface, such as a net uptake of gaseous nitric acid and a replenishment of the uppermost surface layers driven by a larger temperature gradient in summer. This hypothesis was preliminarily tested by a comparison with surface layers temperature data in the 2012-13 period. The analysis of the relationship between the nitrate concentration in the gas phase and total nitrate obtained at Dome C (2012-13) showed the major role of gaseous HNO₃ to the total nitrate budget suggesting the need to further investigate the gas-to-particle conversion processes.

Keywords: Aerosol; Antarctica; Dome C; Nitrate; Stratosphere-troposphere exchange; Surface snow.