Comparison of measurement of aerosol black carbon at Barrow, Alaska, and Wrangel Island, USSR: An approach to estimating the deposition of soot to snow and ice surfaces

During late spring 1989 (and 1990, in planning), measurements of aerosol black carbon were, made on Wrangel Island in the Soviet Arctic to complement the routine measurements at the NOAA/GMCC Barrow Observatory of this combustion-derived pollutant. The results are compared during time intervals in which trajectories led from Barrow to Wrangel Island, with typical transit times of one day. The intervening surface is entirely frozen ocean, without land masses' topography to complicate air flow, nor any human habitation combustion sources. Aerosol black carbon is chemically unreactive, and so any losses in transit will be due to deposition onto the frozen ocean surface. This species is strongly optically absorbing, and a small aerosol deposition from the Arctic haze may reduce the surface albedo sufficiently to increase the absorption of solar radiation in spring and lead to premature, thawing. The authors discuss the possible effects of the deposition of soot from the Arctic haze onto high latitude snow and ice cover in terms of climate change