Spatial distributions of soluble salts in surface snow of East Antarctica

• Published in: Tellus. Series B, Chemical and physical meteorology Vol. 68; no. 1; pp. 29285 - 12
• Main Authors: Iizuka, Yoshinori, Ohno, Hiroshi, Uemura, Ryu, Suzuki, Toshitaka, Oyabu, Ikumi, Hoshina, Yu, Fukui, Kotaro, Hirabayashi, Motohiro, Motoyama, Hideaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stockholm Taylor & Francis 01.01.2016; Ubiquity Press; Stockholm University Press
• Subjects: Acids; Atmosphere; Atmospheric aerosols; Biological activity; Chemical reactions; Chloride; Chromatography; Coasts; Ice; modification; Nitrates; Ratios; Salt; Salts; sea salt; single-particle analysis; Snow; Sodium; Sodium chloride; sodium nitrate; Sodium sulfate; sodium sulphate; Spatial discrimination; Spatial resolution; Sulfur; Sulfuric acid; Sulphuric acid; Volatility; Antarctica; Southern Ocean
• ISSN: 0280-6509; 1600-0889
• DOI: 10.3402/tellusb.v68.29285

To better understand how sea salt reacts in surface snow of Antarctica, we collected and identified non-volatile particles in surface snow along a traverse in East Antarctica. Samples were obtained during summer 2012/2013 from coastal to inland regions within 69°S to 80°S and 39°E to 45°E, a total distance exceeding 800 km. The spatial resolution of samples is about one sample per latitude between 1500 and 3800 m altitude. Here, we obtain the atomic ratios of Na, S and Cl, and calculate the masses of sodium sulphate and sodium chloride. The results show that, even in the coast snow sample (69°S), sea salt is highly modified by acid (HNO 3 or H 2 SO 4 ). The fraction of sea salt that reacts with acid increases in the region from 70°S to 74°S below 3000 m a.s.l., where some NaCl remains. At the higher altitudes (above 3300 m a.s.l.) in the inland region (74°S to 80°S), the reaction uses almost all of the available NaCl.