In-situ measurements of light-absorbing impurities in snow of glacier on Mt. Yulong and implications for radiative forcing estimates

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 581-582; pp. 848 - 856
• Main Authors: Niu, Hewen, Kang, Shichang, Shi, Xiaofei, Paudyal, Rukumesh, He, Yuanqing, Li, Gang, Wang, Shijin, Pu, Tao, Shi, Xiaoyi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.03.2017
• Subjects: absorption; altitude; Black carbon; carbon; China; climate; dust; energy; geophysics; Glacier melt; glaciers; gravimetry; ice; leaf area index; Light-absorbing impurities; melting; Mt. Yulong; radiative forcing; reflectance; snow; snowmelt; temporal variation; Tibetan Plateau; China; Mt. Yulong; Tibetan Plateau; Light-absorbing impurities; Glacier melt; Black carbon
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.032

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) or the third polar cryosphere borders geographical hotspots for discharges of black carbon (BC). BC and dust play important roles in climate system and Earth's energy budget, particularly after they are deposited on snow and glacial surfaces. BC and dust are two kinds of main light-absorbing impurities (LAIs) in snow and glaciers. Estimating concentrations and distribution of LAIs in snow and glacier ice in the TP is of great interest because this region is a global hotspot in geophysical research. Various snow samples, including surface aged-snow, superimposed ice and snow meltwater samples were collected from a typical temperate glacier on Mt. Yulong in the snow melt season in 2015. The samples were determined for BC, Organic Carbon (OC) concentrations using an improved thermal/optical reflectance (DRI Model 2001) method and gravimetric method for dust concentrations. Results indicated that the LAIs concentrations were highly elevation-dependent in the study area. Higher contents and probably greater deposition at relative lower elevations (generally <5000masl) of the glacier was observed. Temporal difference of LAIs contents demonstrated that LAIs in snow of glacier gradually increased as snow melting progressed. Evaluations of the relative absorption of BC and dust displayed that the impact of dust on snow albedo and radiative forcing (RF) is substantially larger than BC, particularly when dust contents are higher. This was verified by the absorption factor, which was <1.0. In addition, we found the BC-induced albedo reduction to be in the range of 2% to nearly 10% during the snow melting season, and the mean snow albedo reduction was 4.63%, hence for BC contents ranging from 281 to 894ngg−1 in snow of a typical temperate glacier on Mt. Yulong, the associated instantaneous RF will be 76.38–146.96Wm−2. Further research is needed to partition LAIs induced glacial melt, modeling researches in combination with long-term in-situ observations of LAIs in glaciers is also urgent needed in the future work. [Display omitted] •LAIs concentrations in surface aged snow and ice increased in the melt season.•Absorption factor of LAIs is larger than 1.0, dust is more light absorption than BC.•BC-induced albedo reduction in surface snow and ice was in the range of 2.0– ~10%.•For BC content ranging from 281 to 894ngg−1, the associated RF was 76–147Wm−2.