kang_etal_2001.html

Bulletin of Glaciological Research 18 (2001) 9-13
©Japanese Society of Snow and Ice

Snow chemistry in Svalbard, Arctic

KANG Shichang^1,2, QIN Dahe¹, Paul MAYEWSKI² and Yngvar GJESSING³
1 Laboratory of Ice Core and Cold Regions Environment, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Institute, CAS, Lanzhou, 730000 P. R. China
2 Institute for Quaternary and Climate Studies, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469 USA
3 Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Alle gt. 70, Bergen, Norway

Abstract

Snow samples were collected from 8 snowpits and 11 snowfall events from the Longyearbyen region, Svalbard during January to May 1996. Among major chemical species (Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Cl^-, NO₃^- and SO₄²⁺), Cl^- and Na⁺, which mainly come from sea-salt aerosol, are the dominant soluble impurities in snow. The crustal cation Ca²⁺ has the highest concentration in dirty layers of snowpack. Snow SO₄^2-, Cl^- and Na⁺ correlate very closely and the peak values are consistent in snowpit, though their sources may be different. Snow conductivity correlates closely with Na⁺, Cl^- and Mg²⁺ and pH correlates positively with Ca²⁺ and negatively with SO₄^2- and NO₃^-. In general, the major ion concentrations in snowpack from Svalbard is higher compared with those in snowpack from other remote regions, such as Greenland, Antarctic and Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, especially for Na⁺ and Cl^-.