Spatial and seasonal variability of snow chemistry in Western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

Responsible organisation

1998 (English)In: Annals of Glaciology, Vol. 27, p. 378-384Article in journal (Refereed)

Abstract [en]

During the austral summer of 1993-94 a number of 1-2 m deep snow pits were sampled in connection with firn-coring in western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. The traverse went from 800 to about 3000 m a.s.l. upon the high-altitude plateau. Profiles of cations (Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+), anions (Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, CH3SO3-) and stable oxygen isotopes (d18O) from 11 snow pits are presented here. Close to the coast 2 m of snow accumulates in about 2-3 years, whilst at sites on the high-altitude plateau 2 m of snow accumulates in 10-14 years. The spatial variation in ion concentration shows that the ions can be divided into two groups, one with sea-salt elements and methane sulfonate and the other with nitrate and sulfate. For the sea-salt elements and methane sulfonate the concentrations decrease with increasing altitude and increasing distance from the coast, as well as with decreasing temperature and decreasing accumulation rate. For nitrate and sulfate the concentrations are constant or increase with respect to these parameters. This pattern suggests that the sources for sea-salt elements and methane sulfonate are local, whereas the sources for nitrate and sulfate are a mixture of local and long-range transport.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages

1998. Vol. 27, p. 378-384

Keywords [en]

ITASE, snow chemistry, Antactica, Dronning Maud Land

Identifiers

URN: urn:nbn:se:polar:diva-1536OAI: oai:DiVA.org:polar-1536DiVA, id: diva2:569674

Note

Source: Polardok by Swedish Polar Research Secretariat

Available from: 2012-11-15 Created: 2012-11-15 Last updated: 2025-06-12

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