Characteristics of aerosol dust in fresh snow in the Asian dust and non-dust periods at Urumqi glacier no. 1 of eastern Tian Shan, China

Abstract

Windblown mineral aerosol dust derived from the crustal surface is an important atmospheric component affecting the earth’s radiation budget. Deposition of atmospheric dust was measured in the fresh snow on glacier no. 1 at the headwater of the Urumqi River in eastern Tian Shan, central Asia. An analysis of seasonal variation of concentrations of dust particles in the snow suggests that the number concentration of dust particle is significantly high from April to June, which may be caused by Asian dust storms in the spring. The comparison of mass-size distribution of dust particles from April to August shows an obvious seasonal change trend. The distribution of particles changes from single model (3–21 μm) in the non-dust period before dust events in April, to bi-model (3–21 and 20–80 μm) during the Asian dust period, and to single model (3–21 μm) after July in the non-dust period again. The Ca2+ concentration in the fresh snow is also very high from April to June, while NH4+ and SO42−, as water-soluble constituents, have concentration changes that are different from each other. Backward trajectory was also employed to examine the transport process of air mass in this region.