Chemical composition of arctic snow: concentration levels and regional distribution of major elements

Abstract

At the end of the northern winter 1996/1997, 21 snow samples were collected from 17 arctic localities in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Svalbard, Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Iceland. Major element concentrations of the filtered (0.45 μm) melted snow indicate that most samples are consistent with a diluted seawater composition. Deviations from this behaviour indicate additional SO 4 2− and Cl − relative to seawater, suggesting a minor contribution from (probably local) coal combustion emissions (Alaska, Finland, Sweden, Svalbard). The samples with the highest Na and Cl − content (Canada, Russia) also have higher Na/SO 4 2− and Cl −/SO 4 2− ratios than seawater, suggesting a slight contamination from (probably local) deicing activities. Local soil or rock dust inputs in the snow are indicated by ‘excess’ Ca contents (Alaska, Svalbard, Greenland, Sweden). No overall relationship was found between pH (range: 4.6–6.1) and total or non-seasalt SO 4 2− (NSS), suggesting that acidification due to long-range transport of SO 2 pollution is not operating on an arctic-wide scale. In a few samples (Alaska, Finland, Sweden, Svalbard), a significant proportion (>50%) of SO 4 2− is non-marine in origin. Sources for this non-marine SO 4 2− need not all be found in long-range atmospheric transport and more likely sources are local industry (Finland, Sweden), road traffic (Alaska) or minor snow-scooting traffic (one Svalbard locality). A few samples from northern Europe show a relatively weak trend of decreasing pH with increasing NO 3 −.