Estimation of the Effect of Meteorological and Orographic Conditions on Aerosol Contamination of the Snow Cover in the South of Tomsk Region

Abstract

We analyze the dynamics of layer-by-layer variations in aerosol contamination of snow cover under the circulation conditions during winter at the site of the Fonovaya Observatory (Institute of Atmospheric Optics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences) in the Tom-Ob interfluve. The chemical composition of the snow cover at the observation point is characterized. It is found that in the elemental composition of the aerosol substance accumulated in the snow cover, a typomorphic association of indicator elements associated with coal mining is consistently manifested. The conclusion is geochemically substantiated that enterprises of the coal-mining industry, located southward of the region under study, have a seasonal effect on the aerosol field of the Fonovaya Observatory. It is shown that the remote sources of aerosol contamination of the snow cover should be identified through the morphometric analysis of the terrain and a retrospective estimation of temporal variability of the indices, reflecting the effect of meteorological factors (ratios of dispersion fractions of near-surface aerosol, wind regime, snowfall intensity), and in the context of specific features of the layer-by-layer distribution of indicator groups of typomorphic elements in the snow layer that characterize the specific types of industrial plants.