Measurement report: Molecular composition, optical properties, and radiative effects of water-soluble organic carbon in snowpack samples from northern Xinjiang, China

Yue Zhou,Hui Wen,Wei Pu,Anusha P. S. Hettiyadura,Xin Wang,Xiaoying Niu,Christopher P. West,Alexander Laskin,Jiecan Cui,Tenglong Shi

doi:10.5194/acp-21-8531-2021

Abstract

Abstract. Water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) in the cryosphere has an important impact on the biogeochemistry cycling and snow–ice surface energy balance through changes in the surface albedo. This work reports on the chemical characterization of WSOC in 28 representative snowpack samples collected across a regional area of northern Xinjiang, northwestern China. We employed multimodal analytical chemistry techniques to investigate both bulk and molecular-level composition of WSOC and its optical properties, informing the follow-up radiative forcing (RF) modeling estimates. Based on the geographic differences and proximity of emission sources, the snowpack collection sites were grouped as urban/industrial (U), rural/remote (R), and soil-influenced (S) sites, for which average WSOC total mass loadings were measured as 1968 ± 953 ng g−1 (U), 885 ± 328 ng g−1 (R), and 2082 ± 1438 ng g−1 (S), respectively. The S sites showed the higher mass absorption coefficients at 365 nm (MAC365) of 0.94 ± 0.31 m2 g−1 compared to those of U and R sites (0.39 ± 0.11 m2 g−1 and 0.38 ± 0.12 m2 g−1, respectively). Bulk composition of WSOC in the snowpack samples and its basic source apportionment was inferred from the excitation–emission matrices and the parallel factor analysis featuring relative contributions of one protein-like (PRLIS) and two humic-like (HULIS-1 and HULIS-2) components with ratios specific to each of the S, U, and R sites. Additionally, a sample from site 120 showed unique pollutant concentrations and spectroscopic features remarkably different from all other U, R, and S samples. Molecular-level characterization of WSOC using high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) provided further insights into chemical differences among four types of samples (U, R, S, and 120). Specifically, many reduced-sulfur-containing species with high degrees of unsaturation and aromaticity were uniquely identified in U samples, suggesting an anthropogenic source. Aliphatic/protein-like species showed the highest contribution in R samples, indicating their biogenic origin. The WSOC components from S samples showed high oxygenation and saturation levels. A few unique CHON and CHONS compounds with high unsaturation degree and molecular weight were detected in the 120 sample, which might be anthraquinone derivatives from plant debris. Modeling of the WSOC-induced RF values showed warming effects of 0.04 to 0.59 W m−2 among different groups of sites, which contribute up to 16 % of that caused by black carbon (BC), demonstrating the important influences of WSOC on the snow energy budget.

Highlights

As the largest component of the terrestrial cryosphere (Brutel-Vuilmet et al, 2013), snow covers up to 40 % of Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.Y
Our reported Water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) mass concentrations are in the same range as those in the fresh snow samples collected from Laohugou (LHG) glacier, northern Tibetan Plateau (TP) (2000– 2610 ng g−1) (Feng et al, 2018)
The mass absorption coefficients at 365 nm (MAC365) values of U and R samples are comparable to the results reported for continental snow collected across Alaska (0.37 ± 0.32 m2 g−1) (Zhang et al, 2020) but slightly lower than those for snow WSOC from the Chinese Altai Mountains, which show a wide range from ∼ 0.3 m2 g−1 for accumulation season to ∼ 1.0 m2 g−1 for ablation season with an average of 0.45 ± 0.35 m2 g−1 (Zhang et al, 2019), and humic-like substances (HULISs) extracted from Arctic snow (∼ 0.5 m2 g−1) (Voisin et al, 2012)

Summary

Introduction

Y. Zhou et al.: Molecular composition, optical properties, and radiative effects of WSOC in snow. With respect to the climate effects, the snow–ice surface has the highest albedo, which makes it the highest light reflecting surface on Earth and a key factor influencing the Earth’s radiative balance. Little is known about the chemical compositions, optical properties, and radiative effects of OC compounds in snow, which result from both deposition of organic aerosol from natural and anthropogenic sources, as well as deposits of the wind-blown soil organic matter (Pu et al, 2017; Wang et al, 2013)

Methods

Results

Conclusion