Reflection of Solar Light from Surface Snow Loaded with Light-Absorbing Impurities: A Case Study of Black Carbon, Mineral Dust, and Ash.

Abstract

Using a hemispherical directional reflectance factor instrument, spectral data of dirty snow containing black carbon (BC), mineral dust (MD), and ash was collected from multiple locations to investigate the impact of these light-absorbing impurities (LAIs) on snow reflectance characteristics. The findings revealed that the perturbation of snow reflectance caused by LAIs is characterized by nonlinear deceleration, indicating that the reduction in snow reflectance per unit ppm of LAIs declines as snow contamination increases. The reduction in snow reflectance caused by BC may reach saturation at elevated particle concentrations (thousands of ppm) on snow. Snowpacks loaded with MD or ash initially exhibit a significant reduction in spectral slope around 600 and 700 nm. The deposition of numerous MD or ash particles can increase snow reflectance beyond the wavelength of 1400 nm, with an increase of 0.1 for MD and 0.2 for ash. BC can darken the entire measurement range (350-2500 nm), while MD and ash can only affect up to 1200 nm (350-1200 nm). This study enhances our understanding of the multi-angle reflection characteristics of various dirty snow, which can guide future snow albedo simulations and improve the accuracy of LAIs' remote sensing retrieval algorithms.