Abstract
High Latitude Dust (HLD) contributes 5% to the global dust budget, but HLD measurements are sparse. Dust observations from Iceland provide dust aerosol distributions during the Arctic winter for the first time, profiling dust storms as well as clean air conditions. Five winter dust storms were captured during harsh conditions. Mean number concentrations during the non-dust flights were <5 particles cm−3 for the particles 0.2–100 µm in diameter and >40 particles cm−3 during dust storms. A moderate dust storm with >250 particles cm−3 (2 km altitude) was captured on 10th January 2016 as a result of sediments suspended from glacial outburst flood Skaftahlaup in 2015. Similar concentrations were reported previously in the Saharan air layer. Detected particle sizes were up to 20 µm close to the surface, up to 10 µm at 900 m altitude, up to 5 µm at 5 km altitude, and submicron at altitudes >6 km. Dust sources in the Arctic are active during the winter and produce large amounts of particulate matter dispersed over long distances and high altitudes. HLD contributes to Arctic air pollution and has the potential to influence ice nucleation in mixed-phase clouds and Arctic amplification.
Highlights
Operational and weather issues[36]
Vertical profile measurements to detect liquid and solid atmospheric aerosols using Light Optical Aerosol Counter (LOAC) and related meteorological parameters were conducted in south-western Iceland in 2013–2016
Four out of six vertical profiles confirmed Icelandic volcanic dust, it occurred in freezing winter or during the precipitation season: 7th November 2013, 9th January 2016, 10th January 2016, and 12th January 2016
Summary
Operational and weather issues[36]. Vertical distribution of tropospheric aerosols during dark winter months can be retrieved, from satellite instruments[37,38]. Most of the direct vertical aerosol studies are focused on fine mode particles with a diameter 30 μm are capable of long range transport as well[39,40,41,42,43]. Aerosol studies on long-range transport of coarse and giant particles in the Arctic are generally missing. The main objective of this study was to provide the first atmospheric vertical profiles of aerosol concentrations from balloon-borne measurements in the lower Arctic, Iceland, in winter. The purpose was to identify: (i) Icelandic dust storms and focus on understanding winter dust storms in the Arctic; (ii) number and mass concentrations with the size distributions of Icelandic dust aerosols; (iii) the nature of particles in the Icelandic lower atmosphere; and (iv) the presence of dust particles during and after snow and rain. The observations presented here provide, for the first time, a quantitative picture of dust aerosol distributions during the Arctic winter
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