Primary sources control the variability of aerosol optical properties in the Antarctic Peninsula

• Main Authors: Eija Asmi, Kimmo Neitola, Kimmo Teinilä, Edith Rodriguez, Aki Virkkula, John Backman, Matthew Bloss, Jesse Jokela, Heikki Lihavainen, Gerrit de Leeuw, Jussi Paatero, Veijo Aaltonen, Miguel Mei, Gonzalo Gambarte, Gustavo Copes, Marco Albertini, Germán Pérez Fogwill, Jonathan Ferrara, María Elena Barlasina, Ricardo Sánchez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018-01-01
• Series: Tellus: Series B, Chemical and Physical Meteorology
• Subjects: optical properties; chemistry; antarctic aerosols
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16000889.2017.1414571

Aerosol particle optical properties were measured continuously between years 2013–2015 at the Marambio station in the Antarctic Peninsula. Annual cycles of particle scattering and absorption were studied and explained using measured particle chemical composition and the analysis of air mass transport patterns. The particle scattering was found elevated during the winter but the absorption did not show any clear annual cycle. The aerosol single scattering albedo at $ \lambda = 637 $ nm was on average 0.96 $ \pm $ 0.10, with a median of 0.99. Aerosol scattering Ångström exponent increased during summer, indicating an increasing fraction of fine mode particles. The aerosol was mainly composed of sea salt, sulphate and crustal soil minerals, and most of the particle mass were in the coarse mode. Both the particle absorption and scattering were increased during high wind speeds. This was explained by the dominance of the primary marine sea-spray and wind-blown soil dust sources. In contrast, the back-trajectory analysis suggested that long-range transport has only a minor role as a source of absorbing aerosol at the peninsula.