Light-Absorbing Impurities on Urumqi Glacier No.1 in Eastern Tien Shan: Concentrations and Implications for Radiative Forcing Estimates During the Ablation Period
Light-absorbing impurities (LAIs) in surface snow and snow pits together with LAIs’ concentrations and their impacts on albedo reduction and sequent radiative forcing (RF) have been investigated in the past. Here, we focused on temporal–spatial distributions of LAIs, especially on the albedo reducti...
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doaj-c6df59a083a64394afa88eff56850a6b2021-10-08T06:45:22ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Earth Science2296-64632021-10-01910.3389/feart.2021.524963524963Light-Absorbing Impurities on Urumqi Glacier No.1 in Eastern Tien Shan: Concentrations and Implications for Radiative Forcing Estimates During the Ablation PeriodXin Zhang0Zhongqin Li1Xiaoni You2Yuanyang She3Mengyuan Song4Xi Zhou5State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, ChinaCollege of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Tianshui Normal University, Tianshui, ChinaSchool of History Culture and Tourism, Longnan Teachers College, Longnan, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, ChinaCollege of Earth and Environment Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, ChinaLight-absorbing impurities (LAIs) in surface snow and snow pits together with LAIs’ concentrations and their impacts on albedo reduction and sequent radiative forcing (RF) have been investigated in the past. Here, we focused on temporal–spatial distributions of LAIs, especially on the albedo reduction and radiative forcing caused by the LAIs in Urumqi Glacier No.1. Various snow samples, including fresh snow, aged snow, and granular ice were collected between 3,770 and 4,105 m a.s.l of Urumqi Glacier No.1 during the snowmelt season of 2015. For the surface snow samples, BC and OC concentrations were 582 and 1,590 ng g−1, respectively. Mineral dust (MD) concentrations were 110 μg g−1. Due to the different ablation status of the glacier surface, LAIs accumulate at the lower altitude of the glacier. The estimation by the Snow, Ice, and Aerosol Radiative (SNICAR) model indicated that BC and MD could reduce the albedo by 12.8 and 10.3% in fresh snow, aged snow by 23.3 and 5.9%, and granular ice by 22.4 and 26.7%, respectively. The RF of MD was higher than that of BC in fresh snow and granular ice, whereas the RF of BC exceeded MD in aged snow. These findings suggested that BC was the main forcing factor in snow melting and dust was the main forcing factor in accelerating glacier melt.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2021.524963/fullUrumqi Glacier No.1surface snowradiative forcing (RF)albedolight-absorbing impurities (LAIs) |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Xin Zhang Zhongqin Li Xiaoni You Yuanyang She Mengyuan Song Xi Zhou |
spellingShingle |
Xin Zhang Zhongqin Li Xiaoni You Yuanyang She Mengyuan Song Xi Zhou Light-Absorbing Impurities on Urumqi Glacier No.1 in Eastern Tien Shan: Concentrations and Implications for Radiative Forcing Estimates During the Ablation Period Frontiers in Earth Science Urumqi Glacier No.1 surface snow radiative forcing (RF) albedo light-absorbing impurities (LAIs) |
author_facet |
Xin Zhang Zhongqin Li Xiaoni You Yuanyang She Mengyuan Song Xi Zhou |
author_sort |
Xin Zhang |
title |
Light-Absorbing Impurities on Urumqi Glacier No.1 in Eastern Tien Shan: Concentrations and Implications for Radiative Forcing Estimates During the Ablation Period |
title_short |
Light-Absorbing Impurities on Urumqi Glacier No.1 in Eastern Tien Shan: Concentrations and Implications for Radiative Forcing Estimates During the Ablation Period |
title_full |
Light-Absorbing Impurities on Urumqi Glacier No.1 in Eastern Tien Shan: Concentrations and Implications for Radiative Forcing Estimates During the Ablation Period |
title_fullStr |
Light-Absorbing Impurities on Urumqi Glacier No.1 in Eastern Tien Shan: Concentrations and Implications for Radiative Forcing Estimates During the Ablation Period |
title_full_unstemmed |
Light-Absorbing Impurities on Urumqi Glacier No.1 in Eastern Tien Shan: Concentrations and Implications for Radiative Forcing Estimates During the Ablation Period |
title_sort |
light-absorbing impurities on urumqi glacier no.1 in eastern tien shan: concentrations and implications for radiative forcing estimates during the ablation period |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
issn |
2296-6463 |
publishDate |
2021-10-01 |
description |
Light-absorbing impurities (LAIs) in surface snow and snow pits together with LAIs’ concentrations and their impacts on albedo reduction and sequent radiative forcing (RF) have been investigated in the past. Here, we focused on temporal–spatial distributions of LAIs, especially on the albedo reduction and radiative forcing caused by the LAIs in Urumqi Glacier No.1. Various snow samples, including fresh snow, aged snow, and granular ice were collected between 3,770 and 4,105 m a.s.l of Urumqi Glacier No.1 during the snowmelt season of 2015. For the surface snow samples, BC and OC concentrations were 582 and 1,590 ng g−1, respectively. Mineral dust (MD) concentrations were 110 μg g−1. Due to the different ablation status of the glacier surface, LAIs accumulate at the lower altitude of the glacier. The estimation by the Snow, Ice, and Aerosol Radiative (SNICAR) model indicated that BC and MD could reduce the albedo by 12.8 and 10.3% in fresh snow, aged snow by 23.3 and 5.9%, and granular ice by 22.4 and 26.7%, respectively. The RF of MD was higher than that of BC in fresh snow and granular ice, whereas the RF of BC exceeded MD in aged snow. These findings suggested that BC was the main forcing factor in snow melting and dust was the main forcing factor in accelerating glacier melt. |
topic |
Urumqi Glacier No.1 surface snow radiative forcing (RF) albedo light-absorbing impurities (LAIs) |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2021.524963/full |
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