the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
| 27 Jun 2023
Drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the Arctic lower troposphere
Abstract. Black carbon (BC) is a short-lived climate forcer affecting Arctic climate through multiple mechanisms, which vary substantially from winter to summer. Several models still fail in reproducing BC seasonal variability, limiting the ability to fully describe BC climate implications. This study aims at gaining insights into the mechanisms controlling BC transport from lower latitudes to the Arctic lower troposphere. Here we investigate the drivers controlling black carbon daily and seasonal variability in the Arctic using Generalized Additive Models (GAM). We analysed equivalent black carbon (eBC) concentration measured at the Gruvebadet Atmospheric Laboratory (GAL - Svalbard archipelago) from March 2018 to December 2021. The eBC showed a marked seasonality with higher values in winter and early spring. The eBC concentration averaged 22 ± 20 ng m-3 in the cold season (November–April) and 11 ± 11 ng m-3 in the warm season (May–October). The seasonal and interannual variability was mainly modulated by the efficiency of wet scavenging removal during transport towards the higher latitudes. Conversely, the short-term variability was controlled by boundary layer dynamics, local-scale, and synoptic-scale circulation patterns. During both the cold and the warm season, the transport of air masses from western Europe and northern Russia was an effective pathway for the convey of pollution to the European Arctic. Finally, in the warm season we observed a link between the intrusion of warm air from lower latitudes and the increase in eBC concentration. Changes in synoptic scale circulation system and precipitation rate in the northern hemisphere, linked to climate change, are expected to modify BC burden in the Arctic.
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Notice on discussion status
The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.
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Preprint
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Supplement
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The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.
- Preprint
(2383 KB) - Metadata XML
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Supplement
(1392 KB) - BibTeX
- EndNote
- Final revised paper
Journal article(s) based on this preprint
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-1376', Anonymous Referee #1, 18 Jul 2023
The paper „Drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the Arctic lower troposphere“ addresses seasonal differences in the eBC concentration during different atmospheric conditions. During this analysis the authors use compare in-situ measurements with model data to find out the history of advected BC. Substantial conclusions are reached and the outline is clear.
Since only in-situ measurements at Gruvebadet (Boundary layer) are taken, the title is a bit misleading, that only one measurement site is taken into account.
Language:
line 94: one comma too much
106: Ångström
118 "The NAO a a measure..."
208: „per [For?] each grid cell…“
250: Ångström
316: pressure
339: Ny-Ålesund
409: Brøggerbreen
412: check units of speed
440-442: «North», «West»
460-461: close bracket
Mathematical formulae,...:
line 96: what does «Tr» mean?
Eq 1: sum over index i is missing
line 161: x_(ij)
Eq 2: What is «R»?
3056, 306,...: What is «R»? What does the value mean?
Tab 1 and 2: p-values printed but not explained in text -> interpretation needed
line 441-442: what is «r»? and what does it mean?
Figures:
Fig 1b, c, 4, 5a, 6, 7, 9a, S3, S5 - S9: not refereed to in text
Fig: 1a: include Zeppelin Station on map, scale is missing, Maybe you can include a map of entire Svalbard (and maybe even Europe) to clarify the location of the sight?
Fig 5b + Fig 6: move to section 3.3.2, where you talk about it.
Figure 8: How many histograms are plotted? Is it 2 or 3?
The interpretation of many of the figures is too/very short
Text:
Julian date is a clear defined date and counts all dates after 1.1.4713 BC. Please use other name for time of your measurement period to avoid miss-understandings.
line 80f: In which height was the wind measurements performed?
Does Fig. 1C already show the selected wind data?
For some URLs the term «last visited» is missing
l. 219: You write about DOY, but it is not shown in table 1 or fig. 4
Section 3.3 is quite hard to read, because it is not all the time clear, to which figure you refer. When you talk about a new variable, could you please also mention which sub-figure you now analyze?
410: See https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14153771 : There is a downward mixing due to a turbulent wind shear zone in Kongsfjorden
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1376-RC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Stefania Gilardoni, 27 Sep 2023
The authors would like to thank the referee for the constructive comments and suggestions. We have addressed all the comments as best as we could. Also, we added additional information to the manuscript and adjusted some of the figures to make them more easily legible for the readers. For clarity, comments from the referees are reported in blue, answers from the authors are in black, while changes in the original text are in red.
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AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Stefania Gilardoni, 27 Sep 2023
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-1376', Anonymous Referee #2, 18 Jul 2023
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2023/egusphere-2023-1376/egusphere-2023-1376-RC2-supplement.pdf
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AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Stefania Gilardoni, 27 Sep 2023
The authors would like to thank the referee for the appreciation of the manuscript and for the constructive suggestions. We updated the figures and tables, as suggested, and we modified the text to add supporting information that better clarify the methodology we adopted and the result interpretation. We also moved one paragraph of the manuscript (result section) into the supplementary section to improve text readability, as suggested. For clarity, comments from the referees are reported in blue, answers from the authors are in black, while changes in the original text are reported in red.
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AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Stefania Gilardoni, 27 Sep 2023
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-1376', Anonymous Referee #1, 18 Jul 2023
The paper „Drivers controlling black carbon temporal variability in the Arctic lower troposphere“ addresses seasonal differences in the eBC concentration during different atmospheric conditions. During this analysis the authors use compare in-situ measurements with model data to find out the history of advected BC. Substantial conclusions are reached and the outline is clear.
Since only in-situ measurements at Gruvebadet (Boundary layer) are taken, the title is a bit misleading, that only one measurement site is taken into account.
Language:
line 94: one comma too much
106: Ångström
118 "The NAO a a measure..."
208: „per [For?] each grid cell…“
250: Ångström
316: pressure
339: Ny-Ålesund
409: Brøggerbreen
412: check units of speed
440-442: «North», «West»
460-461: close bracket
Mathematical formulae,...:
line 96: what does «Tr» mean?
Eq 1: sum over index i is missing
line 161: x_(ij)
Eq 2: What is «R»?
3056, 306,...: What is «R»? What does the value mean?
Tab 1 and 2: p-values printed but not explained in text -> interpretation needed
line 441-442: what is «r»? and what does it mean?
Figures:
Fig 1b, c, 4, 5a, 6, 7, 9a, S3, S5 - S9: not refereed to in text
Fig: 1a: include Zeppelin Station on map, scale is missing, Maybe you can include a map of entire Svalbard (and maybe even Europe) to clarify the location of the sight?
Fig 5b + Fig 6: move to section 3.3.2, where you talk about it.
Figure 8: How many histograms are plotted? Is it 2 or 3?
The interpretation of many of the figures is too/very short
Text:
Julian date is a clear defined date and counts all dates after 1.1.4713 BC. Please use other name for time of your measurement period to avoid miss-understandings.
line 80f: In which height was the wind measurements performed?
Does Fig. 1C already show the selected wind data?
For some URLs the term «last visited» is missing
l. 219: You write about DOY, but it is not shown in table 1 or fig. 4
Section 3.3 is quite hard to read, because it is not all the time clear, to which figure you refer. When you talk about a new variable, could you please also mention which sub-figure you now analyze?
410: See https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14153771 : There is a downward mixing due to a turbulent wind shear zone in Kongsfjorden
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1376-RC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Stefania Gilardoni, 27 Sep 2023
The authors would like to thank the referee for the constructive comments and suggestions. We have addressed all the comments as best as we could. Also, we added additional information to the manuscript and adjusted some of the figures to make them more easily legible for the readers. For clarity, comments from the referees are reported in blue, answers from the authors are in black, while changes in the original text are in red.
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AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Stefania Gilardoni, 27 Sep 2023
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-1376', Anonymous Referee #2, 18 Jul 2023
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2023/egusphere-2023-1376/egusphere-2023-1376-RC2-supplement.pdf
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AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Stefania Gilardoni, 27 Sep 2023
The authors would like to thank the referee for the appreciation of the manuscript and for the constructive suggestions. We updated the figures and tables, as suggested, and we modified the text to add supporting information that better clarify the methodology we adopted and the result interpretation. We also moved one paragraph of the manuscript (result section) into the supplementary section to improve text readability, as suggested. For clarity, comments from the referees are reported in blue, answers from the authors are in black, while changes in the original text are reported in red.
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AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Stefania Gilardoni, 27 Sep 2023
Peer review completion
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Stefania Gilardoni
Dominic Heslin-Rees
Mauro Mazzola
Vito Vitale
Michael Sprenger
Radovan Krejci
The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.
- Preprint
(2383 KB) - Metadata XML
-
Supplement
(1392 KB) - BibTeX
- EndNote
- Final revised paper