Identification

Title

The importance of considering depth-resolved photochemistry in snow: A radiative-transfer study of NO₂ and OH production in Ny-Ålesund (Svalbard) snowpacks

Abstract

Solar visible radiation can penetrate 2-30 cm (e-folding depth) into snowpacks and photolyse nitrate anions and hydrogen peroxide contained in the snow. Photolysis rate coefficients, J, for NO₃⁻ and H₂O₂ photolysis are presented for a melting and a fresh snowpack at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. Calculations of (a) transfer velocities, ᵥ, and molecular fluxes of gaseous NO₂ from the snowpack and (b) depth-integrated production rates of OH radicals within the snowpack are presented. The results show the importance of considering the depth dependence, i.e. not just the snow surface, when modelling snowpack photochemistry. Neglecting photochemistry under the snow surface can result in an apparent larger molecular flux of NO₂ from NO₃⁻ photolysis than the melting snowpack. However, when the depth-resolved molecular fluxes of NO₂ within the snowpack are calculated, a larger NO₂ flux may be apparent in the melting snowpack than the fresh snowpack. For solar zenith angles of 60°, 70° and 80° the modelled molecular fluxes of NO₂ from fresh snowpack are 11.6, 5.6 and 1.7 nmol m⁻²h⁻¹, respectively, and those for melting snowpack are 19.7, 9.1 and 2.9 nmol m⁻²h⁻¹, respectively.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d79k4bpd

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-06-05T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact