Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic

<p>The transport and distribution of short-lived climate forcers in the Arctic are influenced by the prevailing atmospheric circulation patterns. Understanding the coupling between pollutant distribution and dominant atmospheric circulation types is therefore important, not least to understand...

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Autores principales:	M. A. Thomas, A. Devasthale, T. Nygård
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Copernicus Publications 2021
Materias:	Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/82434d6c21004eb490deabffccc16683
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:82434d6c21004eb490deabffccc166832021-11-12T12:13:18ZInfluence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic10.5194/acp-21-16593-20211680-73161680-7324https://doaj.org/article/82434d6c21004eb490deabffccc166832021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/16593/2021/acp-21-16593-2021.pdfhttps://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324<p>The transport and distribution of short-lived climate forcers in the Arctic are influenced by the prevailing atmospheric circulation patterns. Understanding the coupling between pollutant distribution and dominant atmospheric circulation types is therefore important, not least to understand the processes governing the local processing of pollutants in the Arctic, but also to test the fidelity of chemistry transport models to simulate the transport from the southerly latitudes. Here, we use a combination of satellite-based and reanalysis datasets spanning over 12 years (2007–2018) and investigate the concentrations of NO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span>, O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span>, CO and aerosols and their co-variability during eight different atmospheric circulation types in the spring season (March, April and May) over the Arctic. We carried out a self-organizing map analysis of mean sea level pressure to derive these circulation types. Although almost all pollutants investigated here show statistically significant sensitivity to the circulation types, NO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span> exhibits the strongest sensitivity among them. The circulation types with low-pressure systems located over the northeast Atlantic show a clear enhancement of NO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span> and aerosol optical depths (AODs) in the European Arctic. The O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> concentrations are, however, decreased. The free tropospheric CO is increased over the Arctic during such events. The circulation types with atmospheric blocking over Greenland and northern Scandinavia show the opposite signal in which the NO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span> concentrations are decreased and AODs are smaller than the climatological values. The O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> concentrations are, however, increased, and the free tropospheric CO is decreased during such events.</p> <p>The study provides the most comprehensive assessment so far of the sensitivity of springtime pollutant distribution to the atmospheric circulation types in the Arctic and also provides an observational basis for the evaluation of chemistry transport models.</p>M. A. ThomasA. DevasthaleT. NygårdCopernicus PublicationsarticlePhysicsQC1-999ChemistryQD1-999ENAtmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 21, Pp 16593-16608 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999
spellingShingle	Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 M. A. Thomas A. Devasthale T. Nygård Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic
description	<p>The transport and distribution of short-lived climate forcers in the Arctic are influenced by the prevailing atmospheric circulation patterns. Understanding the coupling between pollutant distribution and dominant atmospheric circulation types is therefore important, not least to understand the processes governing the local processing of pollutants in the Arctic, but also to test the fidelity of chemistry transport models to simulate the transport from the southerly latitudes. Here, we use a combination of satellite-based and reanalysis datasets spanning over 12 years (2007–2018) and investigate the concentrations of NO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span>, O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span>, CO and aerosols and their co-variability during eight different atmospheric circulation types in the spring season (March, April and May) over the Arctic. We carried out a self-organizing map analysis of mean sea level pressure to derive these circulation types. Although almost all pollutants investigated here show statistically significant sensitivity to the circulation types, NO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span> exhibits the strongest sensitivity among them. The circulation types with low-pressure systems located over the northeast Atlantic show a clear enhancement of NO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span> and aerosol optical depths (AODs) in the European Arctic. The O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> concentrations are, however, decreased. The free tropospheric CO is increased over the Arctic during such events. The circulation types with atmospheric blocking over Greenland and northern Scandinavia show the opposite signal in which the NO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span> concentrations are decreased and AODs are smaller than the climatological values. The O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> concentrations are, however, increased, and the free tropospheric CO is decreased during such events.</p> <p>The study provides the most comprehensive assessment so far of the sensitivity of springtime pollutant distribution to the atmospheric circulation types in the Arctic and also provides an observational basis for the evaluation of chemistry transport models.</p>
format	article
author	M. A. Thomas A. Devasthale T. Nygård
author_facet	M. A. Thomas A. Devasthale T. Nygård
author_sort	M. A. Thomas
title	Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic
title_short	Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic
title_full	Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic
title_fullStr	Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic
title_full_unstemmed	Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic
title_sort	influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the arctic
publisher	Copernicus Publications
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/82434d6c21004eb490deabffccc16683
work_keys_str_mv	AT mathomas influenceofspringtimeatmosphericcirculationtypesonthedistributionofairpollutantsinthearctic AT adevasthale influenceofspringtimeatmosphericcirculationtypesonthedistributionofairpollutantsinthearctic AT tnygard influenceofspringtimeatmosphericcirculationtypesonthedistributionofairpollutantsinthearctic
_version_	1718430562169913344

Influence of springtime atmospheric circulation types on the distribution of air pollutants in the Arctic

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