Long-term interactions between snow and the atmosphere in the Arctic – 2

The Arctic warms faster than the rest of the globe due to “Arctic Amplification”. The different elements of the cryosphere are mayor drivers of this amplification. Simultaneously, changes in the Arctic modify the cryosphere due to the modification of the temperature, precipitation, humidity as well as long-range transport. Albeit changes in the extent of the Arctic seasonal snow cover are well documented in situ year-round observations in the Arctic are still scarce. This project aims to continue year-round snow and precipitation observations at Ny-Âlesund initiated in the previous project ARCSNOW. The year-round field measurements and samplings are now supported by an international cooperation involving as scientific partners the Norwegian Polar Institute and the Ecole Centrale Lyon and executed by the personnel from the Sverdrup and AWIPEV stations. Due to this cooperation continuous and coherent data concerning physical, chemical, and biological properties of the arctic snowpack will be generated, shared, and provided to the larger scientific community. The specific objectives of ARCSNOW-2 project are close to the objectives formulated for the previous project and are related to a detailed and comprehensive chemical description of the precipitation and the snowpack and the analysis of the wet and dry deposition. These objectives require a detailed correction of the observed precipitation amounts, which will be examined in cooperation with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the University Cologne. The behavior of impurities with different properties during post-depositional processes and their role in snow albedo feedback processes will be studied. If opportunities arise, the year-round observations will be adjusted to participate in international efforts for Pan-arctic observations.