Physically based inversion of surface snow concentrations of H₂O₂ to atmospheric concentrations at South Pole
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1997-02-15
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McConnell, Joseph R., James R. Winterle, Roger C. Bales, Anne M. Thompson, and Richard W. Stewart. “Physically Based Inversion of Surface Snow Concentrations of H₂O₂ to Atmospheric Concentrations at South Pole.” Geophysical Research Letters 24, no. 4 (1997): 441–44. https://doi.org/10.1029/97GL00183.
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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
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Abstract
Inversion of chemical records archived in ice cores to atmospheric concentrations requires a detailed understanding of atmosphere-to-snow-to-ice transfer processes. A unique year-round series of surface snow samples, collected from November, 1994 through January, 1996 at South Pole and analyzed for H₂O₂, were used to test a physically based model for the atmosphere-to-snow component of the overall transfer function. A comparison of photochemical model estimates of atmospheric H₂O₂, which are in general agreement with the first measurements of atmospheric H₂O₂ at South Pole, with the inverted atmospheric record (1) demonstrate that the surface snow acts as an excellent archive of atmospheric H₂O₂ and (2) suggest that snow temperature is the dominant factor determining atmosphere-to-surface snow transfer at South Pole. The estimated annual cycle in atmospheric H₂O₂ concentration is approximately symmetric about the summer solstice, with a peak value of ∼280 pptv and a minimum around the winter solstice of ∼1 pptv, although some asymmetry results from the springtime stratospheric ozone hole over Antarctica.