Black Carbon Seasonal Trends and Regional Sources on Bely Island (Arctic)

Abstract

Abstract The impact of aerosol sources on the pollution of the Russian sector of the Arctic is now strongly underestimated. A new polar aerosol station was arranged in August 2019 on Bely Island (Kara Sea), on the pathway of air mass transport from industrial regions of Western Siberia to the Arctic. Continuous aethalometer measurements of a short-lived climate tracer, i.e., black carbon, (from December to April 2019 and from January to November 2020) showed its seasonal variations with high values (60–92 ng/m3) in December–April and low values (18–72 ng/m3) in June–September. Pollution periods are identified. Regional distribution of fossil fuel and biomass combustion sources are obtained using the black carbon concentration weight trajectory model. The impact of gas flaring from oil and gas extraction areas of Western Siberia, the Volga region, the Urals, and the Komi Republic is found to be most pronounced during the cold period, and the impact from wildfire smoke emissions is found to be maximal in the warm season. A marker of biomass burning impact, determined from the difference between the black carbon concentrations measured in a broad wavelength spectrum, indicated the predominant effects from residential wood combustion in the cold period and agricultural and forest fires in the warm season.