Articles | Volume 11, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-693-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-693-2017
Research article
 | 
17 Mar 2017
Research article |  | 17 Mar 2017

Bromine, iodine and sodium in surface snow along the 2013 Talos Dome–GV7 traverse (northern Victoria Land, East Antarctica)

Niccolò Maffezzoli, Andrea Spolaor, Carlo Barbante, Michele Bertò, Massimo Frezzotti, and Paul Vallelonga

Abstract. Halogen chemistry in the polar regions occurs through the release of halogen elements from different sources. Bromine is primarily emitted from sea salt aerosols and other saline condensed phases associated with sea ice surfaces, while iodine is affected by the release of organic compounds from algae colonies living within the sea ice environment. Measurements of halogen species in polar snow samples are limited to a few sites although there is some evidence that they are related to sea ice extent. We examine here total bromine, iodine and sodium concentrations in a series of 2 m cores collected during a traverse from Talos Dome (72°48' S, 159°06' E) to GV7 (70°41' S, 158°51' E) analyzed by inductively coupled plasma-sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SFMS) at a resolution of 5 cm.

We find a distinct seasonality of the bromine enrichment signal in most of the cores, with maxima during the austral spring. Iodine shows average concentrations of 0.04 ppb with little variability. No distinct seasonality is found for iodine and sodium.

The transect reveals homogeneous air-to-snow fluxes for the three chemical species along the transect due to competing effects of air masses originating from the Ross Sea and the Southern Ocean.

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Short summary
Sea ice is a crucial parameter within Earth's climate system. Understanding its dynamics and its response to other climatic variables is therefore of primary importance in view of a warming climate and sea ice decline. In this work we investigate some features of a chemical parameter in ice cores, bromine enrichment, which is linked to sea ice and can therefore be used to reconstruct sea ice in the past.