Articles | Volume 14, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-657-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-657-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Cryoconite: an efficient accumulator of radioactive fallout in glacial environments
Giovanni Baccolo
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Environmental and Earth Sciences Department, University of
Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 20126, Italy
INFN section of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 20126, Italy
Edyta Łokas
Department of Nuclear Physical Chemistry, Institute of Nuclear
Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, Cracow, 31-342, Poland
Paweł Gaca
Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National
Oceanography Centre, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
Dario Massabò
Physics Department, University of Genoa, Genoa, 16146, Italy
INFN section of Genoa, Genoa, 16146, Italy
Roberto Ambrosini
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan,
Milan, 20133, Italy
Roberto S. Azzoni
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan,
Milan, 20133, Italy
Caroline Clason
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of
Plymouth, Plymouth, PL48AA, UK
Biagio Di Mauro
Environmental and Earth Sciences Department, University of
Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 20126, Italy
Andrea Franzetti
Massimiliano Nastasi
Environmental and Earth Sciences Department, University of
Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 20126, Italy
Physics Department, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 20126,
Italy
Michele Prata
Laboratory of Applied Nuclear Energy, University of Pavia, Pavia,
27100, Italy
Paolo Prati
Physics Department, University of Genoa, Genoa, 16146, Italy
INFN section of Genoa, Genoa, 16146, Italy
Ezio Previtali
Environmental and Earth Sciences Department, University of
Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 20126, Italy
Physics Department, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 20126,
Italy
Barbara Delmonte
Environmental and Earth Sciences Department, University of
Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 20126, Italy
Valter Maggi
Environmental and Earth Sciences Department, University of
Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 20126, Italy
INFN section of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 20126, Italy
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Rising temperatures are impacting the reliability of glaciers as environmental archives. This study reports how meltwater percolation affects the distribution of tritium and cesium, which are commonly used as temporal markers in dating ice cores, in a temperate glacier. Our findings challenge the established application of radionuclides for dating mountain ice cores and indicate tritium as the best choice.
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We have reconstructed the multi-decadal (1980s–2023) cumulative mass balance for all the current mountain glaciers in the Italian Dolomites. We used historical aerial imagery, drone surveys and airborne LiDAR to fill the existing gap of glaciological data for the region. We observed an alarming decline in both glaciers area and volume, with some of them showing lower losses due to local topography and debris cover feedback. We strongly encourage more specific monitoring for these small glaciers.
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Virginia Vernocchi, Elena Abd El, Marco Brunoldi, Silvia Giulia Danelli, Elena Gatta, Tommaso Isolabella, Federico Mazzei, Franco Parodi, Paolo Prati, and Dario Massabò
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5479–5493, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5479-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5479-2023, 2023
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Preprint archived
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Niccolò Maffezzoli, Eliza Cook, Willem G. M. van der Bilt, Eivind N. Støren, Daniela Festi, Florian Muthreich, Alistair W. R. Seddon, François Burgay, Giovanni Baccolo, Amalie R. F. Mygind, Troels Petersen, Andrea Spolaor, Sebastiano Vascon, Marcello Pelillo, Patrizia Ferretti, Rafael S. dos Reis, Jefferson C. Simões, Yuval Ronen, Barbara Delmonte, Marco Viccaro, Jørgen Peder Steffensen, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Kerim H. Nisancioglu, and Carlo Barbante
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Tereza Novotná Jaroměřská, Roberto Ambrosini, Dorota Richter, Miroslawa Pietryka, Przemyslaw Niedzielski, Juliana Souza-Kasprzyk, Piotr Klimaszyk, Andrea Franzetti, Francesca Pittino, Lenka Vondrovicová, Tyler Kohler, and Krzysztof Zawierucha
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2022-198, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2022-198, 2022
Preprint withdrawn
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Virginia Vernocchi, Marco Brunoldi, Silvia G. Danelli, Franco Parodi, Paolo Prati, and Dario Massabò
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2159–2175, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2159-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2159-2022, 2022
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Caroline C. Clason, Will H. Blake, Nick Selmes, Alex Taylor, Pascal Boeckx, Jessica Kitch, Stephanie C. Mills, Giovanni Baccolo, and Geoffrey E. Millward
The Cryosphere, 15, 5151–5168, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5151-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5151-2021, 2021
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Giovanni Baccolo, Barbara Delmonte, Elena Di Stefano, Giannantonio Cibin, Ilaria Crotti, Massimo Frezzotti, Dariush Hampai, Yoshinori Iizuka, Augusto Marcelli, and Valter Maggi
The Cryosphere, 15, 4807–4822, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4807-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4807-2021, 2021
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As scientists are pushing efforts to recover deep ice cores to extend paleoclimatic reconstructions, it is now essential to explore deep ice. The latter was considered a relatively stable environment, but this view is changing. This study shows that the conditions of deep ice promote the interaction between soluble and insoluble impurities, favoring complex geochemical reactions that lead to the englacial dissolution and precipitation of specific minerals present in atmospheric mineral dust.
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12809–12833, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12809-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12809-2021, 2021
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This study provides a holistic approach to studying the spectrally resolved light absorption by atmospheric brown carbon (BrC) and black carbon using long time series of daily samples from filter-based measurements. The obtained results provide (1) a better understanding of the aerosol absorption profile and its dependence on BrC and on lensing from less absorbing coatings and (2) an estimation of the most important absorbers at typical European locations.
Daniela Festi, Margit Schwikowski, Valter Maggi, Klaus Oeggl, and Theo Manuel Jenk
The Cryosphere, 15, 4135–4143, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4135-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4135-2021, 2021
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In our study we dated a 46 m deep ice core retrieved from the Adamello glacier (Central Italian Alps). We obtained a timescale combining the results of radionuclides 210Pb and 137Cs with annual layer counting derived from pollen and refractory black carbon concentrations. Our results indicate that the surface of the glacier is older than the drilling date of 2016 by about 20 years, therefore revealing that the glacier is at high risk of collapsing under current climate warming conditions.
Rafael S. dos Reis, Rafael da Rocha Ribeiro, Barbara Delmonte, Edson Ramirez, Norberto Dani, Paul A. Mayewski, and Jefferson C. Simões
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-186, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-186, 2021
Revised manuscript not accepted
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The ice-core recovered in Peruvian Andes depicts the 12 years of dust particles data in snow accumulation. The seasonality of the dry and wet season, respectively, are represented by high and low dust concentration in profile. Our observations period show the differences between fine and larger particles concentrations over the years and their correlation with oceanic oscillations phenomena. Also, we introduce the link of the dust groupings with Madeira River in the Amazon basin context.
Pascal Bohleber, Marco Roman, Martin Šala, Barbara Delmonte, Barbara Stenni, and Carlo Barbante
The Cryosphere, 15, 3523–3538, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3523-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3523-2021, 2021
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Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) offers micro-destructive, micrometer-scale impurity analysis of ice cores. For improved understanding of the LA-ICP-MS signals, novel 2D impurity imaging is applied to selected glacial and interglacial samples of Antarctic deep ice cores. This allows evaluating the 2D impurity distribution in relation to ice crystal features and assessing implications for investigating highly thinned climate proxy signals in deep polar ice.
Silvia G. Danelli, Marco Brunoldi, Dario Massabò, Franco Parodi, Virginia Vernocchi, and Paolo Prati
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4461–4470, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4461-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4461-2021, 2021
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Experiments conducted inside confined artificial environments, such as atmospheric simulation chambers (ASCs), where atmospheric conditions and composition are controlled, can provide valuable information on bio-aerosol viability, dispersion, and impact. We focus here on the reproducible aerosolization and injection of viable microorganisms into an ASC, the first and crucial step of any experimental protocol to expose bio-aerosols to different atmospheric conditions.
Vera Bernardoni, Luca Ferrero, Ezio Bolzacchini, Alice Corina Forello, Asta Gregorič, Dario Massabò, Griša Močnik, Paolo Prati, Martin Rigler, Luca Santagostini, Francesca Soldan, Sara Valentini, Gianluigi Valli, and Roberta Vecchi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2919–2940, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2919-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2919-2021, 2021
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An instrument-dependent wavelength-independent parameter (C) is often used to face multiple-scattering issues affecting aerosol light absorption measurements by Aethalometers. Instead, we determined multi-wavelength C by comparison with absorption measurements of samples collected in parallel performed by an instrument developed in-house. Considering C wavelength dependence, harmonized results were obtained applying source and component apportionment models to data from different Aethalometers.
Filipe G. L. Lindau, Jefferson C. Simões, Barbara Delmonte, Patrick Ginot, Giovanni Baccolo, Chiara I. Paleari, Elena Di Stefano, Elena Korotkikh, Douglas S. Introne, Valter Maggi, Eduardo Garzanti, and Sergio Andò
The Cryosphere, 15, 1383–1397, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1383-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1383-2021, 2021
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Information about the past climate variability in tropical South America is stored in the snow layers of the tropical Andean glaciers. Here we show evidence that the presence of very large aeolian mineral dust particles at Nevado Illimani (Bolivia) is strictly controlled by the occurrence of summer storms in the Bolivian Altiplano. Therefore, based on the snow dust content and its composition of stable water isotopes, we propose a new proxy for information on previous summer storms.
Filipe Gaudie Ley Lindau, Jefferson Cardia Simões, Rafael da Rocha Ribeiro, Patrick Ginot, Barbara Delmonte, Giovanni Baccolo, Stanislav Kutuzov, Valter Maggi, and Edson Ramirez
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2020-129, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2020-129, 2020
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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Glaciers are important freshwater sources in the Tropical Andes. Their retreat has been accelerating since the 1980s. This exposes fresh glacial sediments and facilitates the transport of coarse dust particles to the Nevado Illimani summit. Both the glacial area of Illimani and its ice core record of coarse dust particles respond to warmer conditions across the southern tropical Andes, and drier conditions over the Amazon basin.
Frank Paul, Philipp Rastner, Roberto Sergio Azzoni, Guglielmina Diolaiuti, Davide Fugazza, Raymond Le Bris, Johanna Nemec, Antoine Rabatel, Mélanie Ramusovic, Gabriele Schwaizer, and Claudio Smiraglia
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 1805–1821, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1805-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1805-2020, 2020
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We have used Sentinel-2 satellite data from 2015 and 2016 to create a new glacier inventory for the European Alps. Outlines from earlier national inventories were used to guide manual corrections (e.g. ice in shadow or under debris cover) of the automatically mapped clean ice. We mapped 4395 glaciers, covering 1806 km2, an area loss of about 14 % (or −1.2 % per year) compared to the last inventory of 2003. We conclude that glacier shrinkage in the Alps has continued unabated since the mid-1980s.
Alice Corina Forello, Vera Bernardoni, Giulia Calzolai, Franco Lucarelli, Dario Massabò, Silvia Nava, Rosaria Erika Pileci, Paolo Prati, Sara Valentini, Gianluigi Valli, and Roberta Vecchi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11235–11252, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11235-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11235-2019, 2019
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A new approach coupling aerosol chemical and optical properties in one source apportionment study is proposed. Besides a more robust identification of sources, it was possible to retrieve a source-specific absorption Ångström exponent and a mass absorption cross section at different wavelengths as well as optical apportionment. This piece of information can be very useful for formulating strategies for pollutant abatement to improve air quality and to face climate challenges.
Marc D. Mallet, Barbara D'Anna, Aurélie Même, Maria Chiara Bove, Federico Cassola, Giandomenico Pace, Karine Desboeufs, Claudia Di Biagio, Jean-Francois Doussin, Michel Maille, Dario Massabò, Jean Sciare, Pascal Zapf, Alcide Giorgio di Sarra, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11123–11142, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11123-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11123-2019, 2019
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We present findings from a summertime field campaign at the remote island of Lampedusa in the central Mediterranean Sea. We show that the aerosol loading is similar to coastal sites around the Mediterranean. We observe higher loadings of sulfate and aged organic aerosol from air masses transported over the central and eastern Mediterranean in comparison to those from the western Mediterranean. These results highlight the rarity of pristine air masses, even in remote marine environments.
Edyta Łokas, Agata Zaborska, Ireneusz Sobota, Paweł Gaca, J. Andrew Milton, Paweł Kocurek, and Anna Cwanek
The Cryosphere, 13, 2075–2086, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2075-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2075-2019, 2019
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Cryoconite granules built of mineral particles, organic substances and living organisms significantly influence fluxes of energy and matter at glacier surfaces. They contribute to ice melting, give rise to an exceptional ecosystem, and effectively trap contaminants. This study evaluates contamination levels of radionuclides in cryoconite from Arctic glaciers and identifies sources of this contamination, proving that cryoconite is an excellent indicator of atmospheric contamination.
Dario Massabò, Alessandro Altomari, Virginia Vernocchi, and Paolo Prati
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3173–3182, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3173-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3173-2019, 2019
V. Yordanov, D. Fugazza, R. S. Azzoni, M. Cernuschi, M. Scaioni, and G. A. Diolaiuti
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLII-2-W13, 1803–1810, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W13-1803-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W13-1803-2019, 2019
Biagio Di Mauro, Roberto Garzonio, Micol Rossini, Gianluca Filippa, Paolo Pogliotti, Marta Galvagno, Umberto Morra di Cella, Mirco Migliavacca, Giovanni Baccolo, Massimiliano Clemenza, Barbara Delmonte, Valter Maggi, Marie Dumont, François Tuzet, Matthieu Lafaysse, Samuel Morin, Edoardo Cremonese, and Roberto Colombo
The Cryosphere, 13, 1147–1165, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1147-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1147-2019, 2019
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The snow albedo reduction due to dust from arid regions alters the melting dynamics of the snowpack, resulting in earlier snowmelt. We estimate up to 38 days of anticipated snow disappearance for a season that was characterized by a strong dust deposition event. This process has a series of further impacts. For example, earlier snowmelts may alter the hydrological cycle in the Alps, induce higher sensitivity to late summer drought, and finally impact vegetation and animal phenology.
Nivedita K. Kumar, Joel C. Corbin, Emily A. Bruns, Dario Massabó, Jay G. Slowik, Luka Drinovec, Griša Močnik, Paolo Prati, Athanasia Vlachou, Urs Baltensperger, Martin Gysel, Imad El-Haddad, and André S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17843–17861, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17843-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17843-2018, 2018
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It is clear that considerable uncertainties still exist in understanding the magnitude of aerosol absorption on a global scale and its contribution to global warming. This manuscript provides a comprehensive assessment of the optical absorption by organic aerosols (brown carbon) from residential wood combustion as a function of atmospheric aging.
Dario Massabò, Silvia Giulia Danelli, Paolo Brotto, Antonio Comite, Camilla Costa, Andrea Di Cesare, Jean François Doussin, Federico Ferraro, Paola Formenti, Elena Gatta, Laura Negretti, Maddalena Oliva, Franco Parodi, Luigi Vezzulli, and Paolo Prati
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5885–5900, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5885-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5885-2018, 2018
Alexander Kokhanovsky, Maxim Lamare, Biagio Di Mauro, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Marie Dumont, François Tuzet, Carsten Brockmann, and Jason E. Box
The Cryosphere, 12, 2371–2382, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2371-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2371-2018, 2018
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This work presents a new technique with which to derive the snow microphysical and optical properties from snow spectral reflectance measurements. The technique is robust and easy to use, and it does not require the extraction of snow samples from a given snowpack. It can be used in processing satellite imagery over extended fresh dry, wet and polluted snowfields.
Marius Folden Simonsen, Llorenç Cremonesi, Giovanni Baccolo, Samuel Bosch, Barbara Delmonte, Tobias Erhardt, Helle Astrid Kjær, Marco Potenza, Anders Svensson, and Paul Vallelonga
Clim. Past, 14, 601–608, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-601-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-601-2018, 2018
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Ice core dust size distributions are more often measured today by an Abakus laser sensor than by the more technically demanding but also very accurate Coulter counter. However, Abakus measurements consistently give larger particle sizes. We show here that this bias exists because the particles are flat and elongated. Correcting for this gives more accurate Abakus measurements. Furthermore, the shape of the particles can be extracted from a combination of Coulter counter and Abakus measurements.
Antonella Senese, Maurizio Maugeri, Eraldo Meraldi, Gian Pietro Verza, Roberto Sergio Azzoni, Chiara Compostella, and Guglielmina Diolaiuti
The Cryosphere, 12, 1293–1306, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1293-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1293-2018, 2018
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We present and compare 11 years of snow data measured by an automatic weather station and corroborated by data from field campaigns on the Forni Glacier in Italy. The methodology we present is interesting for remote locations such as glaciers or high alpine regions, as it makes it possible to estimate the total snow water equivalent (SWE) using a relatively inexpensive, low-power, low-maintenance, and reliable instrument such as the sonic ranger.
Davide Fugazza, Marco Scaioni, Manuel Corti, Carlo D'Agata, Roberto Sergio Azzoni, Massimo Cernuschi, Claudio Smiraglia, and Guglielmina Adele Diolaiuti
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 1055–1071, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-1055-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-1055-2018, 2018
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This paper describes the surveys we performed in 2014 and 2016 by means of UAVs and terrestrial photogrammetry to monitor the Forni Glacier, one of the largest glaciers in the Italian Alps. We investigated the hazards related to the glacier collapse, which have been increasing recently due to the high ice melting rate. Our approach is feasible and low cost and we will repeatedly monitor the glacier to provide rapid hazard detection services to help the tourism sector.
M. Scaioni, L. Barazzetti, M. Corti, J. Crippa, R. S. Azzoni, D. Fugazza, M. Cernuschi, and G. A. Diolaiuti
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLII-3-W4, 445–452, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-3-W4-445-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-3-W4-445-2018, 2018
Nancy A. N. Bertler, Howard Conway, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Daniel B. Emanuelsson, Mai Winstrup, Paul T. Vallelonga, James E. Lee, Ed J. Brook, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, Taylor J. Fudge, Elizabeth D. Keller, W. Troy Baisden, Richard C. A. Hindmarsh, Peter D. Neff, Thomas Blunier, Ross Edwards, Paul A. Mayewski, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Christo Buizert, Silvia Canessa, Ruzica Dadic, Helle A. Kjær, Andrei Kurbatov, Dongqi Zhang, Edwin D. Waddington, Giovanni Baccolo, Thomas Beers, Hannah J. Brightley, Lionel Carter, David Clemens-Sewall, Viorela G. Ciobanu, Barbara Delmonte, Lukas Eling, Aja Ellis, Shruthi Ganesh, Nicholas R. Golledge, Skylar Haines, Michael Handley, Robert L. Hawley, Chad M. Hogan, Katelyn M. Johnson, Elena Korotkikh, Daniel P. Lowry, Darcy Mandeno, Robert M. McKay, James A. Menking, Timothy R. Naish, Caroline Noerling, Agathe Ollive, Anaïs Orsi, Bernadette C. Proemse, Alexander R. Pyne, Rebecca L. Pyne, James Renwick, Reed P. Scherer, Stefanie Semper, Marius Simonsen, Sharon B. Sneed, Eric J. Steig, Andrea Tuohy, Abhijith Ulayottil Venugopal, Fernando Valero-Delgado, Janani Venkatesh, Feitang Wang, Shimeng Wang, Dominic A. Winski, V. Holly L. Winton, Arran Whiteford, Cunde Xiao, Jiao Yang, and Xin Zhang
Clim. Past, 14, 193–214, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-193-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-193-2018, 2018
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Temperature and snow accumulation records from the annually dated Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) ice core show that for the past 2 700 years, the eastern Ross Sea warmed, while the western Ross Sea showed no trend and West Antarctica cooled. From the 17th century onwards, this dipole relationship changed. Now all three regions show concurrent warming, with snow accumulation declining in West Antarctica and the eastern Ross Sea.
Giovanni Leonelli, Anna Coppola, Maria Cristina Salvatore, Carlo Baroni, Giovanna Battipaglia, Tiziana Gentilesca, Francesco Ripullone, Marco Borghetti, Emanuele Conte, Roberto Tognetti, Marco Marchetti, Fabio Lombardi, Michele Brunetti, Maurizio Maugeri, Manuela Pelfini, Paolo Cherubini, Antonello Provenzale, and Valter Maggi
Clim. Past, 13, 1451–1471, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1451-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1451-2017, 2017
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We analyze a tree-ring network from several sites distributed along the Italian Peninsula with the aims of detecting common climate drivers of tree growth and of reconstructing the past climate. We detect the main climatic drivers modulating tree-ring width (RW) and tree-ring maximum latewood density (MXD) and we reconstruct late summer temperatures since the early 1700s using a MXD chronology: this reconstruction is representative of a wide area around the Italian Peninsula.
Biagio Di Mauro, Giovanni Baccolo, Roberto Garzonio, Claudia Giardino, Dario Massabò, Andrea Piazzalunga, Micol Rossini, and Roberto Colombo
The Cryosphere, 11, 2393–2409, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2393-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2393-2017, 2017
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In the paper, we demonstrate the potential of field and satellite hyperspectral reflectance data in characterizing the spatial distribution of impurities on the Morteratsch Glacier. In situ reflectance spectra showed that impurities reduced ice reflectance in visible wavelengths by 80–90 %. Satellite data also showed the outcropping of dust during the melting season in the upper parts of the glacier. Laboratory measurements of cryoconite showed the presence of elemental and organic carbon.
Jorge Saturno, Christopher Pöhlker, Dario Massabò, Joel Brito, Samara Carbone, Yafang Cheng, Xuguang Chi, Florian Ditas, Isabella Hrabě de Angelis, Daniel Morán-Zuloaga, Mira L. Pöhlker, Luciana V. Rizzo, David Walter, Qiaoqiao Wang, Paulo Artaxo, Paolo Prati, and Meinrat O. Andreae
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2837–2850, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2837-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2837-2017, 2017
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Different Aethalometer correction schemes were compared to a multi-wavelength absorption reference measurement. One of the correction schemes was found to artificially increase the short-wavelength absorption coefficients. It was found that accounting for aerosol scattering properties in the correction is crucial to retrieve the proper absorption Ångström exponent (AAE). We found that the raw AAE of uncompensated Aethalometer attenuation significantly correlates with a measured reference AAE.
Lorenzo Caponi, Paola Formenti, Dario Massabó, Claudia Di Biagio, Mathieu Cazaunau, Edouard Pangui, Servanne Chevaillier, Gautier Landrot, Meinrat O. Andreae, Konrad Kandler, Stuart Piketh, Thuraya Saeed, Dave Seibert, Earle Williams, Yves Balkanski, Paolo Prati, and Jean-François Doussin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 7175–7191, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7175-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7175-2017, 2017
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This paper presents new laboratory measurements of the shortwave mass absorption efficiency (MAE) used by climate models for mineral dust of different origin and at different sizes. We found that small particles are more efficient, by given mass, in absorbing radiation, particularly at shorter wavelength. Because dust has high concentrations in the atmosphere, light absorption by mineral dust can be competitive to other absorbing atmospheric aerosols such as black and brown carbon.
Christiane Meyer, Ulrich Meyer, Andreas Pflitsch, and Valter Maggi
The Cryosphere, 10, 879–894, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-879-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-879-2016, 2016
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In the paper a new method to calculate airflow speeds in static ice caves by using air temperature data is presented. As most study sites are in very remote places, where it is often not possible to use sonic anemometers and other devices for the analysis of the cave climate, we show how one can use the given database for calculating airflow speeds. Understanding/quantifying all elements of the specific cave climate is indispensable for understanding the evolution of the ice body in ice caves.
B. Di Mauro, F. Fava, P. Frattini, A. Camia, R. Colombo, and M. Migliavacca
Nonlin. Processes Geophys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/npgd-2-1553-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/npgd-2-1553-2015, 2015
Preprint withdrawn
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In this paper, we analyse the probability distribution of wildfires burned area at European scale. We evaluate the performance of a land surface model using power law scaling as a benchmark. Our analysis suggests that only high latitude biomes are described by a power law distribution, and we relate this feature with the less impact of antrhopogenic activity. The benchmarking analysis showed that some refinements are needed in the model structure for reproducing emerging properties of wildfires
J.-L. Tison, M. de Angelis, G. Littot, E. Wolff, H. Fischer, M. Hansson, M. Bigler, R. Udisti, A. Wegner, J. Jouzel, B. Stenni, S. Johnsen, V. Masson-Delmotte, A. Landais, V. Lipenkov, L. Loulergue, J.-M. Barnola, J.-R. Petit, B. Delmonte, G. Dreyfus, D. Dahl-Jensen, G. Durand, B. Bereiter, A. Schilt, R. Spahni, K. Pol, R. Lorrain, R. Souchez, and D. Samyn
The Cryosphere, 9, 1633–1648, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1633-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1633-2015, 2015
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The oldest paleoclimatic information is buried within the lowermost layers of deep ice cores. It is therefore essential to judge how deep these records remain unaltered. We study the bottom 60 meters of the EPICA Dome C ice core from central Antarctica to show that the paleoclimatic signal is only affected at the small scale (decimeters) in terms of some of the global ice properties. However our data suggest that the time scale has been considerably distorted by mechanical stretching.
C. C. Clason, C. Coch, J. Jarsjö, K. Brugger, P. Jansson, and G. Rosqvist
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 2701–2715, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2701-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2701-2015, 2015
S. Albani, N. M. Mahowald, G. Winckler, R. F. Anderson, L. I. Bradtmiller, B. Delmonte, R. François, M. Goman, N. G. Heavens, P. P. Hesse, S. A. Hovan, S. G. Kang, K. E. Kohfeld, H. Lu, V. Maggi, J. A. Mason, P. A. Mayewski, D. McGee, X. Miao, B. L. Otto-Bliesner, A. T. Perry, A. Pourmand, H. M. Roberts, N. Rosenbloom, T. Stevens, and J. Sun
Clim. Past, 11, 869–903, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-869-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-869-2015, 2015
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We propose an innovative framework to organize paleodust records, formalized in a publicly accessible database, and discuss the emerging properties of the global dust cycle during the Holocene by integrating our analysis with simulations performed with the Community Earth System Model. We show how the size distribution of dust is intrinsically related to the dust mass accumulation rates and that only considering a consistent size range allows for a consistent analysis of the global dust cycle.
C. C. Clason, D. W. F. Mair, P. W. Nienow, I. D. Bartholomew, A. Sole, S. Palmer, and W. Schwanghart
The Cryosphere, 9, 123–138, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-123-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-123-2015, 2015
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Short summary
Cryoconite is the sediment found on the surface of glaciers. The paper presents cryoconite as an environmental matrix able to accumulate natural and artificial radioactivity with unprecedented efficiency. Only samples from sites where nuclear accidents and explosions occurred present a stronger radioactive contamination. The peculiarities of glacial environments are responsible for this extreme feature, making cryoconite a useful tool tool for the monitoring of environmental radioactivity.
Cryoconite is the sediment found on the surface of glaciers. The paper presents cryoconite as an...