Brief communication: Light-absorbing impurities can reduce the density of melting snow
O. Meinander1,A. Kontu2,A. Virkkula1,A. Arola3,L. Backman1,P. Dagsson-Waldhauserová4,5,O. Järvinen6,T. Manninen1,J. Svensson1,G. de Leeuw1,6,and M. Leppäranta6O. Meinander et al. O. Meinander1,A. Kontu2,A. Virkkula1,A. Arola3,L. Backman1,P. Dagsson-Waldhauserová4,5,O. Järvinen6,T. Manninen1,J. Svensson1,G. de Leeuw1,6,and M. Leppäranta6
1Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
2Arctic Research Center, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Sodankylä, Finland
3Kuopio Unit, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Kuopio, Finland
4University of Iceland, Department of Physics, Reykjavik, Iceland
5Agricultural University of Iceland, Faculty of Environment, Hvanneyri, Iceland
6Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
1Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
2Arctic Research Center, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Sodankylä, Finland
3Kuopio Unit, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Kuopio, Finland
4University of Iceland, Department of Physics, Reykjavik, Iceland
5Agricultural University of Iceland, Faculty of Environment, Hvanneyri, Iceland
6Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Received: 20 Nov 2013 – Discussion started: 10 Jan 2014 – Revised: 10 Apr 2014 – Accepted: 14 Apr 2014 – Published: 26 May 2014
Abstract. Climatic effects of black carbon (BC) deposition on snow have been proposed to result from reduced snow albedo and increased melt due to light-absorbing particles. In this study, we hypothesize that BC may decrease the liquid-water retention capacity of melting snow, and present our first data, where both the snow density and elemental carbon content were measured. In our experiments, artificially added light-absorbing impurities decreased the density of seasonally melting natural snow. No relationship was found in case of natural non-melting snow. We also suggest three possible processes that might lead to lower snow density.
