HR: 0830h
AN: A21E-1033    [PDF]
TI: Black carbon in snow from the Tian Shan Mountains, Northwest China
AU: * Edwards, R
EM: redwards@dri.edu
AF: Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, NV 89512-1095 United States
AU: Li, Z
EM: Lizq@ns.lzb.ac.cn
AF: Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS, Lanzhou, 730000 China
AU: Tandong, Y
AF: Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS, Lanzhou, 730000 China
AB: Black carbon aerosols, produced solely by combustion processes, may have a larger associated climate forcing than methane gas and have been implicated in changes to precipitation over China. Yet very little is known regarding the atmospheric distribution or deposition of black carbon, particularly over remote Central Asia. During 2002, snow pit and preindustrial ice samples were collected from Glacier no. 1 and Glacier no. 51 in the Tian Shan Mountains of Northwest China and analyzed for black carbon particles by thermal-optical analysis. Snow concentrations of black carbon at Glacier no.1 were found to be significantly greater than that of Glacier no. 51 and varied at both sites on a seasonal basis. The levels of black carbon in snow from Glacier no. 51 are believed to reflect regional atmospheric concentrations of carbonaceous aerosol, while snow from Glacier no. 1 appears to be impacted by local emissions. Preliminary results from preindustrial ice collected at Glacier no.1 suggest that carbonaceous p
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801)
DE: 0345 Pollution--urban and regional (0305)
DE: 1600 GLOBAL CHANGE (New category)
DE: 1827 Glaciology (1863)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting