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We discuss the measurements of aerosol optical depth (AOD) of the atmosphere and aerosol (NA) and black carbon (MBC) concentrations in 2018-2019 at two Arctic stations: Barentsburg (Archipelago Spitsbergen) and “Cape Baranov” (Archipelago Severnaya Zemlya). The average aerosol characteristics at “Cape Baranov” had been: AOD (0.5 μm) = 0.11, NA = 5.24 cm-3, MBC = 47 ng/m3 in 2019; and AOD (0.5 μm) = 0.07, MBC = 68 ng/m3 in 2018. The aerosol characteristics in Barentsburg, on the average, have larger values: AOD (0.5 μm) = 0.12, NA = 6.09 cm-3, MBC = 91 ng/m3 in 2019; and AOD (0.5 μm) = 0.087, NA = 6.54 cm-3, MBC = 109 ng/m3 in 2018.

Results of measurements of optical and microphysical characteristics of atmospheric aerosol at the Mys Baranova ice base in 2018 are analyzed. Peculiarities of monthly average variability of aerosol characteristics are considered. The data are compared with the analogous (in particular, many-year) data obtained at the Barentsburg polar station and the midlatitudinal Fonovaya Observatory. The impact of transported smokes on the measured parameters is demonstrated.

We discuss the measurements of black carbon concentrations in the composition of atmospheric aerosol over the seas of the North Atlantic and European sector of the Arctic Ocean (21 expeditions in 2007–2020). The black carbon concentrations were measured by an aethalometer and filter method. The comparison of the two variants of the measurements of the black carbon concentrations showed that the data acceptably agreed and can be used jointly. It is noted that the spatial distribution of black carbon over the ocean is formed under the influence of outflows of air masses from the direction of continents, where the main sources of emission of absorbing aerosol are concentrated. We analyzed the statistical characteristics of black carbon concentrations in five marine regions, differing by the outflows of continental aerosol. The largest black carbon content is a salient feature of the atmosphere of the North and Baltic Seas, surrounded by land: average values of concentrations are 210 ng/m3, and modal values are 75 ng/m3. In other regions (except in the south of the Barents Sea), the average black carbon concentrations are 37–44 ng/m3 (modal concentrations are 18–26 ng/m3). We discuss the specific features of the spatial (latitude-longitude) distributions of black carbon concentrations, relying on ship-based measurements and model calculations (MERRA-2 reanalysis data). A common regularity of the experimental and model spatial distributions of black carbon is that the concentrations decrease in the northern direction and with the growing distance from the continent: from several hundred ng/m3 in the southern part of the North Sea to values below 50 ng/m3 in polar regions of the ocean.