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From 10 May through 17 June 2007 and 6 June through 9 July 2008 intensive sampling campaigns at Summit, Greenland confirmed that active bromine chemistry is occurring in and above the snow pack at the highest part of the Greenland ice sheet (72° 36' N, 38° 25' W and 3.2 km above sea level). Direct measurements found BrO and soluble gas phase Br mixing ratios in the low pptv range on many days (maxima < 10 pptv). Conversion of up to 200 pgm of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) to reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) and enhanced OH relative to HO2 plus RO2 confirm that active bromine chemistry is impacting chemical cycles even at such low abundances of reactive bromine species. However, it does not appear that Bry chemistry can fully account for observed perturbations to HOx partitioning, suggesting unknown additional chemical processes may be important in this unique environment, or that our understanding of coupled NO x-HO x-Bry chemistry above sunlit polar snow is incomplete. Rapid transport from the north Atlanticmarine boundary layer occasionally caused enhanced BrO at Summit (just two such events observed during the 12 weeks of sampling over the two seasons). In general observed reactive bromine was linked to activation of bromide (Br-) in, and release of reactive bromine from, the snowpack. A coupled snow-atmosphere model simulated observed NO and BrO at Summit during a three day interval when winds were weak. The source of Br- in surface and near surface snow at Summit is not entirely clear, but concentrations were observed to increase when stronger vertical mixing brought free tropospheric air to the surface. Reactive Bry mixing ratios above the snow often increased in the day or two following increases in snow concentration, but this response was not consistent. On seasonal time scales concentrations of Br- in snow and reactive bromine in the air were directly related. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical composition of the boundary layer in snow covered regions is impacted by chemistry in the snowpack via uptake, processing, and emission of atmospheric trace gases. We use the coupled one-dimensional (1-D) snow chemistry and atmospheric boundary layer model MISTRA-SNOW to study the impact of snowpack chemistry on the oxidation capacity of the boundary layer. The model includes gas phase photochemistry and chemical reactions both in the interstitial air and the atmosphere. While it is acknowledged that the chemistry occurring at ice surfaces may consist of a true quasi-liquid layer and/or a concentrated brine layer, lack of additional knowledge requires that this chemistry be modeled as primarily aqueous chemistry occurring in a liquid-like layer (LLL) on snow grains. The model has been recently compared with BrO and NO data taken on 10 June-13 June 2008 as part of the Greenland Summit Halogen-HOx experiment (GSHOX). In the present study, we use the same focus period to investigate the influence of snowpack derived chemistry on OH and HOx + RO2 in the boundary layer. We compare model results with chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) measurements of the hydroxyl radical (OH) and of the hydroperoxyl radical (HO2) plus the sum of all organic peroxy radicals (RO2) taken at Summit during summer 2008. Using sensitivity runs we show that snowpack influenced nitrogen cycling and bromine chemistry both increase the oxidation capacity of the boundary layer and that together they increase the midday OH concentrations. Bromine chemistry increases the OH concentration by 10-18% (10% at noon LT), while snow sourced NOx increases OH concentrations by 20-50%(27% at noon LT). We show for the first time, using a coupled one-dimensional snowpack-boundary layer model, that air-snow interactions impact the oxidation capacity of the boundary layer and that it is not possible to match measured OH levels without snowpack NOx and halogen emissions. Model predicted HONO compared with mistchamber measurements suggests there may be an unknown HONO source at Summit. Other model predicted HOx precursors, H2O2 and HCHO, compare well with measurements taken in summer 2000, which had lower levels than other years. Over 3 days, snow sourced NOx contributes an additional 2 ppb to boundary layer ozone production, while snow sourced bromine has the opposite effect and contributes 1 ppb to boundary layer ozone loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Greenland Summit Halogen-HOx (GSHOX) Campaign was performed in spring 2007 and summer 2008 to investigate the impact of halogens on HOx (=OH+HO2) cycling above the Greenland Ice Sheet. Chemical species including hydroxyl and peroxy radicals (OH and HO2+ RO2), ozone (O 3), nitrogen oxide (NO), nitric acid (HO3), nitrous acid (HONO), reactive gaseous mercury (RGM), and bromine oxide (BrO) were measured during the campaign. The median midday values of HO2+ RO2 and OH concentrations observed by chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) were 2.7x108 molec cm-3 and 3.0x106 molec cm-3 in spring 2007, and 4.2x108 molec cm-3 and 4.1x106 molec cm-3 in summer 2008. A basic photochemical 0-D box model highly constrained by observations of H2O, O3, CO, CH4, NO, and J values predicted HO2+ RO2 (R = 0.90, slope = 0.87 in 2007; R = 0.79, slope = 0.96 in 2008) reasonably well and under predicted OH (R = 0.83, slope = 0.72 in 2007; R = 0.76, slope = 0.54 in 2008). Constraining the model to HONO observations did not signi?cantly improve the ratio of OH to HO2+ RO2 and the correlation between predictions and observations. Including bromine chemistry in the model constrained by observations of BrO improved the correlation between observed and predicted HO2+ RO2 and OH, and brought the average hourly OH and HO2+ RO2 predictions closer to the observations. These model comparisons confirmed our understanding of the dominant HOx sources and sinks in this environment and indicated that BrO impacted the OH levels at Summit. Although, significant discrepancies between observed and predicted OH could not be explained by the measured BrO. Finally, observations of enhanced RGM were found to be coincident with under prediction of OH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sun-lit snow is increasingly recognized as a chemical reactor that plays an active role in uptake, transformation, and release of atmospheric trace gases. Snow is known to influence boundary layer air on a local scale, and given the large global surface coverage of snow may also be significant on regional and global scales. We present a new detailed one-dimensional snow chemistry module that has been coupled to the I-D atmospheric boundary layer model MISTRA. The new I-D snow module, which is dynamically coupled to the overlaying atmospheric model, includes heat transport in the snowpack, molecular diffusion, and wind pumping of gases in the interstitial air. The model includes gas phase chemical reactions both in the interstitial air and the atmosphere. Heterogeneous and multiphase chemistry on atmospheric aerosol is considered explicitly. The chemical interaction of interstitial air with snow grains is simulated assuming chemistry in a liquid-like layer (LLL) on the grain surface. The coupled model, referred to as MISTRA-SNOW, was used to investigate snow as the source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and gas phase reactive bromine in the atmospheric boundary layer in the remote snow covered Arctic (over the Greenland ice sheet) as well as to investigate the link between halogen cycling and ozone depletion that has been observed in interstitial air. The model is validated using data taken 10 June-13 June, 2008 as part of the Greenland Sum mit Halogen-HOx experiment (GSHOX). The model predicts that reactions involving bromide and nitrate impurities in the surface snow can sustain atmospheric NO and BrO mixing ratios measured at Summit, Greenland during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]