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With the Arctic rapidly changing, the needs to observe, understand, and model the changes are essential. To support these needs, an annual cycle of observations of atmospheric properties, processes, and interactions were made while drifting with the sea ice across the central Arctic during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition from October 2019 to September 2020. An international team designed and implemented the comprehensive program to document and characterize all aspects of the Arctic atmospheric system in unprecedented detail, using a variety of approaches, and across multiple scales. These measurements were coordinated with other observational teams to explore crosscutting and coupled interactions with the Arctic Ocean, sea ice, and ecosystem through a variety of physical and biogeochemical processes. This overview outlines the breadth and complexity of the atmospheric research program, which was organized into 4 subgroups: atmospheric state, clouds and precipitation, gases and aerosols, and energy budgets. Atmospheric variability over the annual cycle revealed important influences from a persistent large-scale winter circulation pattern, leading to some storms with pressure and winds that were outside the interquartile range of past conditions suggested by long-term reanalysis. Similarly, the MOSAiC location was warmer and wetter in summer than the reanalysis climatology, in part due to its close proximity to the sea ice edge. The comprehensiveness of the observational program for characterizing and analyzing atmospheric phenomena is demonstrated via a winter case study examining air mass transitions and a summer case study examining vertical atmospheric evolution. Overall, the MOSAiC atmospheric program successfully met its objectives and was the most comprehensive atmospheric measurement program to date conducted over the Arctic sea ice. The obtained data will support a broad range of coupled-system s

With the Arctic rapidly changing, the needs to observe, understand, and model the changes are essential. To support these needs, an annual cycle of observations of atmospheric properties, processes, and interactions were made while drifting with the sea ice across the central Arctic during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition from October 2019 to September 2020. An international team designed and implemented the comprehensive program to document and characterize all aspects of the Arctic atmospheric system in unprecedented detail, using a variety of approaches, and across multiple scales. These measurements were coordinated with other observational teams to explore crosscutting and coupled interactions with the Arctic Ocean, sea ice, and ecosystem through a variety of physical and biogeochemical processes. This overview outlines the breadth and complexity of the atmospheric research program, which was organized into 4 subgroups: atmospheric state, clouds and precipitation, gases and aerosols, and energy budgets. Atmospheric variability over the annual cycle revealed important influences from a persistent large-scale winter circulation pattern, leading to some storms with pressure and winds that were outside the interquartile range of past conditions suggested by long-term reanalysis. Similarly, the MOSAiC location was warmer and wetter in summer than the reanalysis climatology, in part due to its close proximity to the sea ice edge. The comprehensiveness of the observational program for characterizing and analyzing atmospheric phenomena is demonstrated via a winter case study examining air mass transitions and a summer case study examining vertical atmospheric evolution. Overall, the MOSAiC atmospheric program successfully met its objectives and was the most comprehensive atmospheric measurement program to date conducted over the Arctic sea ice. The obtained data will support a broad range of coupled

Arctic snow cover dynamics offer a changing face in terms of temporal duration and water equivalent, due to recent climate change conditions (Callaghan et al., 2011; Lemke & Jacobi, 2011). In this context, innovative methods are helpful to enhance management of the snow-pack resource for climate research, hydrology and human activities. The characteristics of Arctic snow are different from “temperate” snow (i.e. the Alps), in terms of thickness, internal structure, thermal conductivity, and metamorphism. Ground observation often indicates wind slab at the snow surface, internal rounded grains, depth hoar at the bottom, and often internal ice layer or at the interface with ground surface (Dominé et al., 2016). This work is part of the “Precip-A2” project (OSUG, Grenoble-France), focusing on snow and its interaction with the atmosphere, especially in terms of chemistry, radiative processes and precipitation. The the focused area is Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway (N 78°55’ / E 11° 55’). One subtask of the project is dedicated to X-band radar measurements (ground and spaceborne) to retrieve physical properties of arctic snow. Active radar (SAR) images are used in this project, as they do not suffer of clouds coverage and polar night, unlike optical sensors. Snow mapping at the melting season is well documented, due to the liquid water content at the snow surface (Nagler et al., 2000), dry snow height retrieval is only possible at the moment under the full polarimetric mode of the Radarsat-2 satellite, Canada (Dedieu et al., 2014; 2017).The aims of our specific task is to improve an innovative and recent method to retrieve snow depth from SAR image decomposition (Leinss, 2014), and to validate the output results with a consistent ground network, including a large international partnership (Fr, De, No, It). A set of 10 SAR images was provided by the German Space Agency (DLR) during winter 2017 from the TerraSAR-X sensor (3.1 cm, 9.6 GHz) in dual co-pol HH, VV (2.5 m resolut

Snow in the environment acts as a host to rich chemistry and provides a matrix for physical exchange of contaminants within the ecosystem. The goal of this review is to summarise the current state of knowledge of physical processes and chemical reactivity in surface snow with relevance to polar regions. It focuses on a description of impurities in distinct compartments present in surface snow, such as snow crystals, grain boundaries, crystal surfaces, and liquid parts. It emphasises the microscopic description of the ice surface and its link with the environment. Distinct differences between the disordered air–ice interface, often termed quasi-liquid layer, and a liquid phase are highlighted. The reactivity in these different compartments of surface snow is discussed using many experimental studies, simulations, and selected snow models from the molecular to the macro-scale. Although new experimental techniques have extended our knowledge of the surface properties of ice and their impact on some single reactions and processes, others occurring on, at or within snow grains remain unquantified. The presence of liquid or liquid-like compartments either due to the formation of brine or disorder at surfaces of snow crystals below the freezing point may strongly modify reaction rates. Therefore, future experiments should include a detailed characterisation of the surface properties of the ice matrices. A further point that remains largely unresolved is the distribution of impurities between the different domains of the condensed phase inside the snowpack, i.e. in the bulk solid, in liquid at the surface or trapped in confined pockets within or between grains, or at the surface. While surface-sensitive laboratory techniques may in the future help to resolve this point for equilibrium conditions, additional uncertainty for the environmental snowpack may be caused by the highly dynamic nature of the snowpack due to the fast metamorphism occurring under certain environmental

The chapter begins with an overview of the exploratory work done in the Arctic Ocean from the mid nineteenth century to 1980, when its main features became known and a systematic study of the Arctic Ocean evolved. The following section concentrates on the decade between 1980 and 1990, when the first scientific icebreaker expeditions penetrated into the Arctic Ocean, when large international programme were launched, and the understanding of the circulation and of the processes active in the Arctic Ocean deepened. The main third section deals with the studies and the advances made during the ACSYS decade. The section has three headings: the circulation and the transformation of water masses; the changes that have been observed in the Arctic Ocean, especially during the last decades; and the transports between the Arctic Ocean and the surrounding world ocean through the different passages, Fram Strait, Barents Sea, Bering Strait and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. In section four, the Arctic Ocean is considered as a part of the Arctic Mediterranean Sea, and the impacts of possible climatic changes on the circulation in the Arctic Mediterranean and on the exchanges with the world ocean are discussed.

It has been shown that sunlit snow and ice plays an important role in processing atmospheric species. Photochemical production of a variety of chemicals has recently been reported to occur in snow/ice and the release of these photochemically generated species may significantly impact the chemistry of the overlying atmosphere. Nitrogen oxide and oxidant precursor fluxes have been measured in a number of snow covered environments, where in some cases the emissions significantly impact the overlying boundary layer. For example, photochemical ozone production (such as that occurring in polluted mid-latitudes) of 3–4 ppbv/day has been observed at South Pole, due to high OH and NO levels present in a relatively shallow boundary layer. Field and laboratory experiments have determined that the origin of the observed NOx flux is the photochemistry of nitrate within the snowpack, however some details of the mechanism have not yet been elucidated. A variety of low molecular weight organic compounds have been shown to be emitted from sunlit snowpacks, the source of which has been proposed to be either direct or indirect photo-oxidation of natural organic materials present in the snow. Although myriad studies have observed active processing of species within irradiated snowpacks, the fundamental chemistry occurring remains poorly understood. Here we consider the nature of snow at a fundamental, physical level; photochemical processes within snow and the caveats needed for comparison to atmospheric photochemistry; our current understanding of nitrogen, oxidant, halogen and organic photochemistry within snow; the current limitations faced by the field and implications for the future.

During springtime in the polar regions, unique photochemistry converts inert halide salt ions (e.g. Br-) into reactive halogen species (e.g. Br atoms and BrO) that deplete ozone in the boundary layer to near zero levels. Since their discovery in the late 1980s, research on ozone depletion events (ODEs) has made great advances; however many key processes remain poorly understood. In this article we review the history, chemistry, dependence on environmental conditions, and impacts of ODEs. This research has shown the central role of bromine photochemistry, but how salts are transported from the ocean and are oxidized to become reactive halogen species in the air is still not fully understood. Halogens other than bromine (chlorine and iodine) are also activated through incompletely understood mechanisms that are probably coupled to bromine chemistry. The main consequence of halogen activation is chemical destruction of ozone, which removes the primary precursor of atmospheric oxidation, and generation of reactive halogen atoms/oxides that become the primary oxidizing species. The different reactivity of halogens as compared to OH and ozone has broad impacts on atmospheric chemistry, including near complete removal and deposition of mercury, alteration of oxidation fates for organic gases, and export of bromine into the free troposphere. Recent changes in the climate of the Arctic and state of the Arctic sea ice cover are likely to have strong effects on halogen activation and ODEs; however, more research is needed to make meaningful predictions of these changes.

Frost flowers grow on newly-formed sea ice from a saturated water vapour layer. They provide a large effective surface area and a reservoir of sea salt ions in the liquid phase with triple the ion concentration of sea water. Recently, frost flowers have been recognised as the dominant source of sea salt aerosol in the Antarctic, and it has been speculated that they could be involved in processes causing severe tropospheric ozone depletion events during the polar sunrise. These events can be explained by heterogeneous autocatalytic reactions taking place on salt-laden ice surfaces which exponentially increase the reactive gas phase bromine ("bromine explosion"). We analyzed tropospheric bromine monoxide (BrO) and the sea ice coverage both measured from satellite sensors. Our model based interpretation shows that young ice regions potentially covered with frost flowers seem to be the source of bromine found in bromine explosion events.

NO, NOy (total reactive nitrogen oxides), gaseous HNO3, and particulate nitrate (p-NO3−) were measured at Neumayer Station from February 1999 to January 2000. In addition, during February 1999, the NOy component species peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) and methyl, ethyl, i-propyl, and n-propyl nitrates were determined. We found a mean NOy mixing ratio of 46 ± 29 pptv, with significantly higher values between February and end of May (58 ± 35 pptv). Between February and November, the (HNO3 + p-NO3−)/NOy ratio was extremely low (around 0.22) and in contrast to NOy the seasonality of p-NO3− and HNO3 showed a distinct maximum in November and December, leading to a (HNO3 + p-NO3−)/NOy ratio of 0.66. Trajectory analyses and radioisotope measurements (7Be, 10Be, 210Pb, and 222Rn) indicated that the upper troposphere or stratosphere was the main source region of the observed NOy with a negligible contribution of ground-level sources at northward continents. Frequent maxima of NOy mixing ratios up to 100 pptv are generally associated with air mass transport from the free troposphere of continental Antarctica, while air masses with the lowest NOy mixing ratios were typically advected from the marine boundary layer.

It has been shown that NOx is produced photochemically within the snowpack of polar regions. If emitted to the atmosphere, this process could be a major source of NOx in remote snowcovered regions. We report here on measurements made at the German Antarctic station, Neumayer, during austral summer 1999, aimed at detecting and quantifying emissions of NOx from the surface snow. Gradients of NOx were measured, and fluxes calculated using local meteorology measurements. On the 2 days of flux measurements, the derived fluxes showed continual release from the snow surface, varying between similar to0 and 3x10(8) molecs/cm(2)/s. When not subject to turbulence, the variation was coincident with the uv diurnal cycle, suggesting rapid release once photochemically produced. Scaling the diurnal average of Feb. 7th (1.3x10(8) molecs/cm(2)/s) suggests an annual emission over Antarctica of the order 0.0076TgN.

Measurements were made of NO and NO2, in controlled experiments to investigate their production from snow. Throughout a diurnal cycle, measurements were made of ambient air and air from inside a snowblock. Enhanced concentrations of NO and NO2 (up to 15 pptv and 32 pptv respectively) were measured inside the snowblock. The production rate inside the block varied with intensity of incident radiation, and reached a maximum of 1.1×106 molecs/cm³/s for NO and 2.1 × 106 molecs/cm³/s for NO2. A second experiment, in which the snowblock was alternately exposed to sunlight and then shaded, confirmed that the diurnal production was driven by photochemistry rather than some other diurnally varying factor. Concentrations of nitrate in the snowblock did not change as a result of 50 hours of experiments, confirming that if nitrate is the source reservoir, it can not be rapidly depleted. Snowpack production may contribute significantly to NOx concentrations in the Antarctic lower troposphere.

Because investigations of PAN at higher southern latitudes are very scarce, we measured surface PAN concentrations for the first time in Antarctica. During the Photochemical Experiment at Neumayer (PEAN'99) campaign mean surface PAN mixing ratios of 13 +/- 7 pptv and maximum values of 48 pptv were found. When these PAN mixing ratios were compared to the sum of NOx and inorganic nitrate they were found to be equal or higher. Low ambient air temperatures and low PAN concentrations caused a slow homogeneous PAN decomposition rate of approximately 5 x 10(-2) pptv h(-1) These slow decay rates were not sufficient to firmly establish the simultaneously observed NOx concentrations. In addition, low concentration ratios of [HNO3]/[NOx] imply that the photochemical production of NOx within the snow pack can influence surface NOx mixing ratios in Antarctica. Alternate measurements of PAN mixing ratios at two different heights above the snow surface were performed to derive fluxes between the lower troposphere and the underlying snow pack using calculated friction velocities. Most of the concentration differences were below the precision of the measurements. Therefore, only an upper limit for the PAN flux of +/- 1x10(13) molecules m(-2) s(-1) without a predominant direction can be estimated. However, PAN fluxes below this limit can still influence both the transfer of nitrogen compounds between atmosphere and ice, and the PAN budget in higher southern latitudes. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.