Blunier, Thomas; Floch, Grégoire L.; Jacobi, Hans-Werner; Quansah, Emmanuel (2005). Isotopic view on nitrate loss in Antarctic surface snow. Geophysical Research Letters, 32(13) American Geophysical Union 10.1029/2005GL023011
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Massive post-depositional processes alter the nitrate concentration in polar firn where the annual snow accumulation is low. This hinders a direct atmospheric interpretation of the ice core nitrate record. Fractionation of nitrate isotopes during post-depositional nitrate loss may allow estimating the amount of nitrate loss in the past. We measured δ15N of nitrate in two Antarctic surface cores from the Dome C area. In concert with the known concentration decrease with depth we observe an increase in the isotopic signature. Assuming a Rayleigh type process we find an isotope effect of ɛ = −54‰. We measured the fractionation factor for photolysis in the laboratory and obtained ɛ = −11.7 ± 1.4‰. As the observed fractionation factor in the firn is much lower this rules out that photolysis in the surface snow is the main process leading to the dramatic nitrate loss in the top centimeters of the firn.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute 08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Climate and Environmental Physics |
UniBE Contributor: |
Blunier, Thomas, Floch, Grégoire |
Subjects: |
500 Science > 530 Physics |
ISSN: |
0094-8276 |
Publisher: |
American Geophysical Union |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
BORIS Import 2 |
Date Deposited: |
02 Sep 2021 14:43 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 15:52 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1029/2005GL023011 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/158455 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/158455 |
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