Welt Auge - Volker Steinbacher

Spitzbergener Zeitung 3 March - April 2006
On top of being a prominent atmospheric
oxidant, ozone also features a special
isotopic composition, the so-called
“oxygen isotopic anomaly”, originating
from its formation process. Given the fact
that ozone transfers this anomaly during
chemical reactions, it has been proposed
that atmospheric nitrate, whose precursors
(the famous nitrogen oxides, NOx) are
intimately coupled with ozone, could bear
an isotopic signature representative to the
activity of ozone in the atmosphere. This
would be of great interest in the
perspective of using the isotopic
composition of nitrate embedded in ice
cores from the Greenland or Antarctic ice
core to obtain an estimate for past
concentrations of ozone.
The atmospheric filter device with pump
(Samuel Morin)
We therefore use the ozone depletion
events of the arctic coastal areas as a
natural laboratory for testing the existence
of a relationship between the concentration
of ozone and the isotopic composition of
atmospheric nitrate. By means of highvolume
sampling on paper filters, we
collected atmospheric particulate matter
between February and April 2006, that we
will analyze for the isotopic composition
of nitrate. In collaboration with our italian
colleagues from C.N.R. Roma (Harry
Beine's team), we measured ozone at the
ground and a range of nitrogenated
compounds (NOx, HONO, HNO3 ...) to
assess the chemical cycling of such species
in the arctic lower atmosphere. In addition,
we performed surface snow sampling in
Ny-Ålesund and dug several snowpits on
surrounding glaciers (Comfortlessbreen,
Austre Brøggerbreen) to study how the
nitrate behaves in the snow pack and how
this affects the isotopic signature.
Samuel Morin samples snow (Florent
Dominé)
During the field campaign 2006, we did
not experience any significant ozone
depletion event, which is in-line with the
the meteorological conditions : almost no
air mass from the North came in Ny
Ålesund, making it mostly exposed to
southerlies, hence warm and wet
conditions. Nonetheless, we sampled snow
and air for 3 months, with the invaluable
support of the AWIPEV staff, and hope
this will give us some new insight in the
cycling of nitrogen oxides in the arctic
atmosphere in spring, despite the unusual
chemical conditions we experienced this
year.
For more information, please contact:
samuel.morin@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr
Samuel Morin, Florent Dominé,
Joël Savarino
Laboratoire de Glaciologie et
Géophysique de l'Environnement (LGGE),
Grenoble, France
Weg der Steine
In March we provided Corbel station with
art. “Weg der Steine” (Path of the Stones)
is an art project of the German artist
Volker Steinbacher in co-operation with
webmaster Gerald Wingertszahn. The goal
of this project is to distribute limestones
from the French mountain village