Associated activities

EGU Session: Surface Exchange Processes in the Polar Regions: Physics, Chemistry, Isotopes, and Aerosols, (19–30 Apr 2021, Online)

This session is intended to provide an interdisciplinary forum to bring together researchers working in the areas of high-latitude meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, stable isotope research, oceanography, and climate. The emphasis is on the role of boundary layer processes that mediate exchange of heat, momentum and mass between the Earth's surface (snow, sea-ice, ocean and land) and the atmosphere as well as the local to large-scale influences on these exchanges. An adequate understanding and quantification of these processes is necessary to improve modeling and prediction of future changes in the polar regions and their teleconnections with mid-latitude weather and climate, including meridional transport of heat, moisture, chemical trace species, aerosols and isotopic tracers (indicating airmass origins and atmospheric processes); and regional emission and vertical mixing of climate active trace gases and aerosol, such as cloud-forming particles (CCN/INP) and their precursors. It is expected that the recent implementation of new measurements such as those from pan-Arctic water vapor isotope networks, observations such as those obtained during the MOSAiC field program, and data from existing networks will help diagnose long-range moisture and aerosol sources and the coupling between local and large-scale dynamics. We encourage submissions such as (but not limited to):

(1) External controls on the boundary layer such as clouds, radiation and long-range transport processes

(2) Results from field programs, such as MOSAiC, and routine observatories, insights from laboratory studies, and advances in modeling and reanalysis,

(3) Use of data from pan-Arctic and Antarctic observing networks,

(4) Surface processes involving snow, sea-ice, ocean, land/atmosphere chemical and isotope exchanges, and natural aerosol sources

(5) The role of boundary layers in polar climate change and implications of climate change for surface exchange processes, especially in the context of reduced sea ice, wetter snowpacks, increased glacial discharge and physical and chemical changes associated with an increasing fraction of first year ice and increasing open water.

EGU Session: Boundary Layers in High Latitudes: Physics and Chemistry, (3–8 May 2020, Vienna, Austria)

Changes in the Arctic and Antarctic climate systems are strongly related to processes in the boundary layer and their feedbacks with the free troposphere, ocean and ice. An adequate understanding and quantification of these processes is necessary to improve predictions of future changes in the polar regions and their teleconnection with mid-latitude weather and climate, including meridional transport of heat, moisture and chemical constituents. Processes include atmosphere-ocean-ice (AOI) interactions, such as physical and chemical snow processes (e.g. snow photochemistry), exchange of chemical constituents including biogeochemical impacts , sources of aerosol, polynya formation processes, sea ice production and loss, and cloud formation, which represent key processes for the atmosphere, ocean and the cryosphere. AOI interactions are also triggered by and have feedbacks with synoptic systems and mesoscale weather phenomena such as cold air outbreaks, katabatic winds and polar lows. Associated processes also include the effect of extreme events such as warm air advection and clouds on the surface energy budget and related boundary layer exchanges. In addition, understanding natural processes including AOI interactions is essential to understand of the background atmosphere to quantify the anthropogenic impacts. Shallow inversions, mostly during winter-time, lead to high air pollutant concentrations. Even though severe air pollution episodes are frequently observed in the Arctic, knowledge on urban emission sources and atmospheric chemical processing of pollution, especially under cold and dark conditions, are poorly understood. Similarly, the polar boundary layer can involve complicated radiative processes such as shallow stable layers with fog present. In addition, polar boundary layers can mediate chemical, aerosol, and isotope exchanges between the atmosphere and the firn important to the interpretation of ice core records.

This session is intended to provide an interdisciplinary forum to bring together researchers working in the area of boundary layer processes and high-latitude weather and climate (including snow physics, air/snow chemistry, and oceanography). Cryosphere and atmospheric chemistry processes (the focus of the IGAC/SOLAS activity “CATCH” and the IGAC/IASC activity “PACES”) are highly relevant to this session. We also encourage preliminary results from field programs such as MOSAiC and other high-latitude research efforts. 

AGU Session: Aerosols, Clouds and Chemistry in Polar and Pristine Regions, 9-13 December 2019, San Francisco CA

Processes and feedback mechanisms in polar and pristine regions, including mountainous regions such as the third pole, are poorly understood, but play key roles in rapid observed changes and the pre-industrial baselines used to understand the Earth's climate system. Changes in these regions propagate globally, impacting weather, ecosystems and geopolitics. Trace gases, aerosols, clouds, precipitation and ecosystem chemical cycling are influenced by atmospheric, snow/ice, oceanic and biosphere processes. Anthropogenic and natural emissions, as well as long-range transport and deposition of atmospheric constituents affect ecosystems, air quality/human health, and climate in these regions. 

This session invites contributions on progress from field, modeling, and laboratory studies aiming to understand properties and processes related to atmospheric composition of polar and pristine regions. This can include studies on atmospheric aerosols, trace gases, transport, processing, aerosol-cloud interactions, snow-ice interactions, trace constituent recycling, ice-core proxy/natural background studies, deposition, as well as climatic, ecological and societal impacts.