Collaborative Research: The impact of bromine chemistry on the isotopic composition of nitrate at Summit, Greenland

硝酸盐是高山和极地雪中发现的主要离子之一，但它仍然是冰芯记录中最不为人所知的化学成分之一。最近的研究表明，硝酸盐同位素比率是研究雪和冰芯中硝酸盐的有力工具。硝酸盐的同位素组成已被证明包含有关硝酸盐（氮氧化物）来源的信息以及沉积前在大气中将氮氧化物转化为硝酸盐的氧化过程。由于羟基和过氧自由基的同位素组成与臭氧非常不同，人们现在可以区分在大气中产生硝酸盐的不同氧化过程的影响。对格陵兰峰顶雪中硝酸盐氧同位素组成的季节观测不能用标准的当地光化学来理解。造成模型与观测值差异的最可能原因是箱形模型缺少来自Summit以外地区的硝酸盐迁移，以及卤素化学（即BrO）对硝酸盐的影响。最近的测量表明，在Summit上方的边界层中，BrO的存在比预期的要高。该项目的目的是量化溴化学对春季和夏季硝酸盐生产的影响。该方法包括现场和实验室测量以及建模。在春季和夏季的野外季节，将在现场进行BrO和多种气相测量，而雪和大气样本的同位素分析将在实验室完成。雪和冰川中硝酸盐的氧同位素组成具有定量重建古大气氧化剂浓度的潜力，但重要的是限制这种示踪剂反映局部与区域或半球尺度化学的程度。此外，由于峰顶的BrO极有可能来自自然来源，而这一来源受到气候变化的影响，因此卤素化学对氮氧化物的影响对解释近期和深层冰芯硝酸盐记录具有重要意义。

Nitrate is one of the major ions found in alpine and polar snow, yet it continues to be one of the least understood chemical components in ice core records. Recent work ahs shown nitrate isotope ratios to be a powerful tool for the study of nitrate in snow and ice cores. The isotopic composition of nitrate has been shown to contain information about the source of the nitrate (nitrogen oxides) and the oxidation processes that convert nitrogen oxides to nitrate in the atmosphere prior to deposition. Because hydroxyl and peroxy radicals have very different isotopic compositions than ozone, one can now distinguish the impact of the different oxidation processes that produce nitrate in the atmosphere. Seasonal observations of the oxygen isotopic composition of nitrate in snow at Summit, Greenland, cannot be understood in terms of standard, local photochemistry. The most likely causes of the model and observation discrepancy are that the box model lacks transport of nitrate from regions outside of Summit and the influence of halogen chemistry (i.e., BrO) on nitrate. Recent measurements suggest a higher than expected presence of BrO in the boundary layer above Summit. The aim of this project is to quantify the influence of bromine chemistry on nitrate production in the spring and summer. The approach includes field and laboratory measurements as well as modeling. During spring and summer field seasons, BrO and multiple gas-phase measurements will be conducted on-site, while isotopic analyses of snow and atmospheric samples will be completed in the laboratory. The oxygen isotopic composition of nitrate in snow and glacial ice holds potential for quantitatively reconstructing paleoatmospheric oxidant concentrations, but it is important to constrain how much this tracer reflects local versus regional or hemispheric scale chemistry. Furthermore, since BrO at Summit most likely originates from a natural source, and this source is affected by changes in climate, the influence of halogen chemistry on nitrogen oxides has important implications for the interpretation of recent and deep ice core records of nitrate.