Collaborative Research: Responses of atmospheric oxidants and CO2 to dramatic changes in Arctic sea ice

北极地区具有独特的大气化学性质，对人类健康既有积极影响，也有消极影响，例如地面臭氧的消耗和汞的沉积。海水吸收大气中的二氧化碳，由于海冰覆盖量随时间变化而减缓，导致北冰洋沃茨酸化，对海洋生态系统可能产生重大影响。人们预计，大气及其化学成分将以复杂的方式对海冰变化和北极变暖作出反应，但科学界缺乏信心作出预测的能力，因为对相关过程只有基本的机械理解。O-Buoy化学网络项目由北极观测网络赠款资助，以观测大气化学品，气象学和海冰特性，从而提高我们对相关过程的理解，从而提高未来气候情景的可预测性。该项目已经部署了15个自主浮标，测量三种哨兵大气化学物种，每个大约一年？时间，分布在北冰洋，提供详细的，高时间分辨率的数据相关的了解北极大气？与海冰有关的化学物质。在这个项目中，科学团队将综合，解释，并从O-Buoy网络数据产生基本的理解。此外，还将利用GEOS-Chem建模与O-Buoy测量相结合的方法，在整个区域范围内了解北极大气与海冰之间的关系。 它将为早期职业科学家在其职业生涯的形成期提供支持。 它将支持三个博士的培训。学生和从事多个本科生。 将努力通过利用阿拉斯加大学的达特茅斯大学妇女科学计划（WISP）和阿拉斯加土著科学与工程计划（ANSEP）的资源，从STEM领域代表性不足的群体中吸引这些学生。 将通过利用现有的计划，如NSF资助的下一代天气模糊项目，美国陆军工程兵团寒冷地区研究和工程实验室为新罕布什尔州中学生举办的夏季科学夏令营，阿拉斯加大学一年一度的春季科学混合开放日，缅因州布斯贝港每周一次的咖啡馆科学：夏季讲座系列，促进公众参与尖端科学研究，以及毕格罗海洋科学实验室的广泛网络存在。 北冰洋上层大气的特点是海盐产生活性卤素氧化剂，导致地面臭氧消耗和汞沉积。 据信，这种生产受到海冰覆盖状况的调节。 该项目将回答与总体问题“北冰洋环境的变化，特别是海冰如何影响大气？“通过统计分析和建模方法。 统计方法将测试和提高过程的理解，而建模方法将被用来提高通过断裂，漂流，海冰与北冰洋的气体交换通量的量化，并预测来自海冰的活性卤素氧化剂及其前体的通量。 这些建模工作充分利用了2009-2016+年期间覆盖北冰洋地区的O型浮标的数据，与历史平均水平相比，这一时期的海冰变化很大，海冰减少。 问题1：在何种条件下，二氧化碳气-冰-海通量是北冰洋上空大气二氧化碳变化的重要原因，反过来说，远距离迁移在什么时候是重要的？问题2：北冰洋海冰、雪和垂直混合条件如何影响主要的大气氧化剂（臭氧和活性卤素）？问题3：海冰的年际变化和长期减少如何影响北极的大气污染物？

The Arctic region has unique atmospheric chemistry leading to both positive and negative human health impacts, such as the depletion of ground-level ozone and the deposition of mercury. Atmospheric carbon dioxide uptake into sea water, moderated by the time-varying amount of sea ice cover, causes acidification of Arctic Ocean waters with potentially important impacts on the marine ecosystem. One expects that the atmosphere and its chemistry will respond in a complex manner to sea ice change and Arctic warming, but the science community lacks the ability to make predictions with confidence given only basic mechanistic understanding of the relevant processes. The O-Buoy Chemical Network project was funded under an Arctic Observing Network grant to observe atmospheric chemicals, meteorology, and sea-ice properties that can improve our understanding of the relevant processes and thus improve predictability of scenarios of future climate. That project has deployed fifteen autonomous buoys measuring three sentinel atmospheric chemical species, each for roughly a year?s time, spread across the Arctic Ocean, providing detailed, high-time-resolution data relevant to understanding the Arctic atmosphere?s chemistry in relation to sea ice. In this project, the science team will synthesize, interpret, and generate fundamental understanding from the O-Buoy network data. In addition, GEOS-Chem modeling combined with the O-Buoy measurements will be used to develop a region wide understanding of the relationship between the Arctic atmosphere and sea ice.This project will contribute to STEM manpower development in a number of ways. It will provide support for an early career scientist during the formative years of his career. It will support the training of three Ph.D. students and engage multiple undergraduate students. Efforts will be made to draw these latter students from groups under-represented in the STEM fields by leveraging the resources of the Dartmouth College Women in Science Program (WISP) and the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP) at the University of Alaska. Outreach to the K - gray community will be enabled through leveraging of existing programs such as the NSF-funded Next Generation WeatherBlur Project, the US Army Corps of Engineers' Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory's summer science camp for New Hampshire middle school students, the University of Alaska's annual Spring Science Potpourri open house, the weekly Café Scientifique in Boothbay Harbor, Maine: a summer lecture series that promotes public engagement with cutting-edge scientific research, and the extensive web presence of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. The Arctic Ocean's overlying atmosphere is characterized by production of reactive halogen oxidizers from sea salts that lead to depletion of ground-level ozone and deposition of mercury. This production is believed to be modulated by the state of the sea ice cover. This project will answer three specific science questions relevant to the overarching question "How do changes in the Arctic Ocean environment, especially sea ice, affect the atmosphere?" via statistical analysis and modeling approaches. Statistical methods will test and improve process understanding while modeling approaches will be used to improve quantification of gas exchange fluxes with the Arctic Ocean through the fractured, drifting, sea ice and to predict fluxes of reactive halogen oxidizers and their precursors from sea ice. These modeling exercises make full use of the data from the O-Buoys covering the Arctic Ocean region from 2009-2016+, a period which has had a great deal of sea ice variability and reduced sea ice compared to historical averages. The three specific questions constituting the foci for this project are:Q1: Under what conditions are carbon dioxide air-ice-ocean fluxes important causes of atmospheric carbon dioxide variability over the Arctic Ocean and, conversely, when is long-range transport important?Q2: How do Arctic Ocean sea ice, snow, and vertical mixing conditions affect major atmospheric oxidants (ozone and reactive halogens)?Q3: How do interannual variability and long-term declines in sea ice affect atmospheric contaminants in the Arctic?