Scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) have studied the chemical composition and origin of natural and anthropogenic aerosols in the Arctic. They analyzed samples taken from eight research stations across the Arctic, from Russia to Canada, over several years. According to a press release from the PSI, the Arctic is “a crucial region” for understanding climate change because the temperature there is rising two to three times faster than the rest of the planet.
Until now, there has been little data on these aerosols. However, the PSI Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry is, as its head Imad El Haddad explains, “at the forefront of research on organic aerosols and their origin”. “If we know what kind of aerosols exist in different areas and at different times of year, and what the origin and composition of those aerosols are, we will have a better grasp of how they contribute to climate change,” said Julia Schmale, head of EPFL’s Extreme Environments Research Laboratory. The study was led by Vaios Moschos as part of his PhD thesis, supervised jointly by Schmale and El Haddad.
The scientists found that anthropogenic aerosols dominate in the winter, while most organic aerosols in the summer come from natural sources. “We didn’t expect to see so much naturally occurring organic aerosols,” said Schmale. The high percentage is due to climate change. In the winter, most inorganic aerosols come from human activity, including sulphate, sea salt and black carbon from oil and gas extraction facilities. The latter is of particular concern for its contribution to global warming. “Thanks to the data collected in this study, we were able to map black carbon concentrations and origins in each Arctic region throughout the year and recommend the most appropriate measures to take.”
