Post-depositional modification of NO-3 in snow layers at EastAntarctica and at the headwater of ürumqi River

Acidic species, such as Nitrate, in polar snow and firn layers are “reversibly” deposited, and are sufficiently volatile to undergo significant postdepositional exchange between snow/firn and the atmosphere. Through comparison of the snowpit and snowpack nitrate concentrations from central East Antarctica and the headwater of ürumqi River, we conclude that the nitrate peaks in the uppermost surface snow layers in central Antarctica are not related to an atmospheric signal and must account for post-depositional effects. Such effects, however, are not found in the surface snowpack nitrate profiles from the headwater of ürumqi River. Two reasons may account for the post-depositional difference. At first, nitrate in the polar snow and firn layers appears to be hydrated ion, which can be taken up by the atmosphere, while at the headwater of ürumqi River it seems mainly as mineral ion, which assembles the behavior of aerosol-derived species that are “irreversibly” deposited and do not undergo significant post-depositional exchange with the atmosphere. Secondly, the chemical features of the snow and ice on the Antarctica are mainly determined by wet deposition, to the contrary, dry deposition is more significant at the headwater of lUrumqi River than that on the East Antarctic Plateau.     

Snow measurement techniques for land-surface-atmosphere exchange studies in boreal landscapes

Summary  Snow has been studied widely in hydrology for many decades whereas recent meteorological interest in snow is caused by increased emphasis on high latitudes and wintertime in climate-change research as well as by the need to improve weather-forecast models during these conditions. Ground-based measurements of snow properties are needed both to improve understanding of surface-atmosphere exchange processes and to provide ground truth to new remote-sensing algorithms. This justifies a review of techniques to measure snow in combination with establishment of criteria for the suitability of the methods for process studies. This review assesses the state-of-art in ground-based snow-measurement techniques in the end of the 1990s in view of their accuracy, time resolution, possibility to automate, practicality and suitability in different terrain. Methods for snow-pack water equivalent, depth, density, growth, quality, liquid-water content and water leaving the snow pack are reviewed. Synoptic snow measurements in Fennoscandian countries are widely varying and there is no single standard on which process-related studies can build. A long-term, continuous monitoring of mass and energy properties of a snow cover requires a combination of point-measurement techniques. Areally representative values of snow properties can be achieved through a combination of automatically collected point data with repeated manual, areally covering measurements, remote-sensing data and digital elevation models, preferably in a GIS framework. Received August 27, 1999     

A case study of warm air advection over a melting snow surface

When relatively warm, moist air moves over a snow surface, sensible heat and moisture are extracted from its lower layers and used to melt the snow. The depth of the cooled layer depends on horizontal wind speeds and the presence of high vertical wind shear. The mechanism for air mass modification appears to be turbulent mixing.     

Risk Assessment and Disaster Management for Natural and Anthropogenically Induced Geologic Hazards: Application to the Preolkhon Region,Western Lake Baikal,Siberia, Russia

In the Western Lake Baikal, recent Baikal Rift's tectonics control the topography, seismicity, climate, geomorphology, and economy. Scarps, facets, structural terraces, horsts and grabens, and trapezoid valleys can be clearly observed. They have been generated by the recent tectonic movements along the faults and represent a serious geologic hazard. The specific geological conditions predetermine a unique variety of landscapes. Thus, the main type of the economy is tourism. However, unorganized tourism leads to the degradation of the unique landscapes. It increases risk and requires disaster management. Three criteria has been used for risk assessment: (1) degree of geologic hazard; (2) degree of landscape degradation; and (3) degree of the economy's vitality. The high ecological significance and low stability to antropogeneous pressure are typical for landscapes of the Western Lake Baikal. Thus, some special activities of disaster management should be implemented based on our investigation.