matoba_etal_2002.html

Bulletin of Glaciological Research 19 (2002) 25-31
©Japanese Society of Snow and Ice

Meteorological observation and chemical compositions of precipitation during the winter and spring season in 1997/98 at Siorapaluk, northwestern Greenland.

Sumito MATOBA^1*, Tetsuhide YAMASAKI^2* and Hideaki MOTOYAMA³
1 Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, N19W8 Sapporo 060-0819 Japan
2 Avangnaq, House 2 Toki101, Koyama 1-19-11, Nerima-ku, Tokyo 176-0022 Japan
3 National Institute of Polar Research, Kaga 1-9-10, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8515 Japan

Abstract

Meteorological observations and snow samplings were carried out in Siorapaluk, northwestern Greenland from November in 1997 to May in 1998. Snow samples were melted and were analyzed for chemical compositions and oxygen stable isotope fractions. Through the observations, remarkable differences of climatic condition and chemical compositions of precipitation between winter and spring were found. In winter, precipitation amount was low, northeastern wind which blows from high elevation of ice sheet was enhanced. In spring, by contrast, precipitation amount increased, Na⁺, Cl^-, Ca²⁺, CH₃SO₃^- and NO₃^- fluxes were increased, and sporadic increases of these species occurred. These differences are assumed to result from a migration of an anticyclone from center of Greenland toward north in spring.