Arctic Station Dirigibile Italia

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Snowpack is a key component in the Arctic regions, in constant evolution and affected by climate conditions change. The albedo of freshly fallen snow is typically very high in the visible range (up to 0.9), playing a crucial role in Earth's energy balance and affecting local temperature. Snow albedo can eventually be reduced upon aging of snow crystals due to metamorphism processes and to the increasing presence of impurities, mainly mineral dust particles (MD) and black carbon (BC), thus accelerating the melting process. Moreover, diverse reactions can occur in the snowpack driven by solar radiation, such as mercury emission, bromine oxidation to bromate and degradation of organic compounds. Hence, precisely knowing the behavior of light in the snow and its capability to penetrate the snowpack is of utmost importance for deepening the understanding of the radiative transfer process inside the snow layers and the local energy balance, a particularly important issue in a region, the Arctic, where global warming is ever accelerating. At the same time, it will also allow to better describe the snow photochemistry on a quantitative basis and the potential consequence of light induced chemistry transformationreaction on the environment.rnrnAt present, snow albedo is measured by detecting the total light reflected by the snowpack, with almost no understanding of sunlight propagation through the snow. In fact, light penetration into the snowpack is almost only modeled numerically using severe assumptions and rough approximations, without considering various snow properties, such as crystal shape and size, density, temperature, hardness, and the presence of liquid water. The lack of experimental data and dedicated studies leave a remarkable scientific gap in the snow research. The aim of SNOWLIGHT is address this issue with a tight experimental approach, exploiting an ad-hoc custom-made device, specifically designed to better elucidate the propagation of visible light in the snow layers.rnrnTo achieve this goal, a few measurement campaigns will be conducted in the surroundings of Ny Ålesund on three glaciers (Edithbreen, Brøggerbreen and Kongsvegen) at different elevations, in order to assess the effect of different morphological and stratigraphical snow conditions. Some tests will also be carried out on the sea ice close to Kongsvegen to explore the additional influence of algae beneath the surface. Field experiments will be complemented by snow pits. Data regarding both physical and morphological proprieties of the snowpack will be gathered, while a layer-by-layer stratigraphic analysis will be conducted to assess snow crystal types. Concurrently, snow samples will be collected and subjected to further comprehensive laboratory analysis to identify and characterize the presence of impurities (MD/BC), as well as to determine the chemical composition and the presence of trace metals, particularly for mercury and bromine species. All this information will constitute an important benchmark for evaluating the optical properties of the snowpack on an experimental basis.

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Experimental assessment of light propagation in the snowpack (SNOWLIGHT)