A comprehensive characterisation of natural aerosol source samples from expedition ARTofMELT, Arctic Ocean, 2023

Julia Kojoj, Gabriel Pereira Freitas, Camille Mavis, Jessie Creamean, Fredrik Mattsson, Lovisa Nilsson, Jennie Spicker Schmidt, Kouji Adachi, Tina Santl-Temkiv, Erik Ahlberg, Claudia Mohr, Ilona Riipinen, Paul Zieger

Data from natural aerosol source characterization experiments carried out during the expedition ARTofMELT (Atmospheric Rivers and the Onset of Arctic Melt) onboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden in the Fram Strait pack ice during the spring transition, 8 May to 14 June of 2023.

65 total samples of snow, ice, lead water and the sea surface microlayer (SML) were collected, melted, atomized, and the resulting aerosol analysed for their microphysical, chemical, and fluorescent properties immediately after collection. The ice nucleating properties and biological cell quantification of the liquid samples was performed after the expedition.

This data can be used for characterization and source apportionment of natural Arctic aerosol.

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Citation

Julia Kojoj, Gabriel Pereira Freitas, Camille Mavis, Jessie Creamean, Fredrik Mattsson, Lovisa Nilsson, Jennie Spicker Schmidt, Kouji Adachi, Tina Santl-Temkiv, Erik Ahlberg, Claudia Mohr, Ilona Riipinen, Paul Zieger (2025) A comprehensive characterisation of natural aerosol source samples from expedition ARTofMELT, Arctic Ocean, 2023. Dataset version 1. Bolin Centre Database. https://doi.org/10.17043/oden-artofmelt-2023-aerosol-source-samples-1

References

Freitas GP, Kojoj J, Mavis C, Creamean J, Mattsson F, Nilsson L, Schmidt JS, Adachi K, Šantl-Temkiv T, Ahlberg E, Mohr C, Riipinen I, Zieger P (2024) A comprehensive characterisation of natural aerosol sources in the high Arctic during the onset of sea ice melt. Faraday Discussions. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4fd00162a

Data description

The data are provided in two csv files with semicolon as value separator:

• AoM_aerosol_source_experiments.csv
• AoM_aerosol_source_experiments_SizeDistribution.csv

Most of the data is provided in AoM_aerosol_source_experiments.csv, with one row for each sample. It contains the following columns:

• experiment_id The unique, internally used id for each sample, e.g "SML01" for the first SML sample that was tested.
• source_type Whether the sample was SML, snow, ice (drilled sea ice core) or lead water.
• source_part For ice core samples, whether it was the top, middle, or bottom part of a core, for snow samples whether it was the top layer or closest to the ice, and for lead water samples whether it was sampled from the surface, or from 5 meter depth, or from the "slush" like ice-water combination at the lead edge, labeled "slush". SML samples are just labeled sml in this column.
• sampling_date The day the sample was collected in the field.
• measurement_date The day the sample was atomized and the resulting aerosol analyzed.
• starttime Timestamp when atomizer was turned on.
• endtime Timestamp when atomizer was turned off.
• atomizer_pressure_(mbar) The pressure at which the atomizer was set for the majority of the sample run (mbar).
• organic_mean_fraction The average total mass fraction of organics as measured by the soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SP-AMS) during the sample run.
• NO3_mean_fraction Fraction of nitrate.
• SO4_mean_fraction Fraction of sulphate.
• NH4_mean_fraction Fraction of ammonium.
• chloride_mean_fraction Fraction of chloride.
• total_mean_mass_conc_(ug/m3) The mean total mass concentration during the sample run (μg m⁻³).
• total_mean_particle_conc_(/cm3) The mean submicron particle concentration observed during the sample run (cm⁻³).
• rBC_mean_mass_conc_(ug/m3) The mean mass concentration of refractory black carbon, measured with a single particle soot photometer (SP2) (μg m⁻³).
• `rBC_median_massconc(ug/m3) The median mass concentration of refractory black carbon, measured with the SP2 (μg m⁻³).
• rBC_25thquantile_mass_conc_(ug/m3) The 25th percentile mass concentration of refractory black carbon, measured with the SP2 (μg m⁻³).
• rBC_75thquantile_mass_conc_(ug/m3) The 75th percentile mass concentration of refractory black carbon, measured with the SP2 (μg m⁻³).
• cell_counts_16s The number of bacterial 16S rRNA gene copies found in the liquid sample (not aerosolized), using DNA extraction and quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
• cell_counts_18s The number of eukaryotic 18S rRNA gene copies found in the liquid sample (not aerosolized), using DNA extraction and quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
• pbap_fraction_of_coarse_particles The fraction of the total generated aerosol particles above 0.8 um in diameter that were classified as fluorescent primary biological aerosol particles (fPBAP) during the sample run.
• pbap_size_(um) The average diameter of observed fPBAP (μm).
• ohfp_size_(um) The average diameter of observed other highly fluorescent particles, i.e highly fluorescent non-fPBAPs (μm).
• coarse_size_(um) The average diameter of generated aerosol particles above 0.8 μm.
• pbap_peak The average peak-to-mean ratio of fPBAP during the sample run. Higher values indicate elongated particles. Obtained with the MBS.
• pbap_asym The mean asymmetry factor of generated fPBAP from the sample run, obtained from the MBS. Higher values indicate more rough or irregular particle surfaces.
• pbap_typeI The fraction of generated fPBAP whose spectrum was classified as type I. This column is followed by for similarly named columns corresponding to the fraction of fPBAP of type II, III, IV and V. See Freitas et al. (2024) for more details on the fPBAP spectrum types.
• pbap_sum The total number of fPBAP generated during the sample run.
• ohfp_fraction_of_coarse_particles The fraction of the total generated aerosol particles above 0.8 μm in diameter that were classified as other highly fluorescent particles, i.e highly fluorescent non-fPBAPs, during the sample run.
• conductivity_(mS) The conductivy measured in the liquid sample (milli Siemens, mS).
• conductivity_temperature_(C) The temperature of the liquid sample at which the conductivity was measured (°C).
• dilution Dilution factor of the liquid sample.
• salinity_(g/kg) Salinity of the liquid sample, calculated from the conductivity using the 1978 defined dimensionless practical-salinity-scale (g kg⁻¹).
• chlorophyll-a_(ug/L) Chlorophyll-a concentration in the liquid sample (μg L⁻¹).
• inp_at_-10_(/mL) Number of ice nucleating particles in the liquid sample freezing at −10 degrees celsius (mL⁻¹).
• The last column listed above is followed by 6 analogously labeled columns corresponding to the number of INP observed at other freezing temperatures: -12.5, −15, −17.5, −20, −22.5, and −25 degrees celsius.

The aerosol particle number size distributions for each sample is given in AoM_aerosol_source_experiments_SizeDistribution.csv.

The latter file contains the column experiment_id with the same values as the main file, followed by 66 columns where the name is the center bin diameter given in nm, and the values are the average dN/dlogD for the given bin.

The total size distribution is a combination of data from a scanning electrical mobility spectrometer (SEMS) and the multiparameter bioaerosol spectrometer (MBS).

Details on all instrumentation used can be found in Freitas et al. (2024).

Comments

The expedition

Data were collected during the ARTofMELT 2023 expedition on board the Swedish icebreaker Oden, which was organized by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat from 8 May through 14 June, 2023.

Funding

The expedition was organised under the SWEDARCTIC program. Support also came from the Swedish Council for Research Infrastructures (Grant 2021-00153) and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (Grant 2016-0024).

This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101003826 via project CRiceS (Climate Relevant interactions and feedbacks: the key role of sea ice and Snow in the polar and global climate system) and the European Research Council (Consolidator grant INTEGRATE No. 865799).

Funding for was also provided by the European Union's Horizon Europe project CleanCloud (Grant agreement No. 101137639). Further funding was provided by the Carl Tryggers Foundation (CTS 22:2148), Ymer-80- foundation, the Bolin Centre for Climate Research (RA2) and the Ivar Bendixsons scholarship.

INP data acquisition was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation Arctic Natural Sciences (ANS) program (grant number OPP-2226864). This research was co-funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF19OC0056963) and the Villum Foundation (23175 and 37435).

The black carbon analysis was made possible by funding by the Swedish Research Council, project-ID 2019-05062_VR and by MERGE Short Research Project ARTofMELT Arctic Ocean icebreaker expedition 2023.