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Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Non-Soluble Carbon in Aerosol Particles from High Alpine Snow (Mt. Sonnblich, Austria)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Roland H Weissenbök ,
Lloyd A Currie ,
Christina Gröllert ,
Walter Kutschera ,
Julie Marolf ,
Alfred Priller ,
Hans Puxbaum ,
Werner Rom  and
Peter Steier
Roland H Weissenbök*
Affiliation:
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Lloyd A Currie
Affiliation:
Chemical Science and Technology Lab, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
Christina Gröllert
Affiliation:
Institute for Analytical Chemistry, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
Walter Kutschera
Affiliation:
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Julie Marolf
Affiliation:
Chemical Science and Technology Lab, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
Alfred Priller
Affiliation:
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Hans Puxbaum
Affiliation:
Institute for Analytical Chemistry, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
Werner Rom
Affiliation:
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Peter Steier
Affiliation:
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
*
Present affiliation: Atomic Institute of the Austrian Universities, Vienna University of Technology, Austria. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

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With an elaborate accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) technique radiocarbon measurements have been performed with aerosol carbon filtered from high alpine snow samples gathered consecutively at the high-altitude research station Sonnblick (3106 m, Eastern Alps, Austria) during a snow storm in April 1997. The concentration of the water-insoluble carbonaceous material in the molten snow was on the average 310 μg C/L and the total sample amounts for analysis were in the range of 35 μg to 60 μg C. Using a special background correction procedure tested on similar amounts of an urban particulate standard sample the accuracy of the corrected and normalized 14C/12C isotopic ratios of the snow aerosol samples was in the order of 4% to 14% of the measured ratios. The water-insoluble carbonaceous material of five samples from Mt. Sonnblick exhibited a weighted mean of 74 pMC (percent Modern Carbon) with a range of 64 pMC to 88 pMC. Thus, it appears that about 64% of non-soluble carbon in high alpine snow from Sonnblick was of biogenic origin. The temporal variations of the 14C/12C isotopic ratios of the snow aerosol samples were statistically significant, suggesting alterations in the contribution of specific aerosol sources.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , 2000 , pp. 285 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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