Snow heterogeneous reactivity of bromide with ozone lost during snow metamorphism

Abstract

Earth's snow cover is very dynamic on diurnal timescales. The changes to the snow structure during this metamorphism have wide-ranging impacts on processes such as avalanche formation and on the capacity of surface snow to exchange trace gases with the atmosphere. Here, we investigate the influence of dry metamorphism, which involves fluxes of water vapour, on the chemical reactivity of bromide in the snow. To this end, the heterogeneous reactive loss of ozone in the dark at a concentration of 5×1012–6×1012 molec. cm−3 is investigated in artificial, shock-frozen snow samples doped with 6.2 µM sodium bromide and with varying metamorphism history. The oxidation of bromide in snow is one reaction initiating polar bromine releases and ozone depletion. We find that the heterogeneous reactivity of bromide is completely absent from the air–ice interface in snow after 12 d of temperature gradient metamorphism, and we suggest that the burial of non-volatile bromide salts occurs when the snow matrix is restructuring during metamorphism. Impacts on polar atmospheric chemistry are discussed.