Chemical composition of snow cover of the Barents and Kara Seas islands

Abstract

The paper presents the results of generalization and statistical analysis of data on the snow cover composition of Barents (West Svalbard Island, Hayes Island, Kolguev Island) and Kara (Vize Island, Golomyanny Island, Troynoy Island) seas for 2005-2019. A significant interannual variability in the snow cover chemical composition was revealed. Sea aerosols have the main effect on the mineralization of the snow cover. The content of chlorides and sodium ions in the snow cover of the islands increases from west to east. According to the results of calculating the enrichment coefficients of the snow cover, sulfates enter this territory as part of sea aerosols. Acidification cases of the thawed snow are noted on the West Spitsbergen Island. The analyses show the absence of phosphates in the snow cover of West Spitsbergen. The average content of fluorides corresponds to the level of background concentrations of this element in atmospheric precipitation in coastal sea areas. Ions of presumably terrigenous origin are noted in the snow cover of Hayes Island. Increased nitrogen forms, sulfates observed in the snow cover of the coastal islands of the Barents Sea (Kolguev Island) due to the transfer of pollution from anthropogenic sources located in the European part of Russia.

Keywords

• snow cover
• arctic islands
• barents sea
• kara sea
• svalbard
• kolguev island
• hayes island