The black carbon content variations in the Arctic region during 2011 - 2018

Data on black carbon (BC) concentrations obtained from the board of research vessels (R/V), "Acad. Mstislav Keldysh", "Acad. M. A. Lavrentyev" and "Prof. Molchanov" in 2011-2018. They were used to study the quantitative distribution of black carbon in the driving air layer over the seas of the Russian Arctic in the summer-autumn period and to determine its main source regions. Variations in the BC content in the near water layer of the atmosphere at the North Pole, in the Norwegian, Barents, Kara, East Siberian Seas and the Laptev Sea are obtained. As a result of 12 marine expeditions in the summer-autumn period of 2011 - 2018 the BC concentration in the atmospheric drive layer in the Arctic was mainly at the background level and averaged 47 ng/m3 (9-95 ng/m3). An increase in the BC concentration by several times, as shown by trajectory analysis, occurs occasionally upon receipt of air masses from the mainland, from areas of associated gas combustion. Low BC values were observed when air masses passed over the water surface from the northern regions of the Arctic. The BC concentration above the water surface depends on the state of the atmosphere in the region of soot sources on the mainland.