Elemental and organic carbon measurements with a two-step heating-gas chromatography system in snow samples from the Tibetan Plateau

In this study, an optimized two-step heating-gas chromatography system is used to measure elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) content in snow and ice, with the ability to quantify the elemental and organic carbon species in a snow or ice sample of 60−80 g. In this system, OC and EC are transformed into CO2 in a stream of oxygen at 340°C and 650°C, respectively. The resulting CO2 is accumulated in two molecular-sieve traps, and then put into a gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionization detector by heating the traps to 200°C in a helium stream. Background contamination (mainly caused by impurities in the oxygen stream) and accuracy are dominated by the variability of the blank loads on the pre-cleaned filters, which are 0.50 ± 0.04 (1σ) μgC for OC, and 0.38 ± 0.04 (1σ) μgC for EC. The system is suitable for snow and ice sample measurements, with the same precision as shown for the blank tests. EC and OC concentrations have been measured in snow samples collected from different glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau. The results allow quantification for the first time of the different carbonaceous particle contents on the Tibetan Plateau and other regions. The concentrations of EC and OC particles in snow show a clearly decreasing trend from east to west and from north to south on the plateau, excluding the Pamirs region. The highest mean EC content, 79.2 ngg-1, was found in the northeast region, and the lowest, 4.3 ngg-1, was found in the western Himalaya. We note that even slight surface melting results in fresh snow getting dirtier, especially in regions with higher pollution such as seen on a glacier in the Qilian Shan. Here, the EC and OC concentrations in the fresh snow average 6.6 and 87.5 ngg-1, but after 2 days of surface melting they increased to 52.6 and 195.5 ngg-1. This suggests that surface snow melting can reduce snow albedo due to the accumulation of carbonaceous particles.