Impact of Snowpack Metamorphism on the Fate of Nutrients
and Pollutants in the Environment
Anne-Sophie Taillandier1, Laura Alvarez-Aviles2, Florent Dominé3, William
R. Simpson4, Thomas Douglas5, Matthew Sturm6, Ken Severin7, and
Stephan Houdier8
The snowpack is an important water reservoir that contains dissolved gases and particles.
These impurities, that can be either nutrients or pollutants, can be released to the
atmosphere during metamorphism or transferred to terrestrial or marine ecosystems
during snowmelt. Understanding the fate of the chemicals contained in snow is critical to
predict atmospheric composition over snow-covered areas and the input to ecosystems.
To address this question, we are studying the physical and chemical evolution of the
snowpack in Fairbanks, Alaska, under conditions of very strong temperature gradients
that induce large fluxes of water vapor and dissolved compounds. To investigate the
possible range of the magnitude of the transformations, we are also investigating the
evolution of the same snowpack subjected to very low temperature gradients by allowing
air circulation under it. The comparison of time series of major ions, aldehydes, stable
isotopes of water, snow specific surface area, snow permeability, and of the morphology
of snow crystals in both snowpacks shows that the magnitude of the temperature gradient
is crucial in determining the physical and chemical evolution of the snowpack. We intend
to use our results to quantify the fates of the species studied as a function of metamorphic
history and to speculate on how climate change can impact these fates.
1
Graduate Student, International Arctic Research Center, 930 Koyukuk Drive, P.O. Box 757340
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7340, Phone: (907) 474 – 5430; Fax: (907) 474 – 7379; ataillandier@iarc.uaf.edu
2
Department of Chemistry and Geophysical Institute, UAF; ftla@uaf.edu
3
International Arctic Research Center, UAF; fdomine@iarc.uaf.edu
4
Department of Chemistry and Geophysical Institute, UAF; ffwrs@uaf.edu
5
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Ft Wainwright, AK;
Thomas.A.Douglas@erdc.usace.army.mil
6
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Ft Wainwright, AK;
Matthew.Sturm@erdc.usace.army.mil
7
Department of Geology and Geophysics, UAF; fnkps@uaf.edu
8
CNRS, Glaciology Laboratory, Grenoble, France; stephan@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr