Sulfur isotopes quantify the impact of anthropogenic activities on industrial-era Arctic sulfate in a Greenland ice core
Anthropogenic sulfate aerosols are estimated to have offset 60% of greenhouse-gas-induced warming in the Arctic, a region warming four times faster than the rest of the world. However, sulfate radiative forcing estimates remain uncertain because the relative contributions from anthropogenic versus n...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acdc3d |
| _version_ | 1827869770553229312 |
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| author | Ursula A Jongebloed Andrew J Schauer Shohei Hattori Jihong Cole-Dai Carleigh G Larrick Sara Salimi Shana R Edouard Lei Geng Becky Alexander |
| author_facet | Ursula A Jongebloed Andrew J Schauer Shohei Hattori Jihong Cole-Dai Carleigh G Larrick Sara Salimi Shana R Edouard Lei Geng Becky Alexander |
| author_sort | Ursula A Jongebloed |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Anthropogenic sulfate aerosols are estimated to have offset 60% of greenhouse-gas-induced warming in the Arctic, a region warming four times faster than the rest of the world. However, sulfate radiative forcing estimates remain uncertain because the relative contributions from anthropogenic versus natural sources to total sulfate aerosols are unknown. Here we measure sulfur isotopes of sulfate in a Summit, Greenland ice core from 1850 to 2006 CE to quantify the contribution of anthropogenic sulfur emissions to ice core sulfate. We use a Keeling plot to determine the anthropogenic sulfur isotopic signature (δ ^34 S _anthro = +2.9 ± 0.3 ‰), and compare this result to a compilation of sulfur isotope measurements of oil and coal. Using δ ^34 S _anthro , we quantify anthropogenic sulfate concentration separated from natural sulfate. Anthropogenic sulfate concentration increases to 67 ± 7% of non-sea-salt sulfate (65.1 ± 20.2 µ g kg ^−1 ) during peak anthropogenic emissions from 1960 to 1990 and decreases to 45 ± 11% of non-sea-salt sulfate (25.4 ± 12.8 µ g kg ^−1 ) from 1996 to 2006. These observations provide the first long-term record of anthropogenic sulfate distinguished from natural sources (e.g. volcanoes, dimethyl sulfide), and can be used to evaluate model characterization of anthropogenic sulfate aerosol fraction and radiative forcing over the industrial era. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:48:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5e30d8e9a3b948a1b591c3f448d3fee9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:48:51Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-5e30d8e9a3b948a1b591c3f448d3fee92023-08-09T15:17:36ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262023-01-0118707402010.1088/1748-9326/acdc3dSulfur isotopes quantify the impact of anthropogenic activities on industrial-era Arctic sulfate in a Greenland ice coreUrsula A Jongebloed0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9482-4857Andrew J Schauer1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5941-5396Shohei Hattori2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4438-5462Jihong Cole-Dai3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0921-5916Carleigh G Larrick4Sara Salimi5Shana R Edouard6Lei Geng7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2175-2538Becky Alexander8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9915-4621Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington , Seattle, Washington DC, United States of AmericaDepartment of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington , Seattle, Washington DC, United States of AmericaInternational Center for Isotope Effects Research, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, South Dakota State University , Brookings, SD, United States of AmericaDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, South Dakota State University , Brookings, SD, United States of AmericaDepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington , Seattle, Washington DC, United States of AmericaDepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington , Seattle, Washington DC, United States of AmericaSchool of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington , Seattle, Washington DC, United States of AmericaAnthropogenic sulfate aerosols are estimated to have offset 60% of greenhouse-gas-induced warming in the Arctic, a region warming four times faster than the rest of the world. However, sulfate radiative forcing estimates remain uncertain because the relative contributions from anthropogenic versus natural sources to total sulfate aerosols are unknown. Here we measure sulfur isotopes of sulfate in a Summit, Greenland ice core from 1850 to 2006 CE to quantify the contribution of anthropogenic sulfur emissions to ice core sulfate. We use a Keeling plot to determine the anthropogenic sulfur isotopic signature (δ ^34 S _anthro = +2.9 ± 0.3 ‰), and compare this result to a compilation of sulfur isotope measurements of oil and coal. Using δ ^34 S _anthro , we quantify anthropogenic sulfate concentration separated from natural sulfate. Anthropogenic sulfate concentration increases to 67 ± 7% of non-sea-salt sulfate (65.1 ± 20.2 µ g kg ^−1 ) during peak anthropogenic emissions from 1960 to 1990 and decreases to 45 ± 11% of non-sea-salt sulfate (25.4 ± 12.8 µ g kg ^−1 ) from 1996 to 2006. These observations provide the first long-term record of anthropogenic sulfate distinguished from natural sources (e.g. volcanoes, dimethyl sulfide), and can be used to evaluate model characterization of anthropogenic sulfate aerosol fraction and radiative forcing over the industrial era.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acdc3dArcticpollutionclimateice coresulfateaerosol |
| spellingShingle | Ursula A Jongebloed Andrew J Schauer Shohei Hattori Jihong Cole-Dai Carleigh G Larrick Sara Salimi Shana R Edouard Lei Geng Becky Alexander Sulfur isotopes quantify the impact of anthropogenic activities on industrial-era Arctic sulfate in a Greenland ice core Environmental Research Letters Arctic pollution climate ice core sulfate aerosol |
| title | Sulfur isotopes quantify the impact of anthropogenic activities on industrial-era Arctic sulfate in a Greenland ice core |
| title_full | Sulfur isotopes quantify the impact of anthropogenic activities on industrial-era Arctic sulfate in a Greenland ice core |
| title_fullStr | Sulfur isotopes quantify the impact of anthropogenic activities on industrial-era Arctic sulfate in a Greenland ice core |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sulfur isotopes quantify the impact of anthropogenic activities on industrial-era Arctic sulfate in a Greenland ice core |
| title_short | Sulfur isotopes quantify the impact of anthropogenic activities on industrial-era Arctic sulfate in a Greenland ice core |
| title_sort | sulfur isotopes quantify the impact of anthropogenic activities on industrial era arctic sulfate in a greenland ice core |
| topic | Arctic pollution climate ice core sulfate aerosol |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acdc3d |
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