Abstract: This paper summarizes the objectives and setting of the OPALE (Oxidant Production over Antarctic Land and its Export) project during summer 2010/2011 at Dumont d'Urville. The primary goal of the campaign is to characterize the oxidizing environment of the atmospheric boundary layer along the coast of East Antarctica. A summary of the relevant field chemical measurements is presented including the carbon monoxide and ammonia records that are used here to identify local influences due to station activities and penguin emissions. An overview of the basic meteorological conditions experienced by the site is presented including the results from the trajectory/dispersion model FLEXPART to highlight which types of air mass were sampled (marine boundary layer versus continental Antarctic air). The results of the FLEXPART analysis demonstrate that high ozone levels and related changes in the OH concentrations are associated with the transport of continental air to DDU. Finally, three companion papers are introduced. A first paper is dedicated to the impact of local penguin emissions on the atmospheric budget of several oxygenated volatile organic compounds. The second paper reports on HONO levels that were measured for the first time in Antarctica by using the long path absorption photometer (LOPAP) technique. Finally, in a third paper, major findings on the HOx levels are detailed, leading to the overall conclusion that the photochemistry at coastal East Antarctica is strongly driven by an efficient HOx chemistry compared to the situation at other coastal Antarctic regions.

Abstract: The chemical composition of the seasonal snowpack was determined close to Barrow, an Arctic coastal location in northern Alaska. One hundred and twelve samples of different snow types including fresh snow, surface hoar, diamond dust, blowing snow, rounded snow grains, and depth hoar were collected and analyzed for major sea salt components, bromide, and nitrate. Sodium, chloride, sulfate, and potassium are mainly introduced into the snowpack by the deposition of sea salt, while magnesium and calcium result from a combination of sea salt and dust. Sulfate was strongly depleted in most samples compared to other sea salt components. This is attributed to the precipitation of mirabilite in newly formed sea ice and frost flowers that leads to an efficient fractionation of sulfate. Uptake of volatile but soluble species from the gas phase also contributed to the observed chloride, sulfate, and nitrate in the snow. However, for chloride and sulfate the input from the marine sources was overwhelming and the uptake from the gas phase was only visible in the samples with low concentrations like fresh snow, diamond dust, and surface hoar. Nitrate concentrations in the snowpack were less variable and for aged snow nitrate was related to the specific surface area of the snow indicating the adsorption of nitric acid can be an important nitrate source in the aged snow. Bromide was also introduced into the snowpack from marine sources, but due to its high reactivity it was partly transferred back to the atmosphere in the form of reactive species. The result of these processes was evident in bromide concentrations, which were both enriched and depleted at the snowpack surface while deeper layers were mostly depleted. Blowing snow also exhibited a depleted bromide composition. For all compounds except nitrate, many depth hoar samples exhibited the greatest concentrations, probably as a result of higher input earlier in the season as well as increases due to the sublimation of water during the metamorphism of the snow.

Abstract: A new empirical method for the derivation of average HO radical concentrations is presented. The method is based on estimation of CO lifetime through the relative variability of CO and Rn measurements, and hydrocarbon measurements are used to independently determine the relative effects of chemistry and dynamics. Data from Amsterdam Island (37°S, 77°E), a remote site in the southern Indian Ocean, are used to calculate annual and daily HO levels for 1997 and 1998. A seasonal variation in calculated daily HO, consistent with seasonally changing photolysis rates, with maxima in summer and minima in winter is also derived which is comparable but slightly lower than the most recent zonal mean HO estimates of Spivakovsky et al. [2000]. The calculated annual HO shows a decrease from 2.7 × 105 molecule cm?3 in 1997 to 0.8 × 105 molecule cm?3 in 1998, possibly as a result of El Niño related meteorological changes. The empirically calculated HO correlates with temperature and relative humidity measured at the island but anticorrelates strongly with CO and to a lesser extent with O3. The limitations and improvements to this method are discussed. The method has potential for long-term monitoring of HO changes over areas upwind from remote sites.