Quantifying light absorption by organic carbon in Western North American snow by serial chemical extractions

Light-absorbing particulates (LAPs) in snow, namely black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and iron oxides, can reduce snow albedo and influence regional and global climate. Partitioning light absorption by LAPs to BC and non-BC (i.e., OC and iron oxides) is important yet difficult due to both technical limitations and the complicated nature of LAPs. In this work, we applied serial chemical extractions on LAP samples acquired from snow samples in western North America to study the light absorption by different types of OC. We also estimated the light absorption due to iron oxides. Based on these chemical analyses, we then compared our estimation of the non-BC light absorption with that from an optical method. The results suggest that humic-like substances (sodium hydroxide (NaOH)-soluble), polar OCs (methanol-soluble), and iron oxides are responsible for 9%, 4%, and 14% (sample means) of the total light absorption, respectively, in our samples, though it should also be noted that there is great variance in these means. The total light absorption due to non-BC LAPs estimated by chemical methods is lower than that estimated by optical method by about 10% in all sampling regions. Reasons for this difference are explored.