A two-fold increase of phosphorus in Alpine ice over the twentieth century: contributions from dust, primary biogenic emissions, coal burning and pig iron production.

Author(s)

Michel Legrand, Joseph R. McConnell, Gilles Bergametti, Andreas Plach, Karine Desboeufs, N. J. Chellman, Susanne Preunkert, Andreas Stohl

Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is a key nutrient for many organisms but its global atmospheric budget is largely unconstrained. Estimates of major emissions sources such as fossil-fuel combustion range from ∼0.02 to 1.1 Tg yr

⁻¹, and primary biogenic emissions range from 0.16 to 1.0 Tg yr

⁻¹. Here we used detailed measurements of phosphorus in Alpine ice cores extracted from the Col du Dôme (CDD) glacier located near the Mont Blanc summit and atmospheric model simulations to evaluate changes in western European emissions from pre-industrial (PI) to modern times. The ice-core records show that P concentrations during the PI were about 0.9 ng g

⁻¹, of which one third was of crustal origin and two thirds the result of primary biogenic emissions. Concentrations were higher throughout the 20th century, reaching 2.5 ng g

⁻¹ in the 1980s. Analysis of source tracers measured in the same ice, commodity productions statistics, and other information suggest that the increase in P throughout the 20th century was caused by enhanced emissions from natural and anthropogenic sources. Coal burning and steel industry represented the main anthropogenic sources during the first and second half of the century, respectively. After 1950, the increase in P was also caused by enhanced dust emissions, with increased biogenic emissions caused by recent changes of use-land also contributing. These findings provide important constraints on the atmospheric P budget at the scale of western Europe during the recent centuries.

Organisation(s)

Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

External organisation(s)

CNRS Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (IGE), UMR 5001, Université de Paris, Université Paris XII - Paris-Est-Créteil-Val-de-Marne, Desert Research Institute, University of Grenoble Alpes

Journal

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Volume

128

No. of pages

15

ISSN

0003-0007

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD039236

Publication date

10-2023

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

105206 Meteorology, 105208 Atmospheric chemistry

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geophysics, Space and Planetary Science, Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous), Atmospheric Science

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/f8b26d00-a353-4802-b7f0-52ae63f62ada