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Since 2011, the Institute of Atmospheric Optics (IAO SB RAS, Tomsk) and the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (AARI, St. Petersburg) conduct field studies of near-ground aerosol characteristics at the Spitsbergen archipelago (Barentsburg) in the spring and summer seasons. The following parameters are measured in the atmospheric surface layer: aerosol particle number density and volume particle size distribution; mass concentrations of aerosol and absorbing matter (black carbon); coefficients of total aerosol scattering and aerosol backscattering in the visible spectral region. The experimental findings obtained in 2011– 2015 are reported. Peculiarities of the seasonal and year-to-year variability of the aerosol characteristics are revealed. The results of investigation of the chemical composition of the near-ground aerosol in Barentsburg are discussed.

The mass concentrations of the dry basis of aerosol and Black Carbon (November 2013 – December 2015) and the volume particle size distributions (2015) measured in the monitoring mode under background conditions (Fonovaya (Background) Observatory, 60 km west of Tomsk) and under urban conditions (Akademgorodok District of Tomsk) have been used to determine the average seasonal contribution of the city to the aerosol characteristics. It has been found that the annual profile of the seasonal average city contribution to the aerosol and Black Carbon (BC) contents, as well as the volume fill factor of the submicron aerosol, has a maximum in winter and a minimum in summer. In the coarse size range, the maximal excess of the volume fill factor was observed in the spring period. The observed differences between the city and the background conditions for the relative content of Black Carbon in aerosol and the absorption coefficient of the particulate matter were largest in summer and smallest in winter. Under the background conditions, the annual behavior had an untypical feature, namely, the seasonal average aerosol concentrations in summer exceeded the values obtained for the spring and autumn seasons. Analytical parameterization of the annual profile of monthly average difference of the urban and background mass concentrations of aerosol and Black Carbon in the form of parabolic dependence has been proposed.

In 2011–2014, the Institute of Atmospheric Optics (IAO SB RAS, Tomsk) and the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI, St. Petersburg) conducted field investigations of the near-ground aerosol characteristics near Barentsburg (Spitsbergen Archipelago) in the spring and summer seasons. The particle number density in the size range 0.3-20 μm, size distribution of particles, and mass concentrations of aerosol and black carbon were measured round-the-clock every hour with Grimm 1.108 and 1.109; and AZ-10 optical counters. The mass concentration of black carbon was measured by the MDA-02 aethalometer developed by the IAO SB RAS. Series of observations are obtained, annual and seasonal average values and their standard deviations are estimated, and seasonal and annual dynamics of the studied parameters is analyzed. Peculiarities of the temporal dynamics of average values of the aerosol characteristics are revealed and compared with the data of observations at other stations of the Spitsbergen Archipelago and in different regions of the Russian Arctic and Subarctic.

The paper presents the results of calculations of the spectral behavior of aerosol single scattering albedo at different heights in the troposphere using the model 1-3 taking into account scattering and absorption properties of particles. The estimates are performed for different seasons.

The main aim of the work was complex experimental measurements of microphysical, chemical, and optical parameters of aerosol particles in the surface air layer and free atmosphere. From the measurement data, the entire set of aerosol optical parameters was retrieved, required for radiation calculations. Three measurement runs were carried out in 2013 within the experiment: in spring, when the aerosol generation maximum is observed, in summer (July), when the altitude of the atmospheric boundary layer is the highest, and in the late summer – early autumn, when the second nucleation period is recorded. The following instruments were used in the experiment: diffusion aerosol spectrometers (DAS), GRIMM photoelectric counters, angle-scattering nephelometers, aethalometer, SP-9/6 sun photometer, СЕ 318 Sun-Sky radiometer (AERONET), MS-53 pyrheliometer, MS-802 pyranometer, ASP aureole photometer, SSP scanning photometer, TU-134 Optik flying laboratory, Siberian lidar station, stationary multiwave lidar complex LOZA-M, spectrophotometric complex for measuring total ozone and NO2, multivariable instrument for measuring atmospheric parameters, METEO-2 USM, 2.4 AEHP-2.4m station for satellite data receive. Results of numerical calculations of solar down-fluxes on the Earth’s surface were compared with the values measured in clear air in the summer periods in 2010—2012 in a background region of Siberian boreal zone. It was shown that the relative differences between model and experimental values of direct and total radiation do not exceed 1% and 3%, respectively, with accounting for instrumental errors and measurement error of atmospheric parameters. Thus, independent data on optical, meteorological, and microphysical atmospheric parameters allow mutual intercalibration and supplement and, hence, provide for qualitatively new data, which can explain physical nature of processes that form the vertical structure of the aerosol filed.

This paper is devoted to the analysis of variability of thermo- and hygrooptical characteristics of atmospheric aerosol particles obtained at artificial moistening and heating of aerosol sample. The tendency of decreasing the parameter of condensation activity during spring has been revealed. The relation between hygro- and thermooptical parameters are considered. The estimates of condensation activity of different aerosol fractions have been performed.