Concentration of gaseous iodic acid measured over the Southern Ocean in the austral summer

Measurements of gaseous iodic acid concentration were collected with one-second resolution during the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition from January 22 to March 19, 2017. Data from the icebreaker Akademik Tryoshnikov are integrated into five-minute averages and reported as molecules per cubic centimeter, with a lower detection limit below 6E3 molecules cm^-3. This dataset, created by Andrea Baccarini of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, provides insights into a compound that can affect particle formation and cloud properties in a remote marine environment.

Use Cases

• Modeling new particle formation rates in polar regions based on iodic acid concentration data.
• Studying the seasonal and spatial variability of iodine compounds over the Southern Ocean.
• Investigating potential links between ship-identified pollution flags and atmospheric trace gas measurements.
• Calibrating or validating chemical ionization mass spectrometer measurements for iodic acid.

Strengths

• High temporal resolution data collected at one-second intervals, integrated to five-minute averages.
• Includes a data quality flag identifying periods potentially influenced by ship exhaust and other human activities.
• Specific lower limit of detection was estimated to be lower than 6E3 molecules cm^-3.

Limitations

• Data coverage is incomplete, with no data for the first leg of the expedition and unprocessed data for leg 4.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale statistical analysis.

Provenance

Source

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE).

Collection Method

Measurements obtained with a nitrate chemical ionization mass spectrometer (APi-TOF from Tofwerk AG) on the icebreaker Akademik Tryoshnikov.

Time Range

January 22, 2017 to March 19, 2017

Geography

Southern Ocean, along the track of the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition.