Photochemistry of Organic Pollutants in/on Snow and Ice

Abstract

Organic pollutant cycling and fate is impacted by the presence of snow and ice, which can serve as a repository for deposited species and also as a chemical reaction medium. Photochemistry (light-induced chemistry) occurring in/on snow and ice at Earth’s surface is now known to play an important role in a variety of environmentally relevant processes including the production and release of atmospherically relevant species such as halogens, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. Less is known about the role of snow and ice photochemistry in organic pollutant fate, but increasing recent evidence points to the potential importance of photochemical alteration of organic pollutants in sunlit snowpacks. This chapter describes recent work during and since International Polar Year (2007) aimed at investigating the potential importance of photochemistry to organic pollutant processing in snow and ice.