Acetone has been detected both in snow and ice, as well as being emitted from snow. Acetone interacting with ice both in the condensed phase as well as in the gas phase has been studied. In one set of experiments, dilute aqueous solutions were frozen at -20°C and annealed close to 0°C. Solutions were frozen both from the bottom-up and top-down. The location and abundance of acetone in the ice is inferred from attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy. In another set of experiments, the interaction of gas-phase acetone with artificial snow in a gas flow column has been studied. Acetone in a carrier gas was detected by atmospheric pressure mass spectrometry after flowing through a column of ice spheres (~10 – 500 μm in diameter). Acetone may adsorb to a solid surface and/or dissolve into a microscopic liquid layer at the surface, depending on the temperature. The contributions of both processes to gas-phase acetone interacting with ice surfaces are explored. The results of both experiments and their relevance to the development of snow-atmosphere models will be discussed.

Interactions of acetone with ice monitored with IR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry

2019 Fall National Meeting

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