Pavla Dagsson-Waldhauserova
Outi Meinander- 1Faculty of Environmental and Forest Sciences, Agricultural University of Iceland, Borgarnes, Iceland
- 2Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czechia
- 3Atmospheric Composition Research Unit, Climate Research Programme, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Editorial on the Research Topic
Atmosphere–cryosphere interaction in the Arctic, at high latitudes and mountains with focus on transport, deposition and effects of dust, black carbon, and other aerosols, volume II
Introduction
An improved understanding of the atmosphere-cryosphere interactions impacted by aerosols has been achieved since the Research Topic Volume I summarizing the state of knowledge in 2019 (Dagsson-Waldhauserova and Meinander, 2019). The role of black carbon (BC) in snow and ice has been widely investigated, and detailed scientific assessments have been presented (IPCC, 2019; AMAP, 2021). The scientific understanding of environmentally and climatically significant dust sources located in the high latitudes, in the South and in the North, were investigated in Meinander et al. (2022). Icelandic volcanic dust is among the best-monitored high-latitude dust (HLD) sources, with the highest dust frequency up to 135 dust days annually, evidence of long-range transport over 3,500 km, and significant impacts on clouds, the cryosphere (Figure 1), radiation, land degradation, health, and safety (Dagsson-Waldhauserova et al., 2014; Arnalds et al., 2016; Boy et al., 2019; Sanchez-Marroquin et al., 2020; Crocchianti et al., 2021; Meinander et al., 2022; Baldo et al., 2023).
Figure 1. Dark volcanic desert Mýrdalssandur in Iceland and the Kötlujökull glacier covered with dust. This photo is part of the PlanetWatch by Enlaps initiative, which monitores melting glaciers around the world in real-time.
Climate and ecosystem related interactions of aeolian dust in the Arctic were recently reviewed in Meinander et al. (2025). It was found that both low- and high latitude dusts contribute to direct radiative forcing (absorption and scattering), indirect radiative forcing (clouds and cryosphere), and have impacts on atmospheric chemistry and on terrestrial, marine, fresh water, and cryospheric ecosystems. In addition, semi-direct effects of high latitude dust on meteorological parameters (e.g., atmospheric pressure, temperature profile and cloudiness) were identified to affect the radiative balance in the atmosphere. Dust deposition was summarized to supply ecosystems with macro and micronutrients, acid-neutralizing capacity, heavy metals, microbes and other biota, synthetic materials, and light-absorbing particles (Meinander et al., 2025). HLD was identified as an important climate driver in Polar Regions and dust-induced darkening of snow and ice surfaces as a notable positive feedback mechanism in the Arctic climate system, amplifying the effects of climate change (IPCC, 2019; AMAP, 2021). Dust storms, including high latitude dust, were proclaimed as a hazard that affects 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UNCCD, 2022).
In-situ aerosol measurements near local sources of particulates (dust, BC, ash from volcanic eruptions and biomass burning, pollen, etc.) in the Arctic, at high latitudes, and at high altitudes are critically needed to raise awareness of air pollution and extreme events, including dust storms, snow-dust storms, volcanic ash resuspension, and biomass burning plumes (Meinander et al., 2022). There is a lack of in-situ data to validate models and satellite products. For example, global forecast models are efficient in capturing long-range transport of dust storms and biomass burning plumes to the Arctic from the lower latitudes, but only few of them can capture the local dust and biomass burning plumes, often due to given low resolution, missing the important sources (Cvetkovic et al., 2022; Böö et al., 2023; Varga et al., 2023). Additionally, an interaction of the dust with infrared radiation in the spectral range within 15 and 100 µm is poorly understood and captured in the regional and global models although about half of thermal radiation is re-emitted by the Earth and atmosphere within this spectral range and is highly relevant for high latitudes (Di Biagio et al., 2025). Arctic haze, known as a phenomenon of impaired air quality of anthropogenic origin located far from the Arctic, consists of large quantities of super-micron aerosols dominated by mineral dust and, in turn, resulting in high ice-nucleating particle concentrations (Raif et al., 2024).
In this Research Topic, the main objective was to obtain observational- and model-based investigations on all aspects of the interactions between atmospheric processes and snow and ice, emphasizing the role of aerosols and Light Absorbing Particles (LAP) in Arctic amplification and climate change. New studies of interest provide valuable insights and evidence on the role of LAP in affecting snow albedo and melt rates, the optical properties of high-latitude dust and volcanic ash, aerosol optical depth and cloud parameters, as well as processes in the near-surface boundary layer over patchy snow.
What did we not know before this Research Topic, and what new knowledge has been gained?
The main findings of the four papers, including 27 authors, published in this Research Topic include:
New evidence is provided that Light Absorbing Particles (LAP) decrease snow albedo in shortwave spectra and change snow melt rate based on in-situ measurements including snow pits. Svensson et al. explained albedo decay at the end of the snow season to the initial amount and type of LAP deposited onto the snowpack during the winter. Snow cover season length was 3 days shorter for the LAP doped snow. Dirty snow had also higher temperatures in the subsurface snow layers than natural clean snow.
Optical properties were investigated for high latitude dust and volcanic ash to understand their albedo properties and potential climate impacts when deposited as LAP. Koivusalo et al. revealed the impacts of particle size and moisture on their optical properties. The albedo of dry volcanic dust on the visible spectrum depending on the particle size is 0.03, similar to that of Black Carbon and lower than volcanic ash. The albedo decreases with increasing particle size. Wet dust reduces its albedo by 66% compared to dry sample, showing the importance of interaction of deposited dust and snow/soil moisture. On snow or ice, dust particles act usually darker than in the atmosphere.
Centimeter-resolution atmospheric processes in the near-surface boundary layer over patchy snow were investigated by Haugeneder et al. Measurements across an idealized transition from bare ground to snow showed that the model underestimates vertical wind speed fluctuations. The growth of a stable internal boundary layer adjacent to the snow surface can be approximated by a power law. With low wind speeds, deeper stable layers develop, while strong wind speeds limit the growth. Even close to the surface, the buoyancy fluxes are heterogeneous and driven by terrain variations, which also induce the frequent decoupling of a thin layer adjacent to the snow surface. This Research Topic also includes the work of Yirga et al. providing findings on positive correlations between Aerosol Optical Depth and cloud fraction/water vapor, suggesting the aerosol interactions with clouds.
In conclusion, additional in-situ measurements and experiments are needed to better constrain the effects of LAP on snow albedo, melt rate, and other associated processes, as well to provide data to validate and improve existing models. Particle size and moisture are important parameters for their optical properties and climate impacts, among the geo-mineralogical characteristics. Generalizing point-based and aerial measurements to three dimensions is an important step towards improving the boundary layer modeling.
Author contributions
PD-W: Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing. OM: Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing.
Funding
The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. PD-W and OM were partly supported by the NordDust project by the Nordic Council of Ministers, Nordic Working Group for Climate and Air (No. NKL-2412). OM was supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland IBA-ILMA project “Climate change and Arctic ecosystems: ecological and health impacts of mineral dust” (No. 13798–23), by the Research Council of Finland Flagship of Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center ACCC (No. 359342), and by the EU Horizon CryoSCOPE-project (No. 161184736). OM acknowledges EU H2020 INTERACT-DUST project (No. 871120).
Acknowledgments
PD-W acknowledges CAMS NCP Iceland. Work of both authors contributes to the UArctic Thematic Network on High Latitude Dust.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.
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References
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Keywords: light absorbing particles, high latitude dust, arctic amplification, melting glaciers, snow properties
Citation: Dagsson-Waldhauserova P and Meinander O (2025) Editorial: Atmosphere–cryosphere interaction in the Arctic, at high latitudes and mountains with focus on transport, deposition and effects of dust, black carbon, and other aerosols, volume II. Front. Earth Sci. 13:1685394. doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1685394
Received: 13 August 2025; Accepted: 25 August 2025;
Published: 26 September 2025.
Edited and reviewed by:
Yuqing Wang, University of Hawaii at Manoa, United StatesCopyright © 2025 Dagsson-Waldhauserova and Meinander. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Pavla Dagsson-Waldhauserova, cGF2bGFAbGJoaS5pcw==