Vertical profiling in Fairbanks shows Atmospheric River warm-air advection degrades Arctic wintertime air quality

Vertical profiling in Fairbanks shows Atmospheric River warm-air advection degrades Arctic wintertime air quality | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Vertical profiling in Fairbanks shows Atmospheric River warm-air advection degrades Arctic wintertime air quality Tjarda Roberts, Jonas Kuhn, William Simpson, Jochen Stutz, Slimane Bekki, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6796189/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract During Arctic winter, cities like Fairbanks (interior Alaska, USA) frequently experience poor air quality because locally emitted pollutants accumulate at the surface under cold, stable conditions with low surface-level winds. While Atmospheric Rivers (ARs, corridors of warm and humid air transport) can disperse air pollution by bringing gusty winds and precipitation on land-fall, this study shows that ARs can degrade air quality in the inland Arctic. When AR warm air flows over a cold surface layer without breaking through it, the AR traps locally emitted pollutants near the ground. Shallow atmospheric profiling (<20m) in downtown Fairbanks during an AR event in December 2019 reveals sharp vertical gradients in temperature, humidity and pollutants. We observe that AR warm-air advection caused strong temperature inversions (locally 0.5-1 ̊C/m) meters above ground-level, effectively trapping surface emissions and worsening air quality. A multi-year reanalysis finds that AR-related warm air intrusions into interior Alaska are associated with historic exceedances in carbon monoxide (CO) above the legal air quality standard in Fairbanks. We show that ARs can substantially degrade wintertime air quality in inland urban Arctic environments. Tracing ARs and their influence on surface air quality may offer additional mitigation opportunities against wintertime pollution in high-latitude cities. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental chemistry/Environmental monitoring Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Atmospheric science/Atmospheric dynamics Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental chemistry/Atmospheric chemistry Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Atmospheric science/Atmospheric chemistry Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6796189","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":469761518,"identity":"ecf5c16b-c601-4881-ac8c-43d66e11a2ed","order_by":0,"name":"Tjarda Roberts","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0745-895X","institution":"CNRS / ENS","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tjarda","middleName":"","lastName":"Roberts","suffix":""},{"id":469761519,"identity":"f9158421-5135-44e9-aa8e-2677bce1406e","order_by":1,"name":"Jonas Kuhn","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jonas","middleName":"","lastName":"Kuhn","suffix":""},{"id":469761520,"identity":"5fdad58b-8313-467c-ace6-2966467afba5","order_by":2,"name":"William Simpson","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"William","middleName":"","lastName":"Simpson","suffix":""},{"id":469761521,"identity":"89da88b1-5153-453e-94c5-27bf13a75c86","order_by":3,"name":"Jochen Stutz","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jochen","middleName":"","lastName":"Stutz","suffix":""},{"id":469761522,"identity":"73e7edf6-7c61-405a-ab7a-2ba27fca7164","order_by":4,"name":"Slimane Bekki","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5538-0800","institution":"CNRS","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Slimane","middleName":"","lastName":"Bekki","suffix":""},{"id":469761523,"identity":"13a852eb-a843-473a-b6df-93385ef5a2ec","order_by":5,"name":"Kathy S. 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While Atmospheric Rivers (ARs, corridors of warm and humid air transport) can disperse air pollution by bringing gusty winds and precipitation on land-fall, this study shows that ARs can degrade air quality in the inland Arctic. When AR warm air flows over a cold surface layer without breaking through it, the AR traps locally emitted pollutants near the ground. Shallow atmospheric profiling (\u003c20m) in downtown Fairbanks during an AR event in December 2019 reveals sharp vertical gradients in temperature, humidity and pollutants. We observe that AR warm-air advection caused strong temperature inversions (locally 0.5-1 ̊C/m) meters above ground-level, effectively trapping surface emissions and worsening air quality. A multi-year reanalysis finds that AR-related warm air intrusions into interior Alaska are associated with historic exceedances in carbon monoxide (CO) above the legal air quality standard in Fairbanks. 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