The Effect of Strong Acids on the Ice - Air Interface Studied by X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

Chemical processes on ice in snow and cirrus clouds are important for atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemical cycling of trace constituents and archiving of trace species in ice. It has been suspected since long that trace contaminants affect the thickness of the quasi-liquid layer at the ice air interface, which is at the heart of the interactions between snowpacks or cirrus clouds and the surrounding air.