Condensed Matter Researches in Cryospheric Science Edited by Augusto Marcelli, Valter Maggi and Cunde Xiao Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Condensed Matter www.mdpi.com/journal/condensedmatter Condensed Matter Researches in Cryospheric Science Condensed Matter Researches in Cryospheric Science Special Issue Editors Augusto Marcelli Valter Maggi Cunde Xiao MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade Special Issue Editors Augusto Marcelli Valter Maggi Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare University of Milano Bicocca Italy Italy Cunde Xiao Beijing Normal University China Editorial Office MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Condensed Matter (ISSN 2410-3896) from 2018 to 2019 (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ condensedmatter/special issues/cryospheric science). For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below: LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. Journal Name Year, Article Number, Page Range. ISBN 978-3-03921-323-8 (Pbk) ISBN 978-3-03921-324-5 (PDF) Cover image: Dosegu’ glacier from Passo Gavia, Valtellina (Italy). Courtesy by Stefano Pignotti. c 2019 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. Contents About the Special Issue Editors ..................................... vii Preface to ”Condensed Matter Researches in Cryospheric Science” ................ ix Valter Maggi, Cunde Xiao and Augusto Marcelli Condensed Matter Researches in Cryospheric Science Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2019, 4, 68, doi:10.3390/condmat4030068 ............ 1 Minghu Ding, Shujie Wang and Weijun Sun Decadal Climate Change in Ny-Alesund,˚ Svalbard, A Representative Area of the Arctic Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2019, 4, 12, doi:10.3390/condmat4010012 ............ 6 Giannantonio Cibin, Augusto Marcelli, Valter Maggi, Giovanni Baccolo, Dariush Hampai, Philip E. Robbins, Andrea Liedl, Claudia Polese, Alessandro D’Elia, Salvatore Macis, Antonio Grilli and Agostino Raco Synchrotron Radiation Research and Analysis of the Particulate Matter in Deep Ice Cores: An Overview of the Technical Challenges Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2019, 4, 61, doi:10.3390/condmat4030061 ............ 17 Wei Xu, Zhiheng Du, Shiwei Liu, Yingcai Zhu, Cunde Xiao and Augusto Marcelli Perspectives of XRF and XANES Applications in Cryospheric Sciences Using Chinese SR Facilities Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2018, 3, 29, doi:10.3390/condmat3040029 ............ 28 Giorgio Cappuccio, Giannantonio Cibin, Sultan B. Dabagov, Alfredo Di Filippo, Gianluca Piovesan, Dariush Hampai, Valter Maggi, Augusto Marcelli Challenging X-ray Fluorescence Applications for Environmental Studies at XLab Frascati Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2018, 3, 33, doi:10.3390/condmat3040033 ............ 43 Salvatore Macis, Giannantonio Cibin, Valter Maggi, Giovanni Baccolo, Dariush Hampai, Barbara Delmonte, Alessandro D’Elia and Augusto Marcelli Microdrop Deposition Technique: Preparation and Characterization of Diluted Suspended Particulate Samples Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2018, 3, 21, doi:10.3390/condmat3030021 ............ 53 Shiwei Liu, Cunde Xiao, Zhiheng Du, Augusto Marcelli, Giannantonio Cibin, Giovanni Baccolo, Yingcai Zhu, Alessandro Puri, Valter Maggi and Wei Xu Iron Speciation in Insoluble Dust from High-Latitude Snow: An X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Study Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2018, 3, 47, doi:10.3390/condmat3040047 ............ 62 Valter Maggi, Giovanni Baccolo, Giannantonio Cibin, Barbara Delmonte, Dariush Hampai and Augusto Marcelli XANES Iron Geochemistry in the Mineral Dust of the Talos Dome Ice Core (Antarctica) and the Southern Hemisphere Potential Source Areas Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2018, 3, 45, doi:10.3390/condmat3040045 ............ 74 Giovanni Baccolo, Giannantonio Cibin, Barbara Delmonte, Dariush Hampai, Augusto Marcelli, Elena Di Stefano, Salvatore Macis and Valter Maggi The Contribution of Synchrotron Light for the Characterization of Atmospheric Mineral Dust in Deep Ice Cores: Preliminary Results from the Talos Dome Ice Core (East Antarctica) Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2018, 3, 25, doi:10.3390/condmat3030025 ............ 89 v Antonio Speranza, Rosa Caggiano, Giulia Pavese and Vito Summa The Study of Characteristic Environmental Sites Affected by Diverse Sources of Mineral Matter Using Compositional Data Analysis Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2018, 3, 16, doi:10.3390/condmat3020016 ............101 Alessandro Puri, Giovanni Orazio Lepore and Francesco d’Acapito The New Beamline LISA at ESRF: Performances and Perspectives for Earth and Environmental Sciences Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2019, 4, 12, doi:10.3390/condmat4010012 ............113 Francesca Pittino, Roberto Ambrosini, Roberto S. Azzoni, Guglielmina A. Diolaiuti, Sara Villa, Isabella Gandolfi and Andrea Franzetti Post-Depositional Biodegradation Processes of Pollutants on Glacier Surfaces Reprinted from: Condensed Matter 2018, 3, 24, doi:10.3390/condmat3030024 ............120 vi About the Special Issue Editors Valter Maggi, Prof. and Ph.D. Dr. Maggi’s main fields of research are related to the characterization of atmospheric dust, mainly in Antarctica, Greenland, and Alpine areas, for long-term paleoclimatic influences of mineral phases on the atmosphere. He has participated in the main European ice core drilling projects for the reconstruction of past climatic changes and the environmental changes in Antarctica, Greenland, and the European Alps area. In 2008, he was a winner of the EU Descartes Prize, along with other 10 European colleagues, for collaborative research. Cunde Xiao, Dr. and Prof. Dr. Xiao’s major research focus has been ice core studies relating to the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment, and present-day cold-region meteorological and glaciological processes that impact environmental and climatic changes, cryospheric services, and values that link the cryosphere with the socioeconomy. Augusto Marcelli, Dr. and Prof. Since 1984, Dr. Marcelli has been involved in synchrotron radiation research, and his main research areas include correlation phenomena in X-ray absorption spectroscopy, circular magnetic X-ray dichroism investigations, X-ray absorption in elements of geophysical interest, dust and aerosol characterization, and ultratrace detection for indoor and outdoor environmental research. Since 2001, he has collaborated with the Institute of High Energy Physics in Beijing and has been Visiting Professor at the University of Science and Technology at Hefei. In 2018, he was appointed as a scientific expert on bilateral policies and activities for the internationalization of scientific and technological research of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. vii Preface to ”Condensed Matter Researches in Cryospheric Science” The aim of this thematic Special Issue, which collects a variety of papers published during the year 2018, is to display recent results obtained on the most widespread solid material occurring on the surface of the Earth—ice. Unfortunately, this material is dramatically decreasing in quantity and extent across the globe. The Antarctic icecap, which for millions of years was the largest solid mass of ice in the world and had recently expanded by binding some marginal, loose sea-supported ice masses, is not only decreasing in thickness, but is also splitting away all around its rim, liberating pollutants of various kinds into the Circum-Antarctic stream. The Arctic ice shelf, which since at least the end of the last glaciation has floated over the North Pole while the huge and complex kilometer-thick ice cover over Greenland was being formed, is melting away and getting thinner and thinner, to the point of letting commercial ships, which are no longer icebreakers, cross from the Barents Sea to the Bering Sea, while icebergs slide down from Greenland’s frozen valleys into the upper Atlantic Ocean and gradually become submerged. The third significant ice cap, the Patagonian one, is getting considerably smaller while releasing fresh waters into the Argentinian lakes and into the Chilean rivers flowing into Pacific Ocean fjords, thus adding pollutants of undisputed terrestrial origin to the sea stream that borders the entire South America continent and discharging them in the tropical zone. The worst condition is that of the mountain glaciers scattered throughout the continents: they are not only decreasing in size so dramatically as to disappear altogether, but with their water discharge, they change the landscape and local environment of densely inhabited areas such as the Alps, the Caucasus, the Himalaya, the Andes, and even the Kilimanjaro, thus forcing people into mass migration. Even when local people’s reactions to such environmental change are disregarded as a local problem, there is a hidden, major risk to be taken into consideration: intense ice melting on the major mountain barriers all over the word changes the orientation of the trade winds, and this modifies the regular sequence of rains, as has already happened