The long-term refrigerated storage of melted snow and/or ice samples for analyses of insoluble microparticles (hereafter, microparticles) may be limited by increases in the biological particle concentration caused by microbial growth after ~1–2 weeks. In this study, we examined an ultraviolet (UV) disinfection method for the storage of melted snow and/or ice samples and determined the effects of this method on microparticles. Surface snow obtained from Glacier No. 31 in the Suntar-Khayata Range, eastern Siberia, Russia was divided into two portions for UV treatment and untreated controls. Microparticle concentrations and size distributions (in the range of 0.52–12.0 μm) in the samples were measured using a Coulter counter. Whereas the microparticle concentration in untreated samples increased, no obvious increase was observed over 53 d in the samples subjected to UV treatment. Microbial growth was detected in only untreated samples using a viable particle counter. In addition, the original microparticle concentrations and size distributions were unaffected by UV treatment. Our results demonstrated that the microparticle size distribution in untreated melted water samples reflects the growth, decomposition and succession of microorganisms over time and further indicate that UV irradiation is effective for long-term storage for microparticle analysis.

中文翻译：

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融化的冰雪样品的紫外线杀菌照射：微生物的灭活和对不溶性微粒的影响

用于分析不溶性微粒（以下简称微粒）的融化雪和/或冰样品的长期冷藏储存可能会受到约 1-2 周后微生物生长引起的生物颗粒浓度增加的限制。在这项研究中，我们研究了一种用于储存融化的雪和/或冰样品的紫外线 (UV) 消毒方法，并确定了这种方法对微粒的影响。从俄罗斯西伯利亚东部 Suntar-Khayata 山脉的 31 号冰川获得的地表雪被分为两部分进行紫外线处理和未经处理的对照。使用 Coulter 计数器测量样品中的微粒浓度和尺寸分布（范围为 0.52–12.0 μm）。而未经处理的样品中的微粒浓度增加，经紫外线处理的样品在 53 d 内没有观察到明显的增加。使用活粒子计数器仅在未经处理的样品中检测到微生物生长。此外，原始微粒浓度和尺寸分布不受紫外线处理的影响。我们的研究结果表明，未经处理的融化水样品中的微粒尺寸分布反映了微生物随时间的生长、分解和演替，并进一步表明紫外线照射对于微粒分析的长期储存是有效的。