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Central Antarctica: Atmospheric Chemical Composition and Atmospheric Transport

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Chemical Exchange Between the Atmosphere and Polar Snow

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASII,volume 43))

Abstract

Central Antarctica, by virtue of its remoteness and the lack of local anthropogenic pollution sources, can probably be considered the cleanest location on earth. It is a true pristine background environment in the most fundamental sense. Indeed, it may be the last true pristine background environment. Yet, airborne materials of anthropogenic origin are detected there, albeit at very small concentrations, thanks to long-range transport and mixing processes in the atmosphere. The Antarctic troposphere plays an important role in global climate because it links the global atmosphere and oceans with the Antarctic ice sheet and stratosphere. Tropospheric transport processes occur on fairly short time scales, of the order of days to weeks; whereas stratospheric processes (e.g., interhemispheric exchange processes) may occur on the order of years.

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  1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory, 325 Broadway Boulder, Colorado, 80303, USA

    Barry A. Bodhaine

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  1. Barry A. Bodhaine
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  1. British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, CB3 OET, Cambridge, UK

    Eric W. Wolff

  2. Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, 85721, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Roger C. Bales

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Bodhaine, B.A. (1996). Central Antarctica: Atmospheric Chemical Composition and Atmospheric Transport. In: Wolff, E.W., Bales, R.C. (eds) Chemical Exchange Between the Atmosphere and Polar Snow. NATO ASI Series, vol 43. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61171-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61171-1_7

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