A Polar Climate Iteration?

• Main Authors: Hogan, A., Riley, D., Murphey, B. B., Barnard, S. C., Samson, J. A.
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER NH
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Geography; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Meteorology; *AEROSOLS; *AIR; *MASS; *POLAR REGIONS; *CLIMATE; *ITERATIONS; ATMOSPHERES; EXCHANGE; GLOBAL; ICE; MEAN; METEOROLOGICAL DATA; OCEANS; PARTICLES; PLATEAUS; REDUCTION; SEASONAL VARIATIONS; SODIUM; STATICS; SURFACES; TEMPERATURE; VARIATIONS; VELOCITY; WIND; WINTER; SYMPOSIA; ADVECTION; ANTARCTIC REGIONS; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; South Pole; Polar Plateau; South Polar Plateau; Antarc*; Ice; Ice Shelves; permafrost; South pole
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP007356; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP007356

The antarctic continental (cA) air mass is rarely displaced from the South Polar Plateau, but it is frequently modified by exchange with Antarctic maritime (mA) air advected from the ice shelves or frozen seas or with polar maritime (mP) air advected from the Southern Ocean. Because the cA air mass resides over an uninhabited and relatively static ice-covered surface, the concentration of aerosol particles in this unique air mass may reflect aerosol variation in the global atmosphere. A continuous series of surface observations began at South Pole in 1974 and have continued to the present. Although a large seasonal variation in aerosol concentration is present, little year-to-year variation in mean seasonal aerosol concentration occurred prior to 1982. During the mid-1980s, a consistent diminution of mean annual aerosol concentration was observed, and a concurrent reduction in sodium concentration in snow and firn was reported. The decrease in aerosol concentration was greatest in late winter and spring, concurrent with decreases in mean air temperature and mean wind speed. This paper describes concurrent aerosol and meteorological data collected at South Pole from 1974 through 1987 and presents several analyses attempting to verify if these changes do reflect a persistent variation in the properties of the cA air mass.