Abstract
Systematic year-round observations of submicron aerosols were carried out at Syowa Station (69°00'S, 39°35'E) in 1978. On the basis of the results of these observations, it is concluded that two types of aerosols originating from different sources are present in the Antarctic croposphere. With the intrusion of maritime air, mostly in the polar night months, sea salt particles and ammonium sulfate particles contained originally in the clean maritime air are dominant. The size distribution of such aerosols is monomodal, having a single mode at around 0.03 μm in radii. On the other hand, in the sunlit months, sulfuric acid droplets are predominant and the size distribution is bimodal, having an additional mode at around 0.005 μm in radii. Those sulfuric acid particles seem to be formed photochemically within a specific layer in the mid to lower troposphere over Antarctica. Most Antarctic submicron particles are of tropospheric origin, not of stratospheric nor anthropogenic origin.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bigg, E. K., 1980, ‘Comparison of aerosol at four baseline atmospheric monitoring stations’, J. Appl. Meteor., 19, 521–533.
Bigg, E. K., J. L.Gras and C.Evans, 1984, ‘Origins of Aitken particles in remote regions of southern hemisphere’, J. Atmos. Chem., 1, 203–214.
Cadle, R. D., W. H.Fischer, E. R.Frank and J. P.LodgeJr., 1968, ‘Particles in the Antarctic atmosphere’, J. Atmos. Sci., 25, 100–103.
Cunningham, W. C. and W. H.Zoller, 1981, ‘The chemical composition of remote area aerosols’, J. Aerosol Sci., 12, 367–384.
Flyger, H., N. Z.Heidam, K.Hansen, W. J.Megaw, E. G.Walther, and A. W.Hogan, 1976, ‘The background level of the summer tropospheric aerosol, sulfur dioxide and ozone over Greenland and the North Atlantic Ocean’, J. Aerosol Sci., 7, 103–140.
Frank, E. R. and J. P.LodgeJr., 1967, ‘Morphological identification of airborne particles with the electron microscope’, J. Microscopie, 6, 449–456.
Haaf, W. and R.Jaenicke, 1980, ‘Results of improved size distribution measurements in the Aitken range of atmospheric aerosols’, J. Aerosol Sci., 11, 321–330.
Hofmann, D. J., J. M.Rosen and J. M.Kierman, 1976, ‘Stratospheric aerosol measurements IV: Global time variation of the aerosol burden and source considerations’, J. Atmos. Sci., 33, 1782–1788.
Hogan, A. W., 1979, ‘Meteorological transport of particulate material to the South Polar Plateau’, J. Appl. Meteor., 18, 741–749.
Hogan, A. W. and S.Barnard, 1978, ‘Seasonal and frontal variation in Antarctic aerosol concentrations’, J. Appl. Meteor., 17, 1458–1465.
Ito, T., 1976, ‘An automatic Pollak counter improved for routine field operation’, J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 54, 81–90.
Ito, T., 1978, ‘Development of automatic counter for aerosol concentration measurement’, Tech. Rep. Meteor. Res. Inst., 1, 35–55. (in Japanese).
Ito, T., 1980a, ‘Observation of atmospheric aerosols at Syowa Station, Antarctica’, Tenki, 27, 13–24. (in Japanese).
Ito, T., 1980b, ‘Observation of atmospheric aerosols in Antarctica’, Polar News, 15, No. 2, 16–21. (in Japanese).
Ito, T., 1980c, ‘On the size distribution of submicron aerosols in the North Pacific air’, J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 58, 81–92.
Ito, T., 1982, ‘On the size distribution of submicron aerosols in the Antarctic atmosphere’, Antarctic Rec., 76, 1–19. (in Japanese).
Ito, T., 1983, ‘Study on properties and origins of aerosol particles in the Antarctic atmosphere’, Pap. Meteor. Geophys., 34, 151–219. (in Japanese).
Ito, T. and K.Iwai, 1981, ‘On the sudden increase in the concentration of Aitken particles in the Antarctic atmosphere’ J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 59, 262–271.
Ito, T., A.Ono and K.Iwai, 1982, ‘On the origin and nature of Antarctic aerosols’, Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res. Special Issue, 24, 289–296.
Ito, T., M.Ikegami and I.Kanazawa, 1983, ‘Aitken nuclei sonde with constant expansion ratio irrespective of ambient pressure’, Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res. Special Issue, 29, 185–189.
Iwai, K., 1979, ‘Concentration of the Aitken particles observed at Syowa Station’, Antarctic Rec., 67, 172–179. (in Japanese).
Iwai, K., T.Ito and A.Ono, 1979, ‘Concentration of Aitken particles in the oceanic area between Tokyo and the Antarctic region.-a preliminary report-’, Antarctic Rec., 67, 164–171. (in Japanese).
Iwai, K. A. Ono, and T.Ito, 1981, ‘On the composition and origin of large and giant particles observed at Syowa Station, Antarctica’, Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res., Special Issue, 19, 131–140.
Junge, C. E. and R.Jaenicke, 1971, ‘New results in background aerosols studies from the Atlantic expedition of the R. V. Meteor, Spring 1969’, Aerosol Sci., 2, 305–314.
Kojima, H. and T.Sekikawa, 1974, ‘Some characteristics of background aerosols over the Pacific Ocean’, J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 52, 499–505.
Koide, T., T.Ito, N.Yano, and T.Kobayashi, 1981, ‘Chemical composition of large and giant aerosols at Syowa Station, Antarctica’, Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar. Res., Special Issue, 19, 152–159.
Maenhaut, W., W. H.Zoller, R. A.Duce, and G. L.Hoffman, 1979, ‘Concentration and size distribution of particulate trace elements in the south polar atmosphere’, J. Geophys. Res., 84, 2421–2431.
Meszaros, A. and K.Vissy, 1974, ‘Concentration, size distribution and chemical nature of atmospheric aerosol particles in remote oceanic areas’, Aerosol Sci., 5, 101–109.
Murphy, M. E. and B. A. Bodhaine, 1980, ‘The South Role automatic condensation nuclei counter; instrument details and five years of observations’, NOAA Tech. Memo., ERL ARL-82.
Ono, A., T.Ito, and K.Iwai, 1981, ‘A note on the origin and nature of the Antarctic aerosol’, Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res., Special Issue, 19, 141–151.
Parungo, F., E.Ackerman, W.Caldwell, and H. K.Weickmann, 1979, ‘Individual particle analysis of Antarctic aerosols’, Tellus, 31, 521–529.
Schwerdtfeger, W., 1970, ‘The climate of the Antarctic’, Warld Survey of Climatology, 14, 253–355.
Shaw, G. E., 1980, ‘Optical, chemical and physical properties of aerosols over the Antarctic ice sheet’, Atmos. Environ., 14, 911–921.
Twomey, S., 1968, ‘On the composition of cloud nuclei in the northeastern United States’, J. Rech. Atmos., 3, 281–285.
vanLoon, H., 1972, ‘Cloudiness and precipitation in the southern hemisphere’, Meteor. Monographs, 13, 101–111.
Voskresenskii, A. I., 1968, ‘IAdra kondensatsii v raione Mirnogo’, Sovet. Antarkticheskaia Eksped. Trudy, No. 38, 194–198.
Walter, H., 1973, ‘Coagulation and size distribution of condensation aerosols’, Aerosol Sci., 4, 1–15.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ito, T. Study of background aerosols in the Antarctic troposphere. J Atmos Chem 3, 69–91 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00049369
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00049369