Meteorological transport of particulate material to the South Polar Plateau.

Abstract

A series of aerosol measruements were made over the Antarctic Continent, during the austral spring of 1977. Vertical profiles indicate that the highest aerosol concentrations are present in the mixing layer, around the edges of the continent where some open water is present, and in a moist layer just above the surface over the South Polar Plateau. Aerosol concentrations, with repsect to both mass and volume of air, decrease continuously with increasing altitude above these layers, and this smooth decrease continues without discontinuity when the local tropopause is crossed. These measurements indicate that the lower tropopause, especially those layers below 450 mb, is the most probable level at which particulate material is transported to the South Polar Plateau. - from Author