Abstract
Abstract. The properties of background aerosols and their dependence on meteorological, geographical and human influence are examined using measured spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD), total mass concentration (MT) and derived number size distribution (NSD) over two distinct coastal locations of Antarctica; Maitri (70° S, 12° E, 123 m m.s.l.) and Larsemann Hills (LH; 69° S, 77° E, 48 m m.s.l.) during southern hemispheric summer of 2007–2008 as a part of the 27th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (ISEA) during International Polar Year (IPY). Our investigations showed comparable values for the mean columnar AOD at 500 nm over Maitri (0.034±0.005) and LH (0.032±0.006) indicating good spatial homogeneity in the columnar aerosol properties over the coastal Antarctica. Estimation of Angstrom exponent α showed accumulation mode dominance at Maitri (α~1.2±0.3) and coarse mode dominance at LH (0.7±0.2). On the other hand, mass concentration (MT) of ambient aerosols showed relatively high values (≈8.25±2.87 μg m−3) at Maitri in comparison to LH (6.03±1.33 μg m−3).
Highlights
Antarctica is a unique continent at the extreme south, separated from the other populated continental masses, making it one of the most pristine places on the Earth (Wall, 2005)
Based on the measurements made during 20th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (ISEA) from Maitri, Gadhavi and Jayaraman (2004) reported a mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) value of 0.036 ± 0.018 at 400 nm with similar random variations observed in the present study
Spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD) and total as well as size segregated mass concentrations of ambient aerosols have been studied at two Indian stations in Antarctica, Maitri and Larsemann Hills (LH), in southern hemispheric summer, during the 27th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica
Summary
Despite the initiation of investigations of aerosols over Antarctica in the early sixties, characterization of various aerosol properties, examination of their inter-relationship and delineating the local effects still remains a hot scientific pursuit (Tomasi et al, 2007) especially due to the scarcity and difficulty of measurements. Shown in the same figure are two AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) stations namely Amsterdam Island (37◦ S, 77◦ E) and Crozet Island (46◦ S, 51◦ E), in the southern Ocean, which are the permanent stations available close to Antarctica but due north of the Antarctic vortex The data from these stations are used in this investigation which would represent both oceanic, and some times advected continental aerosols, depending on the winds.
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