Arctic haze: meteorological aspects of long-range transport
A time series of concentrations of pollution aerosols collected over a period of four years in the near-surface air at Barrow, Alaska, was used to investigate tropospheric long-range transport of anthropogenic pollution form mid-latitudes into the Arctic. This transport takes place when the mid-latitudinal and arctic atmospheric circulations remain in a quasi-persistent mode. Sudden changes in the circulation pattern explain the episodic character of the arctic pollution aerosol. Transport of aerosols is accomplished by quasi-stationary anticyclones and takes place along their peripheries where pressure gradients are relatively strong. The seasonal variation in concentration of the arctic pollution aerosol is explained by the seasonal variation in the occurrence and position of mid-latitude blocking anticyclones, of the arctic anticyclone, and of the Asiatic anticyclone. Air masses carrying pollutants can be traced by their chemical characteristics obtained over the source regions, however, the original meteorological characteristics are lost during the transport which lasts for about 8-9 days. A second data set, collected during the Ptarmigan weather reconnaissance flights, was investigated for observations of Arctic Haze over the Alaskan Arctic. A connection between Arctic Haze and the arctic pollution aerosols is suggested, for the occurrence of Arctic Haze undergoes a similar seasonal variation as that of the pollution aerosols, and similar circulation modes leading to the Soviet Union and Europe can be found during the presence of Arctic Haze. In addition, the data seem to suggest that besides a probable pollution-derived component during winter/spring Arctic Haze might be desert dust-derived during summer.
- Research Organization:
- Alaska Univ., Fairbanks (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6918103
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOLS
AIR
AIR POLLUTION
ARCTIC REGIONS
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
COLLOIDS
DATA
DISPERSIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLUIDS
GASES
INFORMATION
LONG-RANGE TRANSPORT
MASS TRANSFER
METEOROLOGY
NUMERICAL DATA
POLAR REGIONS
POLLUTANTS
POLLUTION
SOLS
TROPOSPHERE
WEATHER