Antarctic atmospheric tracer experiments

Abstract

Although the Antarctic circulation cell is a statistical construct, its ability to transport trace gases and aerosols to the continent has been discerned experimentally by the use of deuterated methane atmospheric tracers. Atmospheric tracer experiments were conducted in 1984 to study transport from the mid‐latitudes of the southern hemisphere to Antarctica. The tracer was transported to the polar plateau within a few days following tracer releases that took place in the summer and spring. However, in winter, poleward transport of the tracer was inhibited by the winter circumpolar vortex. The tracer concentration pattern was consistent with a “lumpy, streaky” distribution produced by a numerical model of global circulation.