Soot in the atmosphere and snow surface of Antarctica

Abstract

Samples of snow collected near the south pole during January and February 1986 were analyzed for the presence of light‐absorbing particles by passing the melted snow through a nuclepore filter. Transmission of light through the filter showed that snow far from the station contains the equivalent of 0.1–0.3 ng of carbon per gram of snow (ng/g). Samples of ambient air were filtered and found to contain about 1–2 ng of carbon per kilogram of air, giving a scavenging ratio of about 150. The snow downwind of the station exhibited a well‐defined plume of soot due to the burning of diesel fuel, but even in the center of the plume 1 km downwind, the soot concentration was only 3 ng/g, too small to affect snow albedo significantly. Measurements of snow albedo near large inland stations are therefore probably representative of their surrounding regions.