Long-term study on the physical characteristics of polar aerosols at the King Sejong station, Antarctic Peninsula

Abstract

The Antarctic region is highly sensitive to climate changes due to complex interconnected environmental systems (e.g. snow cover, land ice, sea-ice, and ocean circulation). Previous studies show that the Antarctic Continent and the Antarctic Peninsula have experienced noticeable climate changes. The Antarctic Peninsula, in particular, has a warming rate of more than 5 times that of the other regions on earth. The Antarctic climate system can be linked with aerosol particles by complex feedback processes that involve aerosol-cloud interactions. Although various studies have been performed to understand properties of aerosol particles, the measurements taken at the Antarctic Peninsula and the long-term observations of aerosol particles are still insufficient. In this study, we continuously monitored the physical characteristics of aerosol particles at the Korean Antarctic station (King Sejong Station) in the Antarctic Peninsula from March 2009. The main aim of this study is to determine the seasonal variations of the physical properties of aerosol particles in the Antarctic Peninsula.