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Arsenic record from a 3 m snow pit at Dome Argus, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2016

Hua Rong ,
Hou Shugui ,
Li Yuansheng ,
Pang Hongxi ,
Paul Mayewski ,
Sharon Sneed ,
An Chunlei  and
Michael Handley
Hua Rong
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory for Coast and Island Development, School of Geography and Oceanography, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Hou Shugui*
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory for Coast and Island Development, School of Geography and Oceanography, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Science, Beijing 100101, China
Li Yuansheng
Affiliation:
Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200129, China
Pang Hongxi
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory for Coast and Island Development, School of Geography and Oceanography, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Paul Mayewski
Affiliation:
Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA School of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA
Sharon Sneed
Affiliation:
Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA
An Chunlei
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory for Coast and Island Development, School of Geography and Oceanography, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200129, China
Michael Handley
Affiliation:
Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA
*
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
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Abstract

This study presents an arsenic concentration time series from 1964–2009 at Dome Argus, Antarctica. The data show a very large increase in arsenic concentration from the mid-1980s to the late-1990s (by a factor of~22) compared with the values before the mid-1980s. This increase is likely to be related to the increased copper smelting in South America. Arsenic concentration then decreased in the late-1990s, most probably as a result of environmental regulations in South America. The sudden increase in arsenic concentration observed at Dome Argus coincides with similar increases observed at Dome Fuji and in Antarctica Ice Core-6 (IC-6) at the same time, suggesting that arsenic pollution during the period from the mid-1980s to the late-1990s was a regional phenomenon in Antarctica. Investigations of arsenic concentrations at these three Antarctic locations show that, during this time, regional arsenic distribution followed dust transport pathways associated with general climate models with South America as a major source region for the half of Antarctica facing the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Keywords

Antarctic atmospheric circulationcopper productionenvironmental regulationlate 20th century pollution
Type
Physical Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , August 2016 , pp. 305 - 312
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Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2016 

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