Atmospheric observation room for clean air at Syowa Station, East Antarctica

Abstract

An observatory (19m^2 inside area) was built for monitoring clean air constituents, such as aerosol particles and ozone, near the core block of Syowa Station. The observatory is located about 300m windward of the main buildings of Syowa Station to reduce atmospheric contamination from an electric power plant and other station activities. Continuous observations of aerosols and surface ozone started on February 10, 2004. The observatory uses electric heaters and outside cool air to control room temperature at about 20°C ±3°C to avoid self contamination by heating fuel combustion. The observatory has a 6-m height tower for an air inlet system that connects to an aerosol sub-sampling line under constant laminar air flow condition. Comparison of aerosol data between the Kansokutou (Atmospheric Observatory in the main station area) and this new observatory from February 2004 to January 2005 suggests that the effectiveness for monitoring clean air was improved about 10%.