title: Evidence of global-scale As, Mo, Sb, and Tl atmospheric pollution in the antarctic snow.
abstract: We report the first comprehensive and reliable time series for As, Mo, Sb, and Tl in the snowpack from Dome Fuji in the central East Antarctic Plateau. Our results show significant enrichment of these elements due to either anthropogenic activities or large volcanic eruptions during the past 50 years. With respect to the values reported from 1960 to 1964, we observed the maximum increases in crustal enrichment factors (EFs) for As (a factor of ~15), Mo (~4), Sb (~4), and Tl (~2) during the period between the 1970s and 1990s, reflecting the global dispersion of anthropogenic pollutants of these elements, even to the most remote areas on Earth. Such enrichments are likely related to emissions of trace elements from nonferrous metal smelting and fossil fuel combustion processes in South America, especially in Chile. A drastic decrease in the As concentration and its EF values was observed after the year 2000 in response to the introduction of environmental regulations in the 1990s to reduce As emissions from the copper industry, primarily in Chile. The observed decrease suggests that governmental regulations for pollution control are effective in reducing air pollution at both the regional and global level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ocean Sciences, Inha University, 100 Inha-ro, Nam-gu, Incheon 402-751, Korea. smhong@inha.ac.kr
authors.forename: Sungmin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Tseren-Ochir
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Soyol-Erdene
authors.forename: Hee Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Sang Bum
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Soon Do
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Hur
authors.forename: Hidaeki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Motoyama
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000266:history; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis* / Q000266:history; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis* / Q000266:history; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005579:Fossil Fuels; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D008669:Metallurgy; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis* / Q000266:history; D012914:Snow / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D005579:Fossil Fuels; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D001151:Arsenic