Articles | Volume 16, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2127-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2127-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
07 Jun 2022
Research article |
| 07 Jun 2022
| 07 Jun 2022
First evidence of microplastics in Antarctic snow
Alex R. Aves
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Gateway Antarctica, School of Earth and Environment, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Laura E. Revell
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Sally Gaw
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Helena Ruffell
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Alex Schuddeboom
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Ngaire E. Wotherspoon
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Michelle LaRue
Gateway Antarctica, School of Earth and Environment, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Adrian J. McDonald
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Gateway Antarctica, School of Earth and Environment, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
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Wenyue Wang, Adrian J. McDonald, Simon Alexander, and Klemens Hocke
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2155, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2155, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
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This study identifies high-frequency gravity waves from Doppler velocity oscillations measured by ship-based cloud radar over the Southern Ocean near the East Antarctic coastline. These waves have periods of approximately 10 minutes and can persist for up to 48 hours. They occur frequently, are associated with multiple sources, and modulate cloud properties.
Girija Kalyani Burada, James A. Renwick, and Adrian J. McDonald
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5369, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5369, 2026
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This study examines how Antarctic coastal polynyas (areas of thin ice or open water) in the Ross Sea vary during peak sea-ice months. Satellite data reveal the main spatial patterns in sea-ice changes and their link to strong surface winds and large-scale circulation. Variations in the Amundsen Sea Low and the Ross Ice Shelf Air Stream influence polynya size, showing how large-scale weather patterns control local sea-ice processes in the Ross Sea region.
Cameron McErlich, Felix Goddard, Alex Aves, Catherine Hardacre, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Alan J. Hewitt, and Laura E. Revell
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 8827–8854, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-8827-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-8827-2025, 2025
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Airborne microplastics are a new air pollutant but are not yet included in most global models. We add them to the UK Earth System Model to show how they move, change, and are removed from air. Smaller microplastics persist for longer and can travel further, even to Antarctica. While their current role in air pollution is small, their presence is expected to grow in future. This work offers a framework to assess future impacts of microplastics on air quality and climate.
Luke Edgar Whitehead, Adrian James McDonald, and Adrien Guyot
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5765–5784, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5765-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5765-2024, 2024
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Supercooled liquid water cloud is important to represent in weather and climate models, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere. Previous work has developed a new machine learning method for measuring supercooled liquid water in Antarctic clouds using simple lidar observations. We evaluate this technique using a lidar dataset from Christchurch, New Zealand, and develop an updated algorithm for accurate supercooled liquid water detection at mid-latitudes.
Dongqi Lin, Jiawei Zhang, Basit Khan, Marwan Katurji, and Laura E. Revell
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 815–845, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-815-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-815-2024, 2024
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GEO4PALM is an open-source tool to generate static input for the Parallelized Large-Eddy Simulation (PALM) model system. Geospatial static input is essential for realistic PALM simulations. However, existing tools fail to generate PALM's geospatial static input for most regions. GEO4PALM is compatible with diverse geospatial data sources and provides access to free data sets. In addition, this paper presents two application examples, which show successful PALM simulations using GEO4PALM.
Yusuf A. Bhatti, Laura E. Revell, Alex J. Schuddeboom, Adrian J. McDonald, Alex T. Archibald, Jonny Williams, Abhijith U. Venugopal, Catherine Hardacre, and Erik Behrens
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15181–15196, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15181-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15181-2023, 2023
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Aerosols are a large source of uncertainty over the Southern Ocean. A dominant source of sulfate aerosol in this region is dimethyl sulfide (DMS), which is poorly simulated by climate models. We show the sensitivity of simulated atmospheric DMS to the choice of oceanic DMS data set and emission scheme. We show that oceanic DMS has twice the influence on atmospheric DMS than the emission scheme. Simulating DMS more accurately in climate models will help to constrain aerosol uncertainty.
Ben A. Cala, Scott Archer-Nicholls, James Weber, N. Luke Abraham, Paul T. Griffiths, Lorrie Jacob, Y. Matthew Shin, Laura E. Revell, Matthew Woodhouse, and Alexander T. Archibald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14735–14760, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14735-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14735-2023, 2023
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Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is an important trace gas emitted from the ocean recognised as setting the sulfate aerosol background, but its oxidation is complex. As a result representation in chemistry-climate models is greatly simplified. We develop and compare a new mechanism to existing mechanisms via a series of global and box model experiments. Our studies show our updated DMS scheme is a significant improvement but significant variance exists between mechanisms.
Zhangcheng Pei, Sonya L. Fiddes, W. John R. French, Simon P. Alexander, Marc D. Mallet, Peter Kuma, and Adrian McDonald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14691–14714, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14691-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14691-2023, 2023
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In this paper, we use ground-based observations to evaluate a climate model and a satellite product in simulating surface radiation and investigate how radiation biases are influenced by cloud properties over the Southern Ocean. We find that significant radiation biases exist in both the model and satellite. The cloud fraction and cloud occurrence play an important role in affecting radiation biases. We suggest further development for the model and satellite using ground-based observations.
Dongqi Lin, Marwan Katurji, Laura E. Revell, Basit Khan, and Andrew Sturman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14451–14479, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14451-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14451-2023, 2023
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Accurate fog forecasting is difficult in a complex environment. Spatial variations in soil moisture could impact fog. Here, we carried out fog simulations with spatially different soil moisture in complex topography. The soil moisture was calculated using satellite observations. The results show that the spatial variations in soil moisture do not have a significant impact on where fog occurs but do impact how long fog lasts. This finding could improve fog forecasts in the future.
McKenna W. Stanford, Ann M. Fridlind, Israel Silber, Andrew S. Ackerman, Greg Cesana, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Alain Protat, Simon Alexander, and Adrian McDonald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9037–9069, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9037-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9037-2023, 2023
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Clouds play an important role in the Earth’s climate system as they modulate the amount of radiation that either reaches the surface or is reflected back to space. This study demonstrates an approach to robustly evaluate surface-based observations against a large-scale model. We find that the large-scale model precipitates too infrequently relative to observations, contrary to literature documentation suggesting otherwise based on satellite measurements.
Peter Kuma, Frida A.-M. Bender, Alex Schuddeboom, Adrian J. McDonald, and Øyvind Seland
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 523–549, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-523-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-523-2023, 2023
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We present a machine learning method for determining cloud types in climate model output and satellite observations based on ground observations of cloud genera. We analyse cloud type biases and changes with temperature in climate models and show that the bias is anticorrelated with climate sensitivity. Models simulating decreasing stratiform and increasing cumuliform clouds with increased CO2 concentration tend to have higher climate sensitivity than models simulating the opposite tendencies.
Adrien Guyot, Alain Protat, Simon P. Alexander, Andrew R. Klekociuk, Peter Kuma, and Adrian McDonald
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3663–3681, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3663-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3663-2022, 2022
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Ceilometers are instruments that are widely deployed as part of operational networks. They are usually not able to detect cloud phase. Here, we propose an evaluation of various methods to detect supercooled liquid water with ceilometer observations, using an extensive dataset from Davis, Antarctica. Our results highlight the possibility for ceilometers to detect supercooled liquid water in clouds.
Stefanie Kremser, Mike Harvey, Peter Kuma, Sean Hartery, Alexia Saint-Macary, John McGregor, Alex Schuddeboom, Marc von Hobe, Sinikka T. Lennartz, Alex Geddes, Richard Querel, Adrian McDonald, Maija Peltola, Karine Sellegri, Israel Silber, Cliff S. Law, Connor J. Flynn, Andrew Marriner, Thomas C. J. Hill, Paul J. DeMott, Carson C. Hume, Graeme Plank, Geoffrey Graham, and Simon Parsons
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 3115–3153, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3115-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3115-2021, 2021
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Aerosol–cloud interactions over the Southern Ocean are poorly understood and remain a major source of uncertainty in climate models. This study presents ship-borne measurements, collected during a 6-week voyage into the Southern Ocean in 2018, that are an important supplement to satellite-based measurements. For example, these measurements include data on low-level clouds and aerosol composition in the marine boundary layer, which can be used in climate model evaluation efforts.
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Short summary
This study confirms the presence of microplastics in Antarctic snow, highlighting the extent of plastic pollution globally. Fresh snow was collected from Ross Island, Antarctica, and subsequent analysis identified an average of 29 microplastic particles per litre of melted snow. The most likely source of these airborne microplastics is local scientific research stations; however, modelling shows their origin could have been up to 6000 km away.
This study confirms the presence of microplastics in Antarctic snow, highlighting the extent of...
