ISCAT 1998
The Investigation of Sulfur Chemistry in the Antarctic Troposphere
South Pole, Antarctica
Investigation of Sulfur Chemistry in the Antarctica Troposphere (ISCAT). Douglas D. Davis and Fred L. Eisele, Georgia Institute of Technology. During this 4-year study, we will examine the sulfur chemistry in the antarctic atmosphere, working at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station for two field seasons, 1998–1999 and 2000–2001. The study, which includes 10 principal and senior investigators at five institutions with seven additional contributing investigators, has two broad-based goals:
- to improve substantially our current understanding of the oxidation chemistry of biogenic sulfur in the polar environment, and
- to improve the climatic interpretation of sulfur-based signals in antarctic ice-core records.
The South Pole was selected because at this site, the atmospheric boundary layer presents a homogeneous and relatively simple environment from which to unravel the photochemically driven oxidation chemistry of dimethyl sulfide.