AICI AND THE INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR

AICI will act as a coordination point linking various Arctic, Antarctic, mid-latitude, laboratory, remote sensing and modeling studies. However, the simultaneous focusing of international resources implied by IPY will be particularly valuable in some areas. In the context of the IPY, AICI is proposing to pursue the following specific questions:

What is the time scale for the chemical processes that deplete ozone in the Arctic and Antarctic Boundary Layer, what is the spatial scale of the phenomenon, and does it originate/occur over/near open water, or the frozen surface?

This issue will be pursued through a network of inland and buoy stations, collecting data for a full year, as well as from satellite-based observations, around the Arctic Ocean, and the Antarctic Continent and surround-ing seas. For the first time we will gain a picture of the pattern of tropospheric ozone depletion and production throughout the polar regions. All nations can contribute to this effort.

What is the large-scale atmospheric importance of snow and ice surface chemical and photochemicalprocesses?

That issue will be pursued through a coordinated program of field observations throughout the snow/ice-covered regions of the globe, laboratory studies of the key processes, and development and application ofa suite of models, including 0D, 1D and 3D models of the relevant chemistry and dynamics. Field studies willbe conducted from an array of platforms, including aircraft and icebreakers, and from a number of surfacestations in the Arctic, in coordination with OASIS, and at several Antarctic stations, e.g. Neumayer, Halley, and South Pole.

What is the impact of a changing cryosphere (as a result of climate change) on the atmosphere?

This issue will be pursued as part of IPY through data obtained from a network of long term monitoring stations.