Polar Atmospheric and Snow Chemistry (PASC), ~1990 - 1998 or later

  • PASC began in the early 1990s working towards coordinating polar tropospheric and snow/ice chemistry research. PASC helped identify knowledge gaps in polar atmosphere and snow chemistry along with aiding in understanding the role of tropospheric chemistry of Polar Regions in global change. PASC used atmospheric measurements and ice core records to analyze the human-induced changes of the polar atmospheric environment. A key research development was the measurement of the atmospheric composition of the middle to upper troposphere at the Summit in the Northern Hemisphere. PASC focused on the origin, transport and transformations of gaseous and particulate compounds in the high latitude troposphere. It also produced a better understanding of the atmosphere-snow interface complexities. PASC was also involved in the research discovery of tropospheric O3 loss during polar sunrise due to chemically reactive marine halogens released into the atmosphere found during the Polar Sunrise Experiment 1992 (PSE-92).