Arctic Haze
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"Arctic Haze" describes the phenomena of a visible reddish-brown haze in the atmosphere at high latitudes in the Arctic due to air pollution.
The term was coined in the 1950s to describe an unusual reduction in visibility observed by North American weather reconnaissance planes. When an aircraft is within a layer of Arctic haze, pilots report that horizontal visibility can drop to one tenth that of normally clear sky.
The haze is seasonal, reaching a peak in late Winter and Spring. In 1972 Dr. Glenn Shaw of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska attributed this smog to transboundary anthropogenic pollution, whereby the Arctic is the recipient of contaminants whose sources are thousands of miles away.
The haze aerosols are up to 90% sulphurous (see sulfur), mixed with carbon, which gives the haze its characteristic colour. The pollutants are commonly thought to originate from coal-burning in northern mid-latitudes.
[edit] See also
Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
[edit] References
United Nations Environment Program, Global Environmental Outlook 3, Earthscan (2002) ISBN 1853838454
T. Neil Davis, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks
An introduction to Arctic Pollution from Scholastic
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