Australian scientists from Monash University have identified the place with the cleanest air on Earth. It was the space above the Southern Ocean, washing the Antarctic.
As an analysis of the atmosphere using satellite observations has shown, the cleanliness of the air over Antarctica is associated not only with the absence of human activity there but also with the activity of phytoplankton.
In addition, the Southern Ocean turned out to be the cloudiest place on Earth, where precipitation occurs very often. Intense downpours and snowfalls wash polluting aerosol particles out of the air. The cloud cover over Antarctica has a special cellular structure. Each such cell can produce up to six times more rain than clouds in other parts of the world.
“Rain washes aerosols from the sky in much the same way as a washing machine cleans clothes. After the passage of a cold front, the air becomes clean,” the experts noted.
Scientists say their discovery will help better understand how precipitation can remove dust and other pollutants from the air.
The study was published in Climate and Atmospheric Science (CAS).