Atmospheric Observations at the South Pole

National Science Foundation
Office of Polar Programs
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230

Posted January 16, 2018

Image: Kyle Obrock, NSF

The full moon rises above the horizon at NSF’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in this 2016 photo.

To the right of the photo is the Atmospheric Research Observatory (ARO) which, since 1997, has been used to support scientific research related to atmospheric phenomena.

The two-story ARO building houses a long-term research program carried out by the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Global Monitoring Division. NOAA/ESRL operates a climate Baseline Observatory at ARO to measure long-term trends of important trace gases, aerosols, and solar radiation and to investigate the influence of these gases and aerosols on the Earth's climate.

One of the longest and most complete records of carbon-dioxide levels in the atmosphere, for instance, comes from the South Pole, dating back to 1955.
For more information, see: https://gml.noaa.gov/obop/spo/observatory.html