Long-range pollutant transport into the Russian Arctic

From synoptic maps of the 850-hPa isobaric surfaces, 1220 daily six-day-traveltime trajectories of air mass transport into the Russian Arctic (Sevemaya Zemlya Archipelago and Wrangel Island) in spring (March and April) were analyzed over ten years (1981-1990). It was found that about 65% of air in spring was transported into the two sites from the continents and the other 35% is approximately apportioned between oceanic and Arctic air masses. The total amount of air transported into the two sites from Eurasia is greater than that from America (49% and 18%, respectively). With the close contributions of Asia and the Arctic Ocean, air is mainly transported from Europe and the Atlantic to Sevemaya Zemlya and, on the contrary, from America and the Pacific Ocean to Wrangel Island. A positive trend (from 10% to 20%) of the contribution of Europe to the air masses in both sites was revealed, which may serve as evidence for a change from a meridional atmospheric circulation to a zonal one in the Northern Hemisphere.