Because of its geographical isolation and remoteness from the major sources of anthropogenic emissions. Antarctic provides an excellent location for studying natural sources of the atmospheric aerosols. Volcanoes are usually implicated as major natural sources for the enriched elements in remote atmospheric aerosol and Mt. Erebus, the world's southern-most active volcano, is the principal source of volcanic emissions to the Antarctic atmosphere. Preliminary examination of plume aerosol data from Mt. Erebus, and other volcanoes around the world suggests that volcanoes of different composition can be distinguished on the basis of certain elemental ratios in their plumes. this investigation will establish a trace elemental signature characteristic of Mt. Erebus in order to determine whether the volcano is an important source of trace elements and other impurities to the Antarctic atmosphere. Comparison of the elemental ratios in Erebus plume samples and snow samples collected near the volcano will allow determination of whether snow samples provide good surrogates for aerosol measurements.
