This place has the cleanest air on Earth
In urban regions, human activities have dealt a serious blow to the environment. The air gets so polluted that it can become difficult to even breathe, much like what we see in Delhi every year. Now, for a change and a breath of fresh air, a team of scientists has discovered a place with the cleanest air on the planet. Here's more about it.
Antarctic Ocean region free from human-caused pollutants
According to climate scientists from Colorado State University, a region of Antarctic or Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica, has air cleaner than any other place on the planet. The region, the team noted, was free from all the pollutants, or aerosols, that are released by human activities around the world and eventually mixed in the atmospheric air.
The team traveled a lot to discover this region
The team wanted to see how far particles linked to human pollution could reach and decided to sail from Tasmania to the Southern Ocean, measuring the amount pollutants in the air along the way. They assessed the number of particles in the so-called boundary layer, the lower atmospheric air that starts from the ocean's surface, and goes up to lower clouds (6,000+ feet).
Bacteria in air used as a diagnostic tool
To find pollutant-free air over the Southern Ocean, the team used atmospheric bacteria as a diagnostic tool. "The aerosols controlling the properties of Southern Ocean clouds are strongly linked to ocean biological processes," the ocean study co-author Thomas Hill said, adding, "Antarctica appears to be isolated from southward dispersal of microorganisms and nutrient deposition from southern continents."
Visiting the region is not recommended
The scientists have not revealed the exact location of the place with the cleanest air as it is better we leave the region alone. They say that the site in the Southern Ocean is "one of [the] very few places on Earth that have been minimally affected by anthropogenic activities" and that it is hard to pinpoint places like these.
