The cleanest air on earth has been discovered – in the middle of Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. Scientists found the pristine ‘atmospheric region’ which remains unaffected by humans.
The study, the first to measure the region’s air quality, found no traces of particles from human activity or transported from distant lands.
Study co-author Dr Thomas Hill, of Colorado State University in the US, said: ‘We were able to use the bacteria in the air over the Southern Ocean as a diagnostic tool to infer key properties of the lower atmosphere.
‘For example, that the aerosols controlling the properties of Southern Ocean clouds are strongly linked to ocean biological processes, and that Antarctica appears to be isolated from southward dispersal of microorganisms and nutrient deposition from southern continents. (Metro)