This session is intended to provide an interdisciplinary forum to bring together researchers working in the areas of atmospheric and snow/ice physics, atmospheric chemistry, air quality, biogeochemistry, oceanography, meteorology and climate in the polar regions.

The emphasis is on the role of polar boundary layer processes that drive exchange fluxes of heat, momentum and mass between the Earth's surface (snowpack, sea-ice, surface ocean and land) and the atmosphere as well as the local to large-scale influences on these exchanges. An adequate understanding and quantification of these processes is necessary to improve modelling and prediction of future changes in the polar regions and their teleconnections with mid-latitude weather and climate. These changing processes include meridional transport of heat, moisture, chemical trace species, and aerosols; regional emission and vertical mixing of climate active trace gases and aerosol, such as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nucleating particles (INP), their precursors, and their radiative effects; and air-sea(ice) fluxes of CO2 and CH4.
It is expected that observations from recent field campaigns, data from existing networks, and modelling efforts, will help diagnose long-range and local moisture, trace gas, aerosol and greenhouse gas sources as well as the coupling between local and large-scale dynamics and their impacts on climate, health and ecosystems. Reporting on progress as well as critical knowledge gaps will contribute to upcoming research programmes Antarctica InSync and the 5th International Polar Year.

We encourage submissions such as (but not limited to):
(1) External controls on the boundary layer such as clouds, radiation and long-range transport processes
(2) Results from field programs and routine observatories, insights from laboratory studies, and advances in modeling and reanalysis,
(3) Use of data from pan-Arctic and Antarctic observing networks,
(4) Surface processes involving snow, sea-ice, surface ocean, land/atmosphere chemical exchanges, natural aerosol sources and gas air-sea flux
(5) Studies on atmospheric chemistry and air pollution during polar winter
(6) The role of boundary layers in polar climate change and implications of climate change for physical and chemical surface exchange processes, especially in the context of changes in sea ice coverage and age, wetter snow packs, and increased glacial discharge.