Concentration of organic compounds in the snow-ice cover of the Eastern Antarctic

It was shown that organic compounds were accumulated in layers with the most intense autochthonous processes (mainly at the snow-ice and ice-water boundaries). These zones remain active at a biogeochemical medium even at low temperatures.

The maximum content of organic compounds (10-20 times that of the snow-ice cover of other regions) and a sharp change in the proportions of their migration forms in the ice volume were detected in the regions of penguin colonies (fast ice in the Buromsky Island and a lake in the Haswell Island). Contents and composition of hydrocarbons in Antarctic ices were compared with those of Arctic ices.