A systematic series of aerosol observations was begun at South Pole in 1974. These observations were coordinated with surface metorological observations and soundings. Concurrent ozone observations began shortly after, and water vapor measurements, using an electrolytic cell, were begun in 1976. During 1977 and 1978 airborne aerosol and meteorological observations from an instrumented LC130R were used to construct vertical profiles over the polar plateau, the Ross Sea, and Ross Ice Shelf, and to make constant altitude transects from the periphery to the interior of the continent. Analysis of the airborne aerosol observation shows that the most moist and aerosol-laden air over the interior of the continent is found in, and just above, the inversion, a few hundred meters above the surface. Aerosol concentrations decrease above this layer, to and through the tropopause. The surface aerosol, water vapor, and temperature record has been stratified by 20¿ sector of wind direction occurring concurrent with the observations. This analysis supports a simple meteorological model of transport to the South Polar Plateau. When the polar high is centered over the center of the Antarctic ice mass, the normal condition katabatically reinforced weak gradient wind occurs, and South Pole receives surface winds from the grid northeast. When this high is centered on the Greenwich meridian, warm, moist, aerosol-laden air can flow along a short path from the Weddell Sea to the pole. When this high is centered along the dateline, the air has a long trajectory over ice and arrives at the pole along 090¿ depleted of heat, water vapor, and aerosol. Combining the surface and airborne aerosol observations for analysis indicates that the preferred levels for transport of particulate matter to the pole occured in the lower troposphere.