Elemental Concentrations of Atmospheric Aerosols: Seasonal and Daily Changes

The micro-analytical technique has made remarkable progress during the last two to three decades. A Particle Induced X-ray Emission(PIXE) is one of the most powerful analytical method. The analysis of atmospheric aerosol is one of the most preferable fields of the PIXE analysis. Applying the PIXE analysis, we have investigated the characteristics of atmospheric aerosols under the various environmental and meteorological conditions. The atmospheric aerosols were continuously sampled every 12 hours for one year from October 1992 to October 1993. The concentrations of gravimetric mass and 15 elements were determined by a microbalance method and the PXIE analysis.respectively.

The seasonal change of mass concentration of atmospheric aerosols has commonly two peaks in spring and early winter. The peak in spring is mainly caused by the Kosa dust. The most dominant element was Si and S the coarse and fine particles,respectively. Daily change of elemental concentrations differed according to the origin of each element and the scavenging effect of atmospheric aerosols by rain drops was clearly observed in the time variation of aerosol concentration.