Abstract
his study investigated the characteristics (elemental concentrations, size distributions, and dry deposition flux) of aerosol particles in the coastal region of western Taiwan during the dry monsoon (fall and winter) season. Factor analysis results show that resuspended soil dust is a significant source of particles. However, factor analysis is unable to define specific emission sources of noncrustal metals, probably because these metals are mixed by long-distance transportation, regardless of their sources. On average, coarse mode particles (with aerodynamic diameters of larger than 1.0 μm) contribute 66% of the total particle mass. These coarse particles represent 53%, 64%, 62%, and 44% of the mass of elements Al, Ca, Fe, and Ti, respectively. Coarse particles predominate dry deposition fluxes because the average percentages of dry deposition fluxes attributed to fine particles are only 0.2%, 0.2%, 0.18%, 0.22% and 0.19% of the total particle mass, the Al mass, the Ca mass, the Pb mass and the Ni mass, respectively. Both atmospheric concentrations and dry deposition fluxes of Al, Ca, Fe, Mn and Sr are strongly influenced by crustal sources. For Pb, Zn, Ni, Ba, Cu and Cr, the parent aerosol is soil-oriented but the dry deposition is not. Neither the parent aerosol nor the dry deposition of V and Cd is influenced by crustal sources. Enrichment factors of most metal crust elements are considerably lower in dry deposition than in the parent aerosol. Fractionation factor analysis results show that the crustal component of a metal element in a parent aerosol is fractionated from the atmosphere by a dry deposition sequence. Although the noncrustal sources are not important in dry deposition, noncrustal elements can be easily fractionated between particles and dry deposits. Among the elements investigated, Pb had the highest fractionation factor of 12.1.
Highlights
Tel: +886-4-23323000 ext. 4451Fax: +886-4-23742365The ever-increasing dispersion of metal elements through the atmosphere, water, and soil is of major concern because such elements endanger human health; initiate possible changes in natural biochemical processes in all ecosystems, and inevitably accumulate in the food chain (VanMalderen et al, 1996; Fang et al, 2000)
Factor analysis of the data sets was performed by the statistical analysis system (SAS, 1997) to categorize these trace metals
In contrast to the elements associated with soil, non-crustal elements are closely associated with fine particles, since their modal diameters in sample size distributions are generally less than 1.0 μm
Summary
The ever-increasing dispersion of metal elements through the atmosphere, water, and soil is of major concern because such elements endanger human health; initiate possible changes in natural. Numerous publications have discussed the natural and anthropogenic sources of air pollution in China, and asserted that anthropogenic source emission strength is rapidly increasing (Akimoto and Narita, 1994; Zhang et al, 2000) Some pollutants, such as dust particles, are transported eastward by the westerly wind to the western Pacific regions, including Taiwan (Parungo et al, 1994; Zhang et al., 2000). This work first presents the aerosol concentrations, the size distribution, and metal contents in the western Taiwan coastal region. These data were utilized to estimate metal dry deposition fluxes and identify their sources
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