Elemental Composition and Sources of Atmospheric Aerosols above and around the North Sea

Abstract

Our research within the EUROTRAC subproject ASE focuses on the study of size-fractionated atmospheric aerosols at different sites above and around the North Sea and in the Arctic. The work involves continuous samplings at (near) coastal stations and participation in intensive sampling campaigns (usually on sea and together with other ASE groups). In the Mace Head 1991 campaign, we were involved in an intercomparison of aerosol sampling and analytical techniques. In the North Sea experiment 1991 we contributed to the study of the aerosol transport and deposition processes by collecting samples at different locations during passage of an air mass over the North Sea and by comparing the atmospheric elemental concentrations and size distributions. In the 1992 joint experiment on the German research platform Nordsee, we examined the alterations in aerosol compositions with the origin of the air mass. During the International Arctic Ocean Expedition 1991, we studied the atmospheric aerosol in the high Arctic during summer. In our long-term continuous samplings at two locations in southern Norway, we investigate the long-range transport of continental aerosols over the North Sea and make inferences about the deposition of these species into the sea. Continuous samplings are also performed at the Zeppelin background station in Spitsbergen, with the aim to assess the sources of the non-sea-salt sulfate and the particulate trace elements at various times of the year, and to examine changes in elemental mass size distributions.