Atmospheric aerosol studies in southern Norway using size-fractionating sampling devices and nuclear analytical techniques

Atmospheric aerosol samples were collected during spring sampling campaigns in 1988 and 1989 at Birkenes and Nordmoen in southern Norway. The aerosol collectors used included stacked filter units (SFUs), a low volume sampler (referred to as ILVS), which consists of a filter preceded by three impaction stages, and an 11-stage Berner low-pressure impactor (LPI). All samples were analyzed for up to about 40 elements by INAA and PIXE. The results obtained from parallel samplings were intercompared in terms of ratios ILVS/SFU and LPI/SFU, whereby these ratios were calculated separately for the coarse and fine size fractions. For the ILVS/SFU parallel samplings, excellent agreement was observed between the results for the fine fraction, with the overall mean average ratio (based on 21 samples and 22 elements) being 0.99 ± 0.10. For the coarse fraction, the overall mean ILVS/SFU ratio (based on 21 elements) was 0.75 ± 0.13. This low result is explained by different upper-particle-size cut-offs of the two samplers. For the parallel samplings with LPI and SFU, the agreement was poorer, but still reasonable. The atmospheric concentrations observed at the two sites in the two campaigns and also the LPI size distributions for the various elements are discussed briefly. (author) 19 refs.; 1 fig.; 6 tabs