Abstract
In order to investigate the sporadic transportation of Kosa aerosol to Japan from China, an effective discriminating method which is simple, rapid and highly sensitive was devised in characterizing the water soluble components of Kosa aerosol. The results indicated that concentrations of water soluble calcium (Ca2+) and strontium (Sr2+) in the particulate matter collected during Kosa phenomenon were higher than those collected during no Kosa phenomenon. It was also found that a ratio of non sea salt (nss) Sr2+to nss Ca2+in Kosa aerosol was more close to average Sr2+/Ca2+of the surface soils in Chinese loess and desert regions, in comparison with that of non-Kosa aerosol. These characteristics would be useful indicators to investigate the transportation of Kosa aerosol.
