1984 Volume 19 Issue 1 Pages 1-19
The present availability of automatic time sequence aerosol particle samplers, which use Nuclepore filters and are compatible with elemental analysis by PIXE, has led to the development and testing of computerized data handling and interpretation procedures. By time series analysis and other statistical approaches the sources and transport pathways of pollution and natural aerosol constituents may be inferred. Applications include both long range and urban scale transport of pollutants and natural soil dust. For example, Kosa dust events in Japan are found also to carry pollution sulfur which is probably derived from Asian mainland sources. The Kosa transport can be very long range, since its dust occurs over Hawaii typically during spring, representing transport up to 10, 000 kilometers from the deserts of China. A pollution sulfur component, apparently derived from Asian sources, has also been detected at Hawaii. On an urban scale, plume transport in St. Louis, Missouri, has been correlated with meteorological parameters by means of statistical analysis of titanium concentration data. The sources of lead are of several different types, both industrial and vehicular, as inferred by multiple regression analysis for inter-element correlations and spatial modelling based on wind rose diagrams of concentration. By these methods of receptor modelling of the urban aerosol a source apportionment for ambient air pollution can be made. The PIXE method, together with specially designed aerosol samplers, provides an economical and versatile approach to obtaining atmospheric concentration data amenable to interpretation by time series analysis and other statistical methods which are carried out with the aid of computers.
