1991 Volume 26 Issue 4 Pages 216-226
Since the air quality of Japan has a possibility to be influenced by long-range transported air pollutants from cities in Asian continent, due to its geographical location, observations were made for atmospheric aerosol components at Matsue, Japan. The analytical results showed the elemental composition of aerosol samples at MatsLe in winter, when Japan is located in the down-stream of seasonal wind, was similar to those at Seoul, Korea. And 0.83 of Pb/Zn ratio at Matsue in winter agreed to that at Seoul, where leaded-gasoline was still used for fuels of automobiles, and it was significantly diffeernt with that measured in summer at Matsue, 0.32. This indicates a part of atmospheric Pb at Matsue could be transported by the seasonal wind from continental cities. Calculated results by a simple dispersion-box model showed a part of atmmospheric Pb observed at Matse in winter was transported from foreign sources, however, these results were not enough to explain the observed seasonal change of Pb/Zn ratio at Matsue on a quantitative basis. Coal combustion is another specific source of air pollutants in continental cities. A comparison of Te/Se ratio in the aerosol samples, which is a good indicator for coal combustion effluents, between Matsue and other eastern Asian cities, also showed the possibility of longrange transport of airborne particulates originated from human activities in Asian continent.
