Seasonal variation of carbonaceous and metal compositions of atmospheric aerosols at Syowa Station, Antarctica in 2001

Abstract

Antarctic aerosols collected at Syowa Station in 2001 were analyzed to investigate their seasonal variations and long-range transport of anthropogenic aerosols. The measured chemical species were elemental carbon and organic carbon, and metals such as Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn and Pb. Concentration of elemental carbon was relatively low in April-June and was high in March, October and November. The concentrations of Al, V, Co, Ni and Pb were sometimes lower than the detection limits. Spikes of the highest concentrations of V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn and Pb were recorded in August-October. The enrichment factors were high during blizzards. This indicates that air masses containing anthropogenic aerosols were transported to Antarctica by low-pressure system perturbation.