CRUSTAL ENRICHMENTS IN THE ARCTIC AEROSOL

Aerosol samples collected at various sites in Greenland for over a year have been analyzed by PIXE to determine the elemental composition. The data have been converted to crustal enrichment factors E using Ti as reference. After a short description of the results of a previous analysis of the total elemental concentrations, annual and monthly means of enrichment factors for the elements Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Sr and Pb are presented. It is argued that the logarithm of the enrichment factor is a useful statistical measure of excess or non-crustal aerosol and these data are then studied by means of principal factor analyses. It is found that the non-crustal aerosol can be considered to be composed of 2-3 different source-related components that contribute equally to the total variance. Implications of this finding are discussed.