EDXRS STUDY OF AEROSOL COMPOSITION VARIATIONS IN AIR MASSES CROSSING THE NORTH-SEA

X-ray emission techniques for bulk and individual particle analysis (EDXRF, EPXMA, micro-PIXE) were combined and applied in atmospheric research on the North Sea area as part of a field-study on air-sea exchange processes of particulate matter. The atmospheric loading for a number of elements was determined by EDXRF, yielding bulk concentrations for Mg, Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br and Sr. From these EDXRF data, deposition rates were derived and, based on a classical multivariate statistical approach, different aerosol sources were identified. Complementary to this work, EPXMA combined with automated image analysis was applied to individual size-segregated aerosol particles to determine their inorganic composition, physical size and shape. Also, the first results of micro-PIXE analyses on individual North Sea aerosol particles, particularly their large-size fraction, are discussed and compared with the corresponding EPXMA results. In summary, such a joint approach with the use of different x-ray emission techniques contributed to the resolution of the mixed structure of the lower North Sea troposphere and to the determination of the atmospheric supply of material to the North Sea environment.