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

X-ray emission techniques for bulk and individual particle analysis (E DXRF, EPXMA, micro-PIXE) were combined and applied in atmospheric rese arch on the North Sea area as part of a field-study on air-sea exchang e processes of particulate matter. The atmospheric loading for a numbe r of elements was determined by EDXRF, yielding bulk concentrations fo r Mg, Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br and Sr. From th ese EDXRF data, deposition rates were derived and, based on a classica l multivariate statistical approach, different aerosol sources were id entified. Complementary to this work, EPXMA combined with automated im age analysis was applied to individual size-segregated aerosol particl es 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 discus sed and compared with the corresponding EPXMA results. In summary, suc h a joint approach with the use of different x-ray emission techniques contributed to the resolution of the mixed structure of the lower Nor th Sea troposphere and to the determination of the atmospheric supply of material to the North Sea environment.