Geographical and temporal variations of chemical constituents in winter precipitation collected in the areas along the coast of the Sea of Japan

The geographical and temporal variations of chemical constituents in winter precipitation collected in the areas along the coast of the Sea of Japan ( AASJ) were discussed by analyzing the data obtained in the I st and 2nd Nat ional Acid Deposition Survey by Japan Environmental Laboratories Associatio n. In western Tohoku (WI) and Hokuriku (I-R) areas in AASJ, in spite of lar ge amounts of precipitation in winter; concentrations of non sea salt (nss- ) SO42- are not as low as the other areas and nss-Ca2+ in these areas is lo wer than the other areas. As a result; H+ concentrations of precipitation i n these areas we somewhat higher than other areas From the temporal analysi s of daily sampled data and back trajectory analysis of air mass, it was fo und that the concentrations of nss-SO42-, NO3-, NH4+ and nss-Ca2+ are corre latively varied when air mass come from the Asian Continent showing higher conoentrations at the western sites in AASJ and depending on the meteorolog ical conditions such as the direction of in flow air mass.