Multivariate Analysis of Arctic Aerosol Compositional Data

利用仪器中子活化分析(INAA)技术对北极气溶胶中的痕量组分进行了研究。这项技术极其灵敏和强大，能够测定大约40种元素的浓度，其中包括许多对环境至关重要的元素，如铝、锌、砷和锑，它们的浓度很低。该项目将利用从埃尔斯米尔岛获得的700个经过过滤的样本，为期8年。北极雾霾是对流层下部气溶胶浓度的总称，当它在整个北极蔓延时，在冬末达到季节性最大值。这种变化既是北上输送季节差异的结果，也是干湿沉降清除过程的结果。多变量因子分析、聚类分析和源贡献函数，与空气质量轨迹相结合，将提供平流模式，使我们更好地理解从源区到埃尔斯米尔岛的输送机制和大气路径，并使我们能够调查北极气溶胶痕量组分的相对组成的趋势。

This is an investigation of the trace constituents in arctic aerosols, using the Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) technique. The technique is extremely sensitive and powerful, capable of determining the concentration of about forty elements, including many environmentally crucial ones such as aluminum, zinc, arsenic and antimony that are present in very low concentrations. The project will make use of 700 filtered samples obtained on Ellesmere Island over an eight-year period. The occurence of arctic haze, the general term for aerosol concentrations in the lower troposphere, reaches a seasonal maximum in late winter when it becomes widespread through the arctic. The variation is the result both of seasonal differences in the northward transport, and in the removal process through wet and dry deposition. Multivariate factor analysis, cluster analysis, and source contribution functions, combined with air mass trajectories will provide advective patterns that will refine our understanding of the transport mechanism and atmospheric pathways from the source regions to Ellesmere Island, and allow the investigations of trends in the relative composition of the arctic aerosol trace constituents.