Regional sources of pollution aerosol at Barrow, Alaska during winter 1979-1980 as deduced from elemental tracers

A seven-element tracer system for regional pollution aerosol has been applied to 100 daily samples of aerosol from Barrow, Alaska during winter 1979-1980, using regional signatures from eastern N America, Europe, and the Soviet Union. The results suggest that approximately 70% of most tracer elements came from the U.S.S.R., 25 % came from Europe, and the rest came from N America. The large contribution from the U.S.S.R. is consistent with large-scale atmospheric flow patterns for that winter, in which air came strongly and persistently from central Asia northward to the Arctic. The small contribution from eastern N America agrees with previous circumstantial evidence. Apportionment of sulfate between Europe and the Soviet Union suggested that each contributed roughly 50%, however. The greater contribution of Europe to sulfate than to tracer elements is consistent with other data, including emission inventories for SO2 and elements in the Soviet Union and Europe.