Inorganic Constituents in Snow Accompanied by Winter Wind and their Origin in the Hokuriku Districts.

Abstract

The ion constituents contained in fresh snow immediately after snowfall were examined at 5-10 km intervals over 50 km from the coast of Hakui city in Ishikawa Prefecture leeward of the northwestern seasonal wind to the plain in Toyama city in Toyama Prefecture. The concentrations of sodium ions and sea-salt sulfate ions that originated from the Sea of Japan decreased exponentially from Hakui city in Ishikawa Prefecture to Toyama city. The concentration of non sea-salt sulfate ions, which probably originate from human activities, also decreased exponentially, but it was lower than the concentration of sea-salt sulfate ions until 25 km from Hakui city and higher in the farther regions. We considered that this was due to additive effects of non sea-salt sulfate ions transported from a distance and local sulfate ions. The concentration of non sea-salt sulfate ions transported from the Asian Continent was estimated in each sampling station. Its contribution was 0.98 of the total at the coast of Hakui city and 0.65 at Toyama city, respectively, and showed a pattern similar to those of sodium ions and sea-salt sulfate ions. The concentrations of ammonium ions and non sea-salt calcium ions were slightly higher in the plain in Toyama than on the coast of Hakui city, suggesting that they mostly originated from the sampling regions in this study. The concentration of nitrate ions was almost constant in the regions from the coast to the inland areas, suggesting also that they mostly originated from the sampling regions.

On the Kosa (Asian Dust) Event in November 2002: Aerosol Number Concentrations and Precipitation Chemistry in Toyama, Japan

“…The concentration ratio of Mg 2þ to Na þ also was similar to that of seawater. The nss SO in precipitation have been seen in the Hokuriku district especially during winter seasons (Honoki and Hayakawa 2001;Honoki et al 2001). A similar result also was reported on cloud water chemistry over the Japan Sea (Watanabe et al 2001a), whereas a higher NO À 3 concentration in cloud water was seen near the industrial region in Japan (Watanabe et al 2001b).…”

“…The eluent used was 8.0 mM p-hydroxybenzoic acid/ 3.2 mM tris (hydroxymethyl) aminomethane/ 50 mM boric acid for the anions, and 2.5 mM oxalic acid for the cations. The analytical methods were described in detail by Honoki et al (2001). The mean analytical error was within 5%.…”

“…A similar result also was reported on cloud water chemistry over the Japan Sea (Watanabe et al 2001a), whereas a higher NO À 3 concentration in cloud water was seen near the industrial region in Japan (Watanabe et al 2001b). According to Honoki and Hayakawa (2001), the contribution rate of nss SO 2À 4 originating from the Asian continent was about 0.5 in the coast of the Hokuriku district.…”

Identification of Long-range Transported Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Snow at Mt. Tateyama, Japan

“…Tateyama could be useful for studying long-range transported atmospheric pollutants. Several pollutants such as Asian Dust and sulfur oxides in snow in this area were reported (Honoki et al, 2001;Osada et al, 2004;Watanabe et al, 2011a).…”

Chemical characteristics of the snow pits at Murododaira, Mount Tateyama, Japan

“…Recently, a large amount of acidic species (e.g. non-sea-salt sulfate) has been deposited in the Hokuriku District, along the Japan Sea coast in central Japan (Honoki and others, 2001, 2007). In addition to pollutants, mineral Asian dust particles (Kosa in Japanese), rich in CaCO 3 , are also transported from the Asian continent (Tsuruta, 1991; Watanabe and others, 2006c).…”