Ground level measurements of the summer tropospheric aerosol in Northern Greenland

Abstract During two summer months a measuring station was temporarily established at Kap Harald Moltke, a remote location in North Greenland. At the station daily measurements of Aitken nuclei concentrations were taken together with filter paper samples for the determination of ice nuclei concentrations and for elemental analysis of the particulate. The results show that the particle concentrations were constantly very low, except for a three-day “episode” where concentrations rose by almost an order of magnitude. The meteorological analysis shows that the air was of arctic origin, except for the episode period, where the air might have originated in industrialized areas. The elemental analysis revealed the presence of 17 elements in the particulate, the most abundant elements being silicon, sulfur and aluminium. The elemental composition of the particles points strongly to a crustal weathering source, but the elements sulfur, zinc, lead and bromine have such high enrichment factors relative to the global crust that their origin must be sought elsewhere.