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.
