The Size of Particulate Trace Elements in the Atmosphere—A Review

Abstract

Size distributions of 38 trace elements reported in the literature over the past two decades have been summarized. Those elements with aerodynamic mass median diameter less than 2 μm generally have bimodal distributions: the dominant peak occurs in the range 0.5-1 μm, with a smaller peak at about 3-5 μm. Elements with larger mass median diameter have a single peak, with relatively little mass below 1 μm. Overall, the individual distributions of many of the elements are surprisingly consistent, despite different sampling locations, time periods, and experimental methods.