Influence of Air Pollutants in the ⁷Be Size Distribution of Atmospheric Aerosols

ABSTRACT

The atmospheric behavior of ⁷Be aerosols was studied by using 1-ACFM cascade impactors. The activity distribution of Be measured by gamma spectrometry (E _γ=477 keV), was largely associated with submicron aerosols in the accumulation mode (0.4–2.0 μm). The activity median aerodynamic diameter, AM AD ranged from 0.62 to 1.00 yam (average 0.80 μm). The geometric standard deviation, σ_g ranged from 1.87 to 2.50 (average 2.22). Low AMADs of ⁷Be aerosols have been observed at locations characterized with relatively low pollution. Some dependency of AMADs on height has been also observed. In near marine environment the ⁷Be activity size distribution was observed in higher size range of aerosol particles (AMAD 0.82 μm).