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Fine-particle sodium tracer for long-range transport of the Kuwaiti oil-fire smoke

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:7078043

Evidence for long-range transport of the Kuwaiti oil-fire smoke during the months following the Persian Gulf War has been more or less indirect. However, more-recent data on the aerosol chemistry of Kuwaiti oil-fire plumes provides a direct link between those fires and aerosols collected at the Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) during the late spring and summer of 1991. By itself, temporal covariation of fine-particle concentrations of elemental carbon, sulfur, and the noncrustal V/Zn ratio in MLO aerosols suggested a link to large-scale oil-combustion sources, but not necessarily to Kuwait. However, high concentrations of fine-particle (0.1-1.0 microm diameter) NaCl were observed in the 'white' oil-fire plumes over Kuwait during the summer of 1991. In the absence of other demonstratable sources of fine-particle Na, these relationships provide a direct link between the Kuwaiti oil-fires and aerosol composition observed at MLO. (Copyright (c) 1993 American Geophysical Union.)

Research Organization:
Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States). Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Lab.
OSTI ID:
7078043
Report Number(s):
PB-94-170107/XAB; EPA--600/J-94/238
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English