EVIDENCE FOR LONG-RANGE TRANSPORT OF AEROSOL FROM THE KUWAITI OIL FIRES TO HAWAII

To detect long-range transport of Kuwaiti oil-fire smoke, fine-particle aerosol samples were collected on a weekly basis from May through July 1991 at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Monitoring and Diagnostic Laboratory's Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO, 19.5-degrees-N, 155.6-degrees-W) at an altitude of 3.4 km in the free troposphere and at a sea level site in the marine boundary layer on the island of Oahu (21.4-degrees-N, 157.7-degrees-W). Samplers were sector controlled by wind speed and direction to operate only during on-shore flow at the coastal Oahu site and during downslope flow at Mauna Loa. Cloud and rainwater samples were also collected at a windward site on the island of Hawaii. A hand-held sun photometer was used at MLO to determine aerosol optical depths at three wavelengths. Aerosol samples were analyzed for trace elements and elemental (EC) and organic (OC) carbon. EC concentrations and temporal variations were similar at both sites. At MLO, concentrations of S, Pb, Zn, As, Sb, and Si covaried with that of EC. MLO vanadium crustal enrichment factors ranged from 1 to 2.5. The noncrustal V/Zn ratios of several samples indicated a higher level of oil-combustion emissions than would be expected from regional emissions from Japan or China. Cloud and rainwater measurements indicated a preferential fractionation of V, Mn, and I to the cloud water. The results of this experiment are evidence for (1) long-range transport of pollution and crustal aerosol from Asia and/or North America to Mauna Loa and (2) the possible influence of the Kuwaiti oil fires at Mauna Loa and Oahu.