We deal with aerosol sampling and analysis. The sampling stations are equipped by the two-stage GENT samplers allowing the separation of PM10-2.5 and PM2.5 fractions. For proper operation an air flow of 15 l/min is required. Normally, the aerosols are deposited onto the 8 µm and 0.4 µm Nuclepore filters. If longer exposure times than 1 day are needed the PM10 dust is collected onto the quartz filters. These samplers are occasionally equipped by meteorological station, measuring the wind speed and direction, as well as the air temperature and humidity. As an option, the station commands the valve controller which directs the air flow into different samplers, according to the actual wind direction and speed and therefore allows the long-term dust sampling in correlation with the specific wind conditions.
A fine particle size distribution can be measured by the cascade impactor which allows a collection of 9 size fractions in parallel, sorting the dust particles in the size range from 60 nm up to 16 µm. A streaker sampler is used if longer, time resolved measurements of PM10 concentrations (1 hour resolution) are required. In this case the air flow is restricted to 1 l/min.
nalysis of aerosol samples can be done by precise weighting (usually only weekly samples) or by PIXE method. Concentrations for a range of elements (Ka lines from Na to Mo, also La lines: Pb, Bi..) can be measured simultaneously by two x-ray detectors which observe the sample excited by 2 MeV protons.