Atmospheric pollutants study of particles and metallic elements during high wind speed (wind speed >6 m/s) near Taiwan Strait around central Taiwan.

The purpose of this study was to characterize metallic elements associated with atmospheric particulate matter in total suspended particulate (TSP), fine particles (particle matter with an aerodynamic diameter of <2.5 microm, PM2.5) and coarse particles (particle matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5-10 microm, PM2.5-10), at high wind speed (wind speed >6 m/s) at Taichung Harbor (TH) and Wuci traffic (WT) in central Taiwan from March to December 2004. The correlation coefficient (R2) between TSP, coarse, fine particulate concentrations versus wind speed at the TH and WT sampling site during high wind speed (>6 m/s) are shown in this study. In addition, the correlation coefficients between TSP, coarse and fine particles of metallic species versus high wind speed were also observed. The results indicated that the correlation coefficient order was TSP> coarse>fine for particles at both sampling sites during high wind speed (>6 m/s) near central Taiwan. In addition, the concentrations of Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Pb, Cr, Mg for TSP, coarse and fine particulates were also analysed in this study.