The importance of organic and elemental carbon in the fine atmospheric aerosol particles

At a forest clearing in the middle of the Great Hungarian Plain, fine aerosol samples were collected and analyzed to evaluate the relative contribution of carbonaceous species to the total fine aerosol mass. The fraction of organic compounds in fine aerosol mass was found to be about 50%, whereas the elemental carbon fraction was very low, contributing only 2% of the total mass. Very little diurnal variation was observed, although there was a minimum at dawn and several maxima during the day. The total concentration of all inorganic ions was less than 30% of the total fine aerosol mass.