The mixture state of individual aerosol particles in the 1997 Indonesian haze episode

The mixture state of individual aerosol particles collected at altitudes of 1– 5 km on 23 and 25 October 1997, from an aircraft flying over southern Kalimantan during the 1997 Indonesian forest fires, has been examined using the dialyses of water-soluble material with water, and organic material with benzene in conjunction with electron microscopy. Individual aerosol particles in the radius range of 0.1– 2 μm were mainly present as an internal mixture of water-soluble organic material and inorganic salt (mainly ammonium sulfate). Although material comprised of chain aggregations of electron-opaque spherules (elemental carbon) was also found, the proportion of these was small.