Monitoring of ionic concentrations in airborne particles and rain water in an urban area of central Germany

The primary objective of this investigation was to document fluctuations of levels of ions in airborne particles and in rain water with the help of ion chromatography. The environmental emission situation in the investigated geographic area is characterized by a widespread use of domestic coal-burning furnaces. The use of a parallel impactor for particulate sampling permits the results to be interpreted additionally in terms of particle size. The anions and cations were extracted from the filters in the sampling devices into ethanol-water mixtures by sonication. Rain water samples were analysed after a simple dilution step. The data obtained on ionic fluctuations are compared with similar data sets published by other laboratories.