A Combination of the Frozen Raindrop Collection Method and a High-performance Capillary Electrophoresis Technique for the Size-resolved Raindrops Study

Although the importance of size-resolved raindrops study has been known, it has not been popularized up to the present. In the present study, an attempt was made to generalize the size-resolved raindrops study by a combination of the frozen raindrop collection method and a commercially available high-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE). Samplings were carried out at Kyoto, Japan in October 2002. The inorganic ions (chloride, nitrate, sulphate, calcium, ammonium, sodium, magnesium, potassium) in size classified raindrop samples were successfully analyzed by HPCE with good repeatability. To assure the accuracy and precision of HPCE data, t-test was conducted with paired analytical data, which were experimentally constructed by analyzing standard solutions with HPCE and IC, respectively. T-test showed that there is no notable difference between the concentrations determined by the two analytical methods. Every ionic concentration in both cation and anion was found to be strong raindrop size dependence. Though there was slight increase of sodium and sulphate concentrations between 0.85 mm and 1.15 mm raindrop radius, it showed a strong decrease for every ionic component with increasing droplet radius. The combination of the frozen raindrop collection method and a commercially available HPCE can meet the need of size-resolved raindrops study.