In order to characterize the long-term trend of remote marine aerosols, a 12-year observation was conducted for water-soluble ions in TSP (total suspended particulate) aerosols collected from 2001 to 2012 in the Asian outflow region at Chichijima Island in the western North Pacific. We found a clear difference in chemical composition between the continentally affected and marine background air masses over the observation site.

Biomass burning (BB) largely modifies the chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols on the globe. We collected aerosol samples (TSP) at Cape Hedo, on subtropical
Okinawa Island, from October 2009 to February 2012 to study anhydrosugars as BB tracers. Levoglucosan was detected as the dominant anhydrosugar followed by its isomers, mannosan and galactosan.