The relationships between the concentration and the flux of chemical species (Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, Na+, K+, NH4+, Mg2+, Ca2+) versus snow accumulation rate were examined at GISP2 and 20D in Greenland, Mount Logan from the St. Elias Range, Yukon Territory, Canada, and Sentik Glacier from the northwest end of the Zanskar Range in the Indian Himalayas. At all sites, only nitrate flux is significantly (α=0.05) related to snow accumulation rate. Of all the chemical series, only nitrage concentration data are normally distributed. Therefore we suggest that nitrate concentration in snow is affected by postdepositional exchange with the atmosphere over a broad range of environmental conditions. The persistent summer maxima in nitrate observed in Greenland snow over the entire range of record studied (the last 800 years) may be mainly due to NOx released from peroxyacetyl nitrate the thermal decomposition in the presence of higher OH concentrations in summer. The late winter/early spring nitrage peak observed in modern Greenland snow may be related to the buildup of anthropogenically derived NOy in the Arctic troposphere during the long polar winter. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1994