Case Study of the Heavy Asian Dust Observed in Late February 2015

2015년 2월 관측된 고농도 황사 사례 연구

Asian dust is a seasonal meteorological phenomenon influencing most East Asia, irregularly occurring during spring. Unusual heavy Asian dust event in winter was observed in Seoul, Korea, with up to $1,044{\mu}g\;m^{-3}$ of hourly mean $PM_{10}$, in 22~23 February 2015. Causes of such infrequent event has been studied using both ground based and spaceborne observations, as well as numerical simulations including ECMWF ERA Interim reanalysis, NOAA HYSPLIT backward trajectory analysis, and ADAM2-Haze simulation. Analysis showed that southern Mongolia and northern China, one of the areas for dust origins, had been warm and dry condition, i.e. no snow depth, soil temperature of ${\sim}0^{\circ}C$, and cumulative rainfall of 1 mm in February, along with strong surface winds higher than critical wind speed of $6{\sim}7.5m\;s^{-1}$ during 20~21 February. While Jurihe, China, ($42^{\circ}23^{\prime}56^{{\prime}{\prime}}N$, $112^{\circ}53^{\prime}58^{{\prime}{\prime}}E$) experienced $9,308{\mu}g\;m^{-3}$ of hourly mean surface $PM_{10}$ during the period, the Asian dust had affected the Korean Peninsula within 24 hours traveling through strong north-westerly wind at ~2 km altitude. KMA issued Asian dust alert from 1100 KST on 22nd to 2200 KST on 23rd since above $400{\mu}g\;m^{-3}$ of hourly mean surface $PM_{10}$. It is also important to note that, previously to arrival of the Asian dust, the Korean Peninsula was affected by anthropogenic air pollutants ($NO_3^-$, $SO_4^{2-}$, and $NH_4^+$) originated from the megacities and large industrial areas in northeast China. In addition, this study suggests using various data sets from modeling and observations as well as improving predictability of the ADAM2-Haze model itself, in order to more accurately predict the occurrence and impacts of the Asian dust over the Korean peninsula.