• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.393-402
• /
• 1999

Precipitation samples were collected by the wet-only sampling method in Iksan in the northwest of Chonbuk from March 1995 to February 1997. These samples were analyzed for the concentration of ion components, in addition to pH and electrical conductivity. The annual mean pH of precipitation was 4.8 and the seasonal trend of pH was shown to be low in Fall and Winter(4.5), middle-ranged in Spring(4.7) and high in Summer(5.0). The frequency of pH below 5.6 was about 71%. The seasonal pattern of pH frequency was found to be different in each season. In the case of the pH less than 5.0, the frequency was higher in Spring, Fall and Winter than in Summer, especially higher in Fall than in other seasons. The concentrations of analysed ions showed a pronounced seasonal pattern. However, major ion species for all seasons were $NH^+_4,;Ca^{2+};and;Na^+$ among cations and $SO^{2-}_4,;Cl^-;and;NO^-_3$ among anions. The major acidifying species appeared to be $nss-SO^{2-}_4;and;NO^-_3$, and the main bases responsible for the neutralization of precipitation acidity were $nss-Ca^{2+};and;NH^+_4$. The potential acidity of precipitation, pAi, was found to be between 3.0 and 5.0 for total samples, while the measured pH was approximately between 3.9 and 7.8. The seasonal trend of pAi showed a decreasing order: Summer (4.3), Winter(4.0), Spring and Fall(3.8). During the Fall, both pAi and pH were especially very low, which indicated that during this period the potential acidity of precipitation was high but the neutralizing capacity was low. For Spring, pAi was very low but pH was slightly high. This was likely due to the large amount of $CaCO_3$ in the soil particles transported over a long range from the Chinese continent that were incorporated into the precipitation, and then neutralized the acidifying species with its high concentraton.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.381-396
• /
• 2004

In order to understand the precipitation acidity and chemical composition of ion species in Iksan area as well as to know the difference of chemical characteristics in precipitation samples from the viewpoint of precipitation sampling method, precipitation samples were collected by wet-only automatic precipitation sampler and bulk manual precipitation sampler in Iksan, from March 2003 to August 2003. The mean pH of precipitation was 5.0. There was a little significant difference in the mean value of pH between automatic and manual sampler. However, pH values of some precipitation samples were lower in automatic sampler than in manual sampler, especially in case of precipitation samples with small rainfall for March 2003. The mean concentrations of each ions in precipitation were generally a little higher in precipitation samples collected by the manual sampler than in those collected by the automatic sampler because of accumulation of dry deposition on the surface of glass funnel installed at the manual sampler during the sampling period or no rainfall. Dominant species determining the acidity of precipitation, were N $H_4$$^{[-10]}$ and nss-C $a^{2+}$ for cations and nss-S $O_4$$^{2-}$ and N $O_3$$^{[-10]}$ for anions. The mean concentration of N $H_4$$^{+}$ and nss-C $a^{2+}$ were 31 $\mu$eq/L and 9 $\mu$eq/L for the automatic sampler and 40 ueq/L and 16 ueq/L for the manual sampler, respectively. In addition, nss-S $O_4$$^{2-}$ and N $O_3$$^{[-10]}$ were 27 $\mu$eq/L and 13 $\mu$eq/L for the automatic sampler and 32 $\mu$eq/L and 17 $\mu$eq/L for the manual sampler, respectively. Although the concentrations of the acidifying ions of nss-S $O_4$$^{2-}$ and N $O_3$$^{[-10]}$ were about 3 times higher than those for foreign pristine sites, precipitation acidity were estimated to be natural due to the neutralization reaction of the alkaline species of N $H_4$$^{+}$ and nss-C $a^{2+}$ with its higher concentrations. Considering the ratios of nss-S $O_4$$^{2-}$/N $O_4$$^{[-10]}$ nss-S $O_4$$^{2-}$, it was found that ammonium sulphate was dominant in Iksan precipitation. The major non-sea salt ions were maximum concentrations for March, but decreased with increasing of precipitation amount.on amount.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.62-68
• /
• 1996

Precipitation samples were collected by the wet-only event sampling method at Seoul from September 1991 to April 1995. Concentrations of samples for the ion components($NO_3^-, NO_2^-, SO_4^{2-}, Cl^-, F^-, Na^+, K^+, Ca^{2+}, Mg^{2+}$ and $NH_4^+$) were measured in addition to pH and electric conductivity. During the sampling period, 182 samples were collected, but only 163 samples were identified as valid. The pH, calculated from the volume-weighted $H^+$ concentration, was found to be 4.7, indicating a relatively intensive acidity compared with data from other regions of the world, where acid deposition was known to be a problem. Above all, the concentration of non-seasalt sulfate was $84 \mu eq/L$, which was the highest compared to that measured in other regions of the world. The major acidifying ions in the precipitation at Seoul were identified as sulfate and nitrate except for chloride, because the Cl/Na ratio in the precipitation was close to the ratio in seawater. If all of the non-seasalt sulfate and nitrate existed in the form of sulfuric and nitric acids, respectively, the average pH in the precipitation was calculated as 3.7, lower than the measured value. Consequently, the difference between the calculated and measured pH suggest that the acidity of precipitation was neutralized by alkaline species, not due to the low contribution of an anthropogenic air pollutants to the precipitation. The equivalent concentration ratio of sulfate to nitrate was 3.5, which indicated that the contributions of sulfuric and nitric acids to the precipitation acidity were 78% and 22%, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.343-355
• /
• 2005

Cloud/fog water was collected at Daegwallyeong, a typical clean environmental area, by using an active fog sampler during the foggy period in 2002, The pH ranged from 3,7 to 6,5 with a mean of 5,0, but the pH calculated from average concentrations of $H^+$ was 4.4. $SO_4^{2-},\;NO_3^-\;and\;NH_4^+$ were predominant ions with average concentrations of 473,3, 463,3 and $576,0\;{\mu}eq/L$, respectively, This showed that cloud/fog water was slightly acidified, but the concentrations of major pollutants were as high as those for polluted area, suggesting effect from long range transported pollutants, Samples were categorized into four groups (E, W, S, N) by applying 48-h back trajectory analysis using the Hybrid Single-Particle Largrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Concentrations of seasalt $(Na^+\;and\;Cl^-)$ were the highest for group E, indicating large input of seasalts by air masses transported from the East Sea. The concentrations of $SO_4^{2-}$ were slightly higher in group W but the difference was not significant. However, the concentrations of $NO_3^-$ were significantly higher in group W than those in other three groups, The median values of cloud/fog water pH for group N and W were below 4,5, which is significantly lower than median values in group E and group S, This suggests that the acidifying pollutants were transported from the Asia continents and Seoul metropolitan area cause acidification of the cloud/fog water in Daegwallyeong.