• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.99-103
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• 2013

Objectives: This paper was prepared in memory of Jerry Sherwood, who provided a significant contribution to the Korean environmental and occupational health fields. Methods: Rare air quality data in Seoul were gathered by Jerry Sherwood when he visited Korea in the early 1980s. $SO_2$ and TPM concentrations were measured. These air quality measurements were based on ambient stationary monitoring and indoor air quality monitoring in various locations. Measurement during transportation was also applied. Results: Ambient $SO_2$ and TPM concentrations in Seoul were very high in the early 1980s. Ambient $SO_2$ concentrations were higher at nighttime. While ambient $SO_2$ concentrations varied by location, the Guro industrial area showed high levels. When indoor sources were presented, indoor $SO_2$ concentration was higher than outdoor level. Coal briquettes were closely associated with high indoor $SO_2$ concentration. Conclusion: This paper provided valuable historical information of air quality in Seoul.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.807-814
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• 1995

Accurate measurements of ozone precursors are required to understand the process and extent of ozone formation in rural and urban areas. Nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) have been identified as important ozone precursors. Identification and quantification of NMHCs are difficult because of the large number present and the wide molecular weight range encountered in typical air samples. A major plan of the research team of the Climate and Air Quality Taiwan Station (CATs) was the measurement of atmospheric nonmethane hydrocarbons. An analytical method has been development for the analysis of the individual nonmethane hydrocarbons in ambient air at ppb (v) and subppb(v) levels. The whole ambient air samples were collected in canisters and analyzed by GC-FID with $Al_2O_3$/KCl PLOT column. Our targeted for quantitative analysis 43 compounds that may be substantial contributors to ozone formation. The retention indices and molar response factors of some commercially available $C_2{\sim}C_{10}$ hydrocarbons were determined and used to identify and quantify air samples. A quality assurance program was instituted to ensure that good measurements were made by participating in the International Nonmethane Hydrocarbon Intercomparison Experiments (NOMHICE).

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.128-134
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• 2015

This paper focuses on the applicability of a continuous monitoring method on trace sulfur compounds in the ambient air by TD and GC/PFPD. The target compounds for monitoring include H2S(hydrogen sulfide), Methyl mercaptan, Dimethyl Sulfide, and Dimethyl disulfide. The result of QA/QC on monitoring instruments satisfies all the standards of Odor Measurement and Analysis Method, showing that the reproductivity of the compounds by concentration is within 10%, linearity is above 0.98 of a correlation efficient, method detection limit is 0.16 ppb by MM standard, and recovery rate is over 70%. Monitoring was conducted for two years from March 2006 to February 2008. As a result of the monitoring, the average concentration of H2S was 0.08 ppb, with the maximum concentration at 16.15 ppb. The result indicates that it is reasonable to do continuous monitoring as there appears a spontaneous event of high concentration by the condition of the site during monitoring odor-causing substances. Therefore, it is suggested that the continuous monitoring method used in this paper is appropriate to identify the characteristics of sudden occurrence and concentration variations of sulfur compounds.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.355-362
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• 2002

There has been relatively a few studies that focused on evaluation of uncertainty for standard methods by which criteria pollutants are analyzed in ambient air. Especially, uncertainty evaluation has not been made yet for sampling and analysis of airborne NO$_2$. Ambient NO$_2$ has been thought to be a major criteria pollutant worldwide because of the potential of ozone formation as well as of its own toxicity. In this study, we tried to assess uncertainties associated with the every step of sampling and of analytical procedure of Griess-Saltzman method. Quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) were also emphasized with the uncertainty characterization. The use of Griess-Saltzman method for ambient NO$_2$ analysis showed very uniform daily concentration distribution with the mean of 10.8 ppb and the standard deviation of 1.08ppb during the sampling period. However, seven daily samples collected at the same sampling time and place exhibited highly different concentration distribution. Therefore, we evaluated uncertainties associated with sampling and analysis through the precise application of ISO Guide. Estimates of expanded uncertainties for a total of 62 samples fell in a relatively broad range of 5.17% to 11.85%. On the other hand. the expanded uncertainties were smaller for the high concentration range of greater than 15ppb.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.139-151
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to understand distributional characteristics in the atmospheric concentrations of $O_3$ and its precursors based on data taken at the southern Korean coast. The average $O_3$ concentration in the high altitude was found to range from 32.3 to 90.8 ppb with a maximum concentration of 132 ppb. The ambient $O_3$ concentration was high at altitudes of 1000 m and 500 m above the southern sea near Gwangyang Bay and an industrial area containing emission sources. The daily mean concentrations of $NO_y$ and CO were 6.7-24.2 ppb and 0.152-0.487 ppm, respectively. During the aerial measurement period, the highest mean concentration of $O_3$ was observed on June 1. The aerial measurement results showed that the maximum ozone concentration was observed to be 132 ppb in the high altitude the southernmost part of Yeosu. The measurement of vertical wind fields in the air indicated that $O_3$ formed in the southernmost part of Yeosu was transported by strong southwesterly winds to the northeast of Gwangyang Bay. This led to a ground $O_3$ concentration of over 100 ppb in Jinju, the northeastern part of Gwangyang Bay. On August 9, when the maximum $O_3$ concentration was 50 ppb, the measurement results showed that $O_3$ concentrations were relatively low compared to other days. In particular, low $NO_2$ and TVOC concentrations were observed, both of which serve to form $O_3$ in photochemical reactions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.183-186
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• 2003

To evaluate the effect of air pollution on respiratory health in children, we conducted a longitudinal study in which children were asked to record their daily levels of peak expiratory flow rate using potable peak flow meter (mini-Wright) far 4 weeks. The relationship between daily PEFR and ambient air particle levels was analyzed using a mixed linear regression models including gender, age in you, weight, the presence of respiratory symptoms, and relative humidity as an extraneous variable. The daily mean concentrations of PM$\_$10/ and PM$\_$2.5/ over the study period were 64.9$\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ and 46. l$\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥, respectively. The range of daily measured PEFR in this study was 170-481 l/min. Daily mean PEFR was regressed with the 24-hour. average PM$\_$10/ (or PM$\_$2.5/) levels, weather information such as air temperature and relative humidity, and individual characteristics including sex, weight, and respiratory symptoms. The analysis showed that the increase of air particle concentrations was negatively associated with the variability in PEFR. We estimated that the IQR increment of PM$\_$10/ or PM$\_$2.5/ were associated with 1.5 l/min (95% Confidence intervals -3.1, 0.1) and 0.8 l/min (95% Cl -1.8, 0.1) decline in PEFR. Even though this study shows negative findings on the relationship between respiratory function and air particles, it is worth noting that the findings must be interpreted cautiously because exposure measurement based on monitoring of ambient air likely results in misclassification of true exposure levels and this is the first Korean study that PM$\_$2.5/ measurement is applied as an index of air particle quality.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.534-544
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• 2011

The secondary aerosol forming potential of ambient air was first measured with the Potential Aerosol Mass(PAM) chamber at Gosan supersite on Jeju island from October 22 to November 5, 2010. PAM chamber is a small flowthrough photo-oxidation chamber with extremely high OH and $O_3$ levels. The OH exposure in the PAM chamber was $(2{\pm}0.4){\times}10^{11}{\sim}(6{\pm}1.2){\times}10^{11}$ molecules $cm^{-3}$ s and was similar to 2 to 5 days of aging in the atmosphere. By periodically turning on and off UV lamps in the PAM chamber, ambient aerosol and newly formed aerosol (e.g. called as PAM aerosol) was alternately measured. Aerosol number and mass concentration in the range of 10~487 nm in diameter was measured by SMPS 3034. With UV lamps on, the nucleation mode particles smaller than 50 nm in diameters were formed. Their number concentration was greater than 105 $cm^{-3}$, leading to increase in aerosol mass by 0~8 ${\mu}gm^{-3}$. The variations of PAM and ambient aerosols were greatly dependent on characteristics of air masses such as precursor concentrations and degree of aging. This preliminary results suggests that PAM chamber is useful to assess the aerosol formation potential of air mass and its impact on the air quality. The further analysis of data with gaseous and particulate measurements will be done.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.27-34
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• 2022

Atmospheric aerosols have become a major environmental concern because of their adverse effects on human health, air quality, and climate change. Over the last few decades, several mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques have been developed and applied in the field of atmospheric aerosol research. Particularly, real-time measurement of ambient aerosols using an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) has become one of the most powerful tools for aerosol chemistry. This review provides a brief description of AMS and its applications for understanding the physicochemical properties of atmospheric aerosols, as well as its sources and evolution processes.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.49-59
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• 2020

Various devices have been developed to the measurement of particulate matter pollutants, and Optical Particle Counter (OPC) that can be easily and quickly measured is widely used lately. The measured value by OPC is converted to weight concentration using the correction factor (CF). The calculation of CF is very important to improve the reliability and accuracy of OPC. In this study, the CF calculation study of light scattering laser photometer (model 8533, TSI) was carried out to measure in the atmospheric environment using 2 gravimetric devices and 3 light scattering laser photometer devices. Regression analysis and Tukey tests were used to significance the test of measurement devices. Measurements were carried out twice. There was a comparative analysis of measurement data between light scattering laser photometer and gravimetric devices in 1st measurement, and then the Evaluation of PM2.5 concentration corrected by CF performed in 2nd measurement. As a result of the significance analysis between light scattering laser photometer and gravimetric devices, the correlation between the same method was high, but the correlation between different methods was low. CF was calculated as 0.4258 based on the measurement results, and it is a similar level to previous studies at home and abroad. It is expected that these results can be used as basic data in the future study for air quality measurement research using light scattering laser photometer. Also, in order to improve the accuracy of the measurement techniques and the development of technology in the atmospheric environment, CF calculation research should be conducted continuously.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.4 s.91
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• pp.304-315
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• 2006

This study is performed to reexamine the association between ambient air pollution and daily mortality in seven major cities of Korea using a method of meta-analysis with the data filed for the period 1998-2001. These cities account for half of the Korean population (about 23 million). The observed concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO, mean=1.08 ppm), ozone ($O_3$, mean=33.97 ppb), particulate matter less than 10 ${\mu}m$ ($PM_{10},\;mean=57.11\;{\mu}g/m^3$), nitrogen dioxide ($NO_2$, mean=25.09 ppb), and sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$, mean=9.14 ppb) during the study period were at levels below Korea's current ambient air quality standards. Generalized additive models were applied to allow for the highly flexible fitting of seasonal and long-term time trends in air pollution as well as nonlinear associations with weather variables, such as air temperature and relative humidity. Also, we calculated a weighted mean as a meta-analysis summary of the estimates and its standard error. In city-specific analyses, an increase of $41.17{\mu}g/m^3(IQR)\;of\;PM_{10}$ corresponded to $1{\sim}12%$ more deaths, given constant weather conditions. Like most of air pollution epidemiologic studies, this meta-analysis cannot avoid fleeing from measurement misclassification since no personal measurement was taken. However, we can expect that a measurement bias be reduced in district-specific estimate since a monitoring station is better representative of air quality of the matched district. Significant heterogeneity was found for the effect of all pollutants. The estimated relative risks from meta-like analysis increased compared to those relative risks from pooled analysis. The similar results to those from the previous studies indicated existence of health effect of air pollution at current levels in many industrialized countries, including Korea.