• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.491-498
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• 2017

Objective: Bacterial abundance and community compositions have been examined in Asian dust events, clarifying their impacts on public health. This study aims to determine the bacterial community compositions and viable bacteria in Asian dust particles in the Asian dust or non-Asian dust event of March 2016. Methods: The dust samples were collected using the high volume air sampler or high volume cascade impactor, and bacterial 16S rRNA genes were amplified using PCR, followed by pyrosequencing. Bacterial diversity index, richness estimate and community composition in the particles were analyzed from the sequencing data using Mothur software. Results: The results showed that the diversity and richness during Asian dust events were higher than them in non-Asian dust events. The total bacterial community analysis showed that at the phylum Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes were the most dominant of Asian dust events and non-Asian dust events. In addition, the bacterial colony counts were higher during Asian dust event, comparing with non-Asian dust event. Conclusions: This study showed that bacterial community and richness of Asian dust samples was more complex and higher than non-Asian dust samples in Gyeonggi-do, Korea, which could affect public health and environment. Thus, the continuous monitoring of Asian dust could be an alternative for managing airborne bacteria.

• Atmosphere
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.399-414
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• 2010

Sand and dust storm in East Asia, so called Asian dust, is a seasonal meteorological phenomenon. Mostly in spring, dust particles blown into atmosphere in the arid area over northern China desert and Manchuria are transported to East Asia by prevailing flows. An Asian dust event occurred on 6-8 May 2007 is chosen to investigate how sensitive the Asian dust transport forecast to the initial condition uncertainties and to interpret the characteristics of sensitivity structures from the viewpoint of dynamics and predictability. To investigate the forecast sensitivities to the initial condition, adjoint sensitivities that calculate gradient of the forecast aspect (i.e., response function) with respect to the initial condition are used. The forecast aspects relevant to Asian dust transports are dry energy forecast error and lower tropospheric pressure forecast error. The results show that the sensitive regions for the dry energy forecast error and the lower tropospheric pressure forecast error are initially located in the vicinity of the trough and then propagate eastward as the surface low system moves eastward. The vertical structures of the adjoint sensitivities for the dry energy forecast error are upshear tilted structures, which are typical adjoint sensitivity structures for extratropical cyclones. Energy distribution of singular vectors also show very similar structures with the adjoint sensitivities for the dry energy forecast error. The adjoint sensitivities of the lower tropospheric pressure forecast error with respect to the relative vorticity show that the accurate forecast of the trough (or relative vorticity) location and intensity is essential to have better forecasts of the Asian dust event. Forecast error for the atmospheric circulation during the dust event is reduced 62.8% by extracting properly weighted adjoint sensitivity perturbations from the initial state. Linearity assumption holds generally well for this case. Dynamics of the Asian dust transport is closely associated with predictability of it, and the improvement in the overall forecast by the adjoint sensitivity perturbations implies that adjoint sensitivities would be beneficial in improving the forecast of Asian dust events.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.289-304
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• 2016

The $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ aerosols were collected at the Gosan site of Jeju Island in 2013 and analyzed, in order to examine the variation characteristics of the chemical compositions in relation to the haze, Asian dust, and mixed haze-Asian dust episodes. Volume concentrations obtained from the Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (APS) were high in the range of $0.6{\sim}1.0{\mu}m$ particles for haze event, and in the range of $2.0{\sim}10.0{\mu}m$ particles for Asian dust event. For the haze event, nitrate concentrations increased highly as 8.8 and 25.1 times for $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$, respectively, possibly caused by the inflow of air mass stagnated in eastern parts of China into Jeju area. For the Asian dust event, the concentrations of nss-$Ca^{2+}$, $NO_3{^-}$ and nss-$SO_4{^{2-}}$ increased 6.0, 1.5, 1.8 times for $PM_{10}$, and 2.3, 1.3, 1.6 times for $PM_{2.5}$, respectively. Meanwhile, for the mixed haze-Asian dust event, the concentrations of nss-$Ca^{2+}$ and $NO_3{^-}$ increased 13.4 and 3.2 times for $PM_{10}$, and 1.8 and 3.4 times for $PM_{2.5}$, respectively. The $NH_4NO_3$ content was higher than that of $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ during the haze event, however it was relatively low during the mixed haze-Asian dust event. The aerosols were acidified mostly by inorganic acids, and especially the nitric acid contributed highly to the acidification during both the haze and the mixed haze-Asian dust events. Meanwhile, the neutralization by ammonia was noticeably high during haze event when the stagnated air mass moved from China.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.408-421
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• 2007

The concentration characteristics of atmospheric particle matters (PM) including $PM_{2.5},\;PM_{10}$, and TSP were evaluated through the measurement data of PM_{2.5}$ (fine particulate), PM_{10-2.5}$ (coarse particulate), and PM_{over-10}$ collected using a MCI (multi-nozzle cascade impactor) sampler of a three-stage filter pack in spring of 2006 in Iksan area. During the sampling period of 10-15 March and 24 days from 8 April to 2 May, 32 samples for PM of each size fractions were collected, and then measured for PM mass concentrations and water-soluble inorganic ion species. Average concentrations of $PM_{2.5},\;PM_{10}$, TSP were $57.9{\pm}44.1mg/m^3$, $96.6{\pm}89.1mg/m^3$, and $114.8{\pm}99.7mg/m^3$, respectively. Water-soluble inorganic ion fractions to PM mass were found to be 36.5%, 18.0%, and 11.1% for $PM_{2.5}$, $PM_{10-2.5}$ and $PM_{over-10}$, respectively. By showing the high concentrations of PM samples during Asian dust events, those three fractions of PM were distinguished between the samples of Asian dust event and the samples of no event. However, the increase of PM concentrations observed during Asian dust events showed a different pattern for some Asian dust events. The differences of those three fractions in the size distribution may depend on differences on place of occurrence of Asian dust storm and course of transport from China continent to Iksan area in Korea. However, the extent of PM mass contribution during Asian dust events was generally dominated by the coarse particles rather than the fine fraction of PM. The variations of water-soluble inorganic ion species concentration in those three PM fractions between the samples of Asian dust event and the samples of no event were also discussed in this study.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2012

A case study was conducted for a severe wintertime dust event that occurred on December 29, 2007 in Korea. Three different dust emission schemes, namely, those of Marticorena and Bergametti (1995), Lu and Shao (1999), and Shao (2004) (hereinafter, referred to MB, LS, and S04 schemes, respectively) were implemented in Weather Research Forecast with Chemistry (WRF/Chem) to assess their performance in simulating wintertime Asian dust events. WRF/Chem simulation reproduces dust emission over Mongolia on December 27 and 28, 2007 and the onset timing of the dust event in Korea well. There is, however, a huge difference among the estimated dust emission amounts for the three schemes; the dust concentration derived by MB scheme is 6 times larger than that from LS scheme. The three schemes overestimate dust concentrations when comparing to observed surface-level $PM_{10}$ mass concentrations in Ganghwa, Seoul, and Yeongwol. This discrepancy is thought to be mainly due to the overestimated model winds and the surface condition such as snow cover fraction, which did not adequately represent the real conditions. Considering frozen soil effect on dust emission, the model results are comparable with observation data: it is important to consider frozen soil in simulating wintertime dust events.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.187-187
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• 2003

This study evaluated the potential usefulness of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene glucuronide (1-OHPG) and 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) as biomarkers of the Asian Dust event. Urine samples were collected from 224 subjects (112 children and 112 their mothers) from Seoul (n=60), Inchon (n=104) and Pohang (n=60) in South Korea. (omitted)

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.114-123
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• 2016

A change in chemical compositions of Asian dust (AD) particles can dramatically alter their optical properties, cloud-forming properties, and health effects. The present study was undertaken to evaluate this aging of AD particles by means of two complementary methods (i.e., the traditional spot test and the most advanced micro-PIXE analytical technique) for single particle analysis. Size-classified particles were sampled at the rural peninsula of Korea (Byunsan, 35.37N; 126.27E) during AD event and non-AD period in 2004. Sulfate was principally enriched on the particles in the size range of $7.65-10.85{\mu}m$ collected during AD event. The average number fraction of coarse particles ($>2.05{\mu}m$) containing chloride was 16.2% during AD event. Relatively low particles containing nitrate compared to those containing sulfate and chloride were found in AD event. Micro-PIXE elemental maps indicated that a large number of AD particles were internally mixed with man-made zinc. The highest peaks of EC and OC concentrations were appeared at $0.01-0.43{\mu}m$ particle aerodynamic diameter. High EC concentration in $PM_1$ was might be caused by the Saemangeum Seawall Project that was being conducted during our field measurement.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.02a
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• pp.49-64
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• 2004

o The risk of being admitted with respiratory disease is increased by 9% on the Asian dust day o The risk of cardiovascular admission is increased by 5% o During the great dust event in 2002, the counts of respiratory admission seems to be increased, but we couldn't observed the epidemic of respiratory disease o The Asian dust events are weakly associated with daily mortality

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.159-160
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• 2002

Soil dust particles transported from loess regions of the Asian continent, called Asian dust, highly influences the air quality of north-eastern Asia and the northern Pacific Ocean. The effects of these dust storms, on the chemical composition of atmospheric aerosol particles with different size, was investigated. Measurements of size distributions of total aerosol and major ion species were carried out on Jeju Island, Korea. (omitted)

• Atmosphere
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.267-277
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• 2008

The occurrence and strength of the Asian Dust over the Korea Peninsular have been increased by the expansion of the desert area. For the continuous monitoring of the Asian Dust event, the geostationary satellites provide useful information by detecting the outbreak of the event as well as the long-range transportation of dust. The Infrared Optical Depth Index (IODI) derived from the MTSAT-1R data, indicating a quantitative index of the dust intensity, has been produced in real-time at Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) since spring of 2007 for the forecast of Asian dust. The data processing algorithm for IODI consists of mainly two steps. The first step is to detect dust area by using brightness temperature difference between two thermal window channels which are influenced with different extinction coefficients by dust. Here we use dynamic threshold values based on the change of surface temperature. In the second step, the IODI is calculated using the ratio between current IR1 brightness temperature and the maximum brightness temperature of the last 10 days which we assume the clear sky. Validation with AOD retrieved from MODIS shows a good agreement over the ocean. Comparison of IODI with the ground based PM10 observation network in Korea shows distinct characteristics depending on the altitude of dust layer estimated from the Lidar data. In the case that the altitude of dust layer is relatively high, the intensity of IODI is larger than that of PM10. On the other hand, when the altitude of dust layer is lower, IODI seems to be relatively small comparing with PM10 measurement.