• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.411-429
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• 2015

The Korea Ministry of Environment has established an air quality standard for $PM_{2.5}$ in 2012 and it is effective from January 2015. In this study, we review various aspects of $PM_{2.5}$ in China, including its measurement, modeling, source apportionment, and health effect, and suggest future research directions for $PM_{2.5}$ studies in Korea. Measurements studies for $PM_{2.5}$ have examined organic marker compounds and $^{14}C$ as well as inorganic aerosols for distinguishing sources. Modeling results supported that the control of $PM_{2.5}$ pollution in big city needs effective cooperation between city and its surrounding regions. The major $PM_{2.5}$ sources in China have been identified to be secondary sulfur, motor vehicle emissions, coal combustion, dust, biomass burning, and industrial sources, however, they have seasonal dependency. Especially, the severe haze pollution event during January 2013 over eastern and northern China was driven to a large extent by secondary aerosol formation. Short-term exposure to $PM_{2.5}$ is strongly associated with the increased risk of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as total non-accidental mortality. Considered previous $PM_{2.5}$ studies in China, analysis of specific organic species using online measurement, chamber experiment for secondary aerosol formation mechanism, and development of parameterizing this process in the model are needed to elucidate factors governing the abundance and composition of $PM_{2.5}$ in Korea.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2011

Occupational nanomaterial exposure is an important issue in the manufacture of such products. People are also exposed to various nanoparticles in their living environments. In this study, we investigated nanoparticle formation during the reaction of ozone and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from a commercial air freshener, one of many widely used consumer products, in a $1-m^3$ reaction chamber. The air freshener contained various VOCs, particularly terpenes. A petri dish containing 0.5 mL of the air freshener specimen was placed in the bottom of the chamber, and ozone was continuously injected into the center of the chamber at a flow rate of 4 L/min with an ozone concentration of either 50, 100 or 200 ppb. Each test was conducted over a period of about 4 h. The higher ozone concentrations produced larger secondary nanoparticles at a faster rate. The amount of ozone reacted was highly correlated with the amount of aerosol formation. Ratios of reacted ozone concentration and of formed particle mass concentration for the three injected ozone concentrations of 50, 100 and 200 ppb were similar to one other; 4.6 : 1.9 : 1.0 and 4.7 : 2.2 : 1.0 for ozone and aerosol mass, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.64-74
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• 2017

In this study, we have analyzed relationship between the measured Water Soluble Organic Carbon (WSOC) concentrations and the estimated aerosol water content of $PM_{10}$ (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than or equal to $10{\mu}m$) for the period between September 2006 and August 2007 at Seoul, Korea. Water content of $PM_{10}$ was estimated by using a gas/particle equilibrium model, Simulating composition of Atmospheric Particles at Equilibrium 2 (SCAPE2). The WSOC concentrations showed low correlation with Elemental Carbon (EC), but Water Insoluble Organic Carbon (WISOC) were highly correlated with EC. It seemed that hydrophilic groups were produced by secondary formation rather than primary formation. As with the previous studies, WSOC showed good correlation with secondary ions ($NO_3{^-}$, $SO_4{^{2-}}$, $NH_4{^+}$), especially WSOC was highly correlated with $NO_3{^-}$ that is a secondary ion formed by photochemical oxidation from more local sources than $SO_4{^{2-}}$. No apparent correlation between the measured WSOC and estimated water content was observed. However, WSOC showed good correlation with estimated water content when it was assumed that relative humidity was higher than the deliquescence relative humidity of the system. In conclusion, WSOC is correlated with water content by hygroscopic ions and it is expected that nitrate play an important role among the water content and WSOC.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.594-603
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• 2008

A single particle analytical technique, named low-Z particle electron probe X-ray microanalysis, was applied to characterize four samples collected at an underground shopping area connected to Dongdeamun subway station, in January and May 2006. Based on the analysis of their chemical compositions of the samples, many distinctive particle types are identified and the major chemical species are observed to be soil-derived particles, iron-containing particles. sulfates. nitrates, and carbonaceous particles. which are encountered both in coarse and fine fractions. Carbonaceous particles exist in carbon-rich and organic. Soil derived particles such as aluminosilicates, AlSi/C, $CaCO_3\;and\;SiO_2$ are more frequently encountered in spring samples than winter samples. Nitrate- and sulfate-con taming particles are more frequently encountered in winter samples, and those nitrate- and sulfate-containing particles mostly exist in the chemical forms of $Ca(CO_3,\;NO_3),\;Ca(NO_3,\;SO_4),\;(Na,\;Mg)NO_3\;and\;(Mg,\;Na)(NO_3,\;SO_4)$. Fe-containing particles which came from nearby subway platform are in the range of about 10% relative abundances for all the samples. It is observed that nitrate- and sulfate-containing particles and carbonaceous particles are much more frequently encountered in indoor aerosol samples than in outdoor aerosols, implying that $NO_x,\;SO_x$, and VOCs at the underground shopping area were more partitioned into aerosol phase.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.377-387
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• 1996

This study was carried out to monitor the visibility including measurement and analysis of the various parameters such as particle size distribution, chemical composition, and meteorotical conditions to understand the characteristics and causes of this phenomenon. According to the analysis of intensive sampling, $SO_4^{2-}, NO-3^-, Cl^-, NH_4^+$ ion concentration increased together with the mass concentration around 1 $\mu$m in the case of low visibility. $(NH_4)_2SO_4, NH_4NO_3$, and $NH_4Cl$ were thought to be the major components of fine particles. The statistical analysis showed that the scattering effect of particle was 81.2%, the absorption effect was 14.9%. Therefore, these effects were the major factors to reduce the visibility. In conclusion, the visibility was reduced by the fine particle of sulfate (18.6%), nitrate (14.2%), organic carbon (10.8%), element carbon (25.8%), and residual (24.8%) during this study.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.19 no.E1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2003

To characterize airborne particulate carbon and its temporal variation in the heavily industrialized metropolitan city, Seoul in South Korea, aerosol sampling was performed from 1986 to 1996. Correlation coefficients of elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) with mass concentration of fine particles ($\underline{\leq}$2.1 ${\mu}m$) are 0.73 and 0.51, respectively. EC concentrations of the fine particle mode are 10.1, 5.9, 4.5, and 7.4 ${\mu}g\;m^{-3}$ in winter, spring, summer, and autumn, respectively. On the other hand, OC concentration shows maximum value in winter and followed by autumn, summer, and spring. A seasonal peak in the ratio of OC to EC in fine particles was observed during the summer photochemical season from June to August. Concentrations of EC and OC in Asian dust storm events are generally higher than in non- Asian dust storm events except in 1990. The difference of EC concentrations between Asian dust storm periods and non-Asian dust storm periods are much larger than those of OC concentrations. There are slight increases of EC concentration between 1987 and 1990 and a gradual decrease between 1990 and 1996.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.157-163
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• 2011

Atmospheric aerosol deposition caused by Asian dust (KOSA) events provide nutrients, trace metals, and organic compounds over the Pacific Ocean that enhance ocean productivity and carbon sequestration and, thus, influence the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and climate. Using dust particles obtained from the snow layers on Mt. Tateyama and the surface sand of Loess Plateau in incubation experiments with natural seawater samples on a shipboard, we demonstrate that dust-particle additions enhanced the bacterial growth on the first day of incubation. Gram-positive bacterial group and alpha-proteobacteria were specifically detected form seawater samples including the mineral particles. Although the remarkable dynamics of trace elements and nutrients depend on dust-particle additions, it is possible that organic compounds present in the mineral particles or transported microbial cells could also contribute to an increase in the quantities of bacteria. The chlorophyll concentrations at fractions of every size indicated a similar pattern of change between the seawater samples with and without the dust-particle additions. In contrast, the chlorophyll measurement using submersible fluorometer revealed that the dynamics of phytoplankton composition were influenced by the dust-particles treatments. We conclude that the phytoplankton that uses the bacterial products would increase their biomass. We show that KOSA deposition can potentially alter the structures of bacterial communities and indirectly influence the patterns of marine primary production in the Pacific Ocean.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.91-104
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• 2019

In this study, hourly measurements of $PM_{2.5}$ and its major chemical constituents such as organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), and ionic species were made between January 15 and February 10, 2018 at the air pollution intensive monitering station in Gwangju. In addition, 24-hr integrated $PM_{2.5}$ samples were collected at the same site and analyzed for OC, EC, water-soluble OC (WSOC), humic-like substance (HULIS), and ionic species. Over the whole study period, the organic aerosols (=$1.6{\times}OC$) and $NO_3{^-}$ concentrations contributed 26.6% and 21.0% to $PM_{2.5}$, respectively. OC and EC concentrations were mainly attributed to traffic emissions with some contribution from biomass burning emissions. Moreover, strong correlations of OC with WSOC, HULIS, and $NO_3{^-}$ suggest that some of the organic aerosols were likely formed through atmospheric oxidation processes of hydrocarbon compounds from traffic emissions. For the period between January 18 and 22 when $PM_{2.5}$ pollution episode occurred, concentrations of three secondary ionic species ($=SO{_4}^{2-}+NO_3{^-}+NH_4{^+}$) and organic matter contributed on average 50.8 and 20.1% of $PM_{2.5}$, respectively, with the highest contribution from $NO_3{^-}$. Synoptic charts, air mass backward trajectories, and local meteorological conditions supported that high $PM_{2.5}$ pollution was resulted from long-range transport of haze particles lingering over northeastern China, accumulation of local emissions, and local production of secondary aerosols. During the $PM_{2.5}$ pollution episode, enhanced $SO{_4}^{2-}$ was more due to the long-range transport of aerosol particles from China rather than local secondary production from $SO_2$. Increasing rate in $NO_3{^-}$ was substantially greater than $NO_2$ and $SO{_4}^{2-}$ increasing rates, suggesting that the increased concentration of $NO_3{^-}$ during the pollution episode was attributed to enhanced formation of local $NO_3{^-}$ through heterogenous reactions of $NO_2$, rather than impact by long-range transportation from China.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.281-289
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• 2020

Environmental fate of ionizable organic pollutants such as perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are of increasing interest but has not been well understood because of uncertain values for parameters related with atmospheric interphase partitioning behavior. In the present study, not only the values for air-water partition coefficient (K_AW) and dissociation constant (pKa) of PFAAs were induced by adjusting to in situ measurements of air-water distribution coefficient between vapor phase and rainwater but also gas-particle partition coefficients were also estimated using three-phase partitioning model of ionizable organic pollutants, in situ measurements of PFAAs in aerosol and air vapor phase, and obtained parameter values. The pKa values of PFAAs we obtained were close to the minimum values suggested in literature except for perfluorooctane sulfonic acids, and COSMOtherm-modeled K_AW values were assessed to more appropriate among suggested values. When applying parameter values we obtained, it was predicted that air particle-associated fate and transport of PFAAs could be negligible and PFAAs could distribute ubiquitously along the transection from urban to rural region by pH-dependent phase transfer in air. Our study is expected to have some implications in prediction of the environmental redistribution of other ionizable organic compounds.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.255-271
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• 2011

ACE-Asia (Asian Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiment) in spring 2001 was a turning point to trigger international research interest on Asian dust (AD). This basically arose from the lack of research on AD, the important natural phenomenon to characterize the Northeast Asia. In contrast, health risk related to AD has been the primary concern in Korea. Although due in part to severe AD events of 2001~2002, research and mitigation measures on AD in Korea are typically based on the assumption that AD events are increasing in frequency and severity. However, contrary to the trend in Korea, the number of AD days and emission amounts of AD in China have decreased since 1980s. This paper reviews the impacts of AD on ambient air quality and variations in toxic substances during the AD event, reflecting the concern in Korea. While a great amount of dust particles flow into Korea during the AD event, a considerable amount of dust particles are locally generated as well. Since dust particles are mixed with toxic substances as they pass over polluted areas, the levels of toxic substances become lower in dust particles that do not pass over polluted areas. Broadening the research scope on AD is warranted to understand the AD as an important natural phenomenon, irrespective of its associated health risk.