• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.121-127
• /
• 1992

This study was carried out to investigate the features of air pollutants in rainwater and trace their transported trajectories from other countries. Chemical analysis data of rainwater and suspended particulates collected at Seoul, Kanghwa, and Taean for three years were used to evaluate the effects of long-range transport of air pollutants. Scavenging theory on washout and rainout effect during a rainy period was applied to estimate whether pollutants in the precipitation were long-range transported or not. On the other hand, precipitation weighted surface wind were evaluated to analyze the effect from local sources on atmospheric concentrations. As a result, contribution of air pollutants caused by anthropogenic sources in the precipitation which was identified to be long range transported was confirmed significantly high and trajectory of these pollutants was to be equivalent to 850mb isobar. Although concentration of acidifying components increased in the precipitation, neutralization by alkaline soil components such as $Ca^{2+}$ and $Mg^{2+}$ was conspicuous especially during Yellow-sand period.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.369-377
• /
• 2013

The trends of the criteria air pollutants' concentrations over Seoul are reviewed, relative contributions of major sources are discussd, and directions for future air quality management are suggested. It was shown that the yearly average concentrations of the criteria air pollutants except nitrogen dioxide and ozone have decreased significantly over the last three decades. Though the concentration of nitrogen dioxide has not decreased, the concentration of $NO_x$ has decreased significantly. The major reason for the reduction of the criteria air pollutants has been strict government regulations such as establishment of strict emission standards and switch to cleaner fuels. However, it is not clear the major reason (s) for the reduction of the $PM_{10}$ concentration. It is suggested that to further reduce the concentrations of secondary air pollutants such as ozone and $PM_{2.5}$, understanding the major chemical pathways for them is essential. In addition, influence from outside Seoul should be quantified and effectively controlled.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.113-132
• /
• 2003

In May 2001, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) for phasing out and eliminating POPs was signed by 90 countries at the Diplomatic Meeting in Stockholm. In 1998, three years before the Convention, the protocols on POPs and heavy metals were adopted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. Growing attention on POPs and heavy metals during the past 10 years is primarily due to their toxicity in minute quantities. POPs and some metal compounds are even more toxic because of their bioaccumulation potentials associated with a high lipid solubility. Furthermore, owing to their persistence and semi - volatility, they are widely distributed in the environment, traveling great distances on wind and water currents. Recent international cooperation to address POPs and heavy metals has focused on these issues. Long -range transport of those pollutants are particularly concerned since Korea is located downwind of prevailing westerlies from China. In this paper, a review is provided to assess the properties, sources, emissions, and atmospheric concentrations on POPs and heavy metals.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.217-227
• /
• 2013

Passive air samplers (PAS) have been developed since the early 2000s and widely used for the atmospheric monitoring of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). PAS are useful especially for the investigation of source-receptor relationship of POPs because they provide higher spatial resolution data. In Korea, however, only a few research groups have conducted POPs monitoring using PAS. One of the reasons for the limited application of PAS might be due to a complicated calculation method for air concentration. In this study, therefore, we introduced the principle of polyurethane foam (PUF)-PAS, which has been most widely used in the world, and provided an example of the calculation of air concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). As all data tables and equations for this calculation were provided, this method can be used for the conversion of the amount of POPs (ng) in a PUF disk to air concentration ($ng/m^3$).

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.555-563
• /
• 2005

This study presents the characteristics of nocturnal inversion layer and their effect on the concentration variations of surface air pollutants using tethersonde and automatic weather station (AWS, 2 layer tower) system in Ulsan during 2003, The method for the distinction of inversion intensity was decided based on the sum of nocturnal temperature gradient. As the results, there was a close correlation (correlation coefficient of 0,76) between the maximum inversion height obtained from tethersonde and the sum of nocturnal temperature gradient. The air pollutant concentration was also directly proportional to the inversion intensity. When the inversion intensity was strong in the nighttime, ozone $(O_3)$ concentration was lower, while nitrogen dioxide $(NO_2)$ concentration was higher. The carbon monoxide (CO) concentration was gradually higher according to the nocturnal inversion intensity, whereas sulfur dioxide $(SO_2)$ concentration was relatively constant. In addition, we found that there was no correlation between the inversion intensity and TSP concentration.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.321-330
• /
• 2018

Concentrations of the atmospheric radon and gaseous pollutants were measured at the Gosan site on Jeju Island from 2010 to 2015, in order to observe their time-series variation characteristics and examine the concentration change related to the airflow transport pathways. Based on the realtime monitoring of the atmospheric radon and gaseous pollutants, the daily mean concentrations of radon ($^{222}Rn$) and gaseous pollutants($SO_2$, CO, $O_3$, $NO_x$) were $2,400mBq\;m^{-3}$ and 1.3, 377.6, 41.1, 3.9 ppb, respectively. On monthly variations of radon, the mean concentration in October was the highest as $3,033mBq\;m^{-3}$, almost twice as that in July ($1,452mBq\;m^{-3}$). The diurnal variation of radon concentration shows bimodal curves at early morning (around 7 a.m.) and near midnight, whereas its lowest concentration was recorded at around 3 p.m. Several gaseous pollutants($SO_2$, CO, $NO_x$) showed a similar seasonal variation with radon concentration as high in winter and low in summer, whereas the $O_3$ concentrations had a bit different seasonal trend. According to the cluster back trajectory analysis, the frequencies of airflow pathways moving from continental North China, East China, Japan and the East Sea, the Korean Peninsula, and North Pacific Ocean routes were 36, 37, 10, 13, and 4%, respectively. When the airflow were moved to Jeju Island from continental China, the concentrations of radon and gaseous pollutants were relatively high. On the other hand, when the airflows were moved from North Pacific Ocean and East Sea, their concentrations were much lower than those from continental China.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.359-367
• /
• 1997

The Characteristics of atmospheric flow and dispersion of air pollutants in the mountainous coastal area were studied using three-dimensional model by the combination of land/sea breezes and transport. It was then applied to Pusan city. As the urban area considered In this study is located in a mountainous coastal area, the atmospheric flow is strongly affected by the land/sea breezes and mountain/valley winds. The typical effects of land/sea breezes on the dispersion and the characteristics of pollutants movement in the region were analysed. The model has been proved to be an useful tool to prodict real time air pollutants transport as shown by the results of application studies In Pusan, Korea which Is an urbanized coastal area with mountainous topography. It was found that the pollutants are differently transported and concentrated as going Inland by the Influence of the sea breeze with topographic changes. By comparing the pollutants concentrations of the stimulated results with those of the observational results, It is shown that stimulated results in this study are in qualitative agreement with observational ones.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.3-18
• /
• 2004

Neglecting the vertical transport from the surface, most of the previous studies on the long-range transport of pollutants have only considered the horizontal transport caused by the free atmosphere wind. I used a three dimensional numerical model, MM5 (The fifth generation Penn State Univ./NCAR Mesoscale Model) for the simulation of vertical transport of pollutants and investigated the mechanism of the vertical transport of atmospheric pollutants between planetary boundary layer(PBL) and free atmosphere by fronts. From the three dimensional simulation of MM5, the amount of pollutants transport from PBL to free atmosphere is 48% within 18 hour after the development of front, 55% within 24 hour, and 53% within 30 hour. The ratios of the vertically transported pollutant for different seasons are 62%, 60%, 54%, and 43% for spring, summer, fall, and winter, respectively. The most active areas for the vertical transport are the center of low pressure and the warm sector located east side of cold front, in which the strong upward motion slanted northward occurs. The horizontal advection of pollutants at the upper level is stronger than at the lower level simply because of the stronger wind speed. The simulation results shows the well known plum shape distribution of pollutants. The high concentration area is located in the center and north of the low pressure system, while the second highest concentration area is in the warm sector. It is shown that the most important mechanism for the vertical transport is vertical advection, while the vertical diffusion process plays an important role in the redistribution of pollutants in the PBL.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.128-138
• /
• 2014

This study has analyzed the concentration variation of four air pollutants ($PM_{10}$, $NO_2$, CO, and $SO_2$) during the typhoon periods over 10 years (2002~2011). In this study, 10 typhoon events which had rainfalls in Korean Peninsula were selected during the study period. The analysis was performed using the observation data of both the air pollutants and rainfall. In order to examine and compare the concentrations of the air pollutants between normal periods and typhoon periods, we have obtained monthly average concentrations from July to September and daily average concentrations during typhoon periods. For the period from July to September, 34% of the total rainfalls can be explained by typhoons, and the concentration of air pollutants during the typhoon period was lower than the normal period. In addition, the concentration variations of the pollutants during the typhoon period were analyzed according to two categories: differences in the concentrations between the day before and the day of the typhoon (Case 1) and between the day before and after the typhoon (Case 2). The results indicated that the reduction rate of $PM_{10}$, $NO_2$, CO, and $SO_2$ was 30.1%, 17.9%, 11.6%, 9.7% (Case 1) and 22.8%, 21.0%, 9.0%, 8.0% (Case 2), respectively. This result suggested that air quality was significantly improved during the typhoon period than after the typhoon period by the rainfall.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.215-220
• /
• 2005

The atmospheric transportation and dispersion processes of air pollutants are important issues in dealing with air pollution problems. Air pollutants originated from biological and anthropogenic activities are not only limited to the local emission sources, but could also be transported and dispersed to other regions by synoptic weather systems. Besides, the complexity of topography of central Taiwan helps accumulating air pollutants to promote high-concentration episodes. The techniques of tethersonding were applied to monitor the vertical profiles of winds, air temperatures and humidity, as well as to collect air samples, to be analyzed for pollutants $(O_3,\;NO_2,\;NO\;and\; NMHC)$ from the ground up to 1000m. A time period of about one week, 19-26 October 2002, was chosen as the sampling period due to the high frequency of episode occurrence in autumn based on the past records. Associating with the analysis of weather patterns, the atmospheric characteristics over high-concentration areas can be resolved in more detail. The result of the tethersonding studies showed that weak northerly sea breeze (with thickness about 300m) with low wind speed (about 1 to 2 m/sec) could help develop high ozone concentrations in the down-wind areas. It is also important to have a built-up aloft of precursors and ozone to develop high concentration on the previous day.