• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.38-55
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• 2018

Hourly measurements of $PM_{2.5}$ mass, organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), and water-soluble ionic species were made at the air quality intensive monitoring stations in Baengryeongdo (BR) and Seoul (SL) during the winter (December 01~31, 2013) and summer (July 10~23, 2014) periods, to investigate the increase of $PM_{2.5}$ and secondary ionic species and the reasons leading to their increase during the two seasons. During winter, $PM_{2.5}$ and its major chemical species concentrations were higher at SL than at BR. Contribution of organic mass to $PM_{2.5}$ was approximately 1.7 times higher at BR than at SL, but the $NO_3{^-}$ contribution was two times higher at SL. Total concentration of secondary ionic species ($SO{_4}^{2-}$, $NO_3{^-}$, and $NH_4{^+}$) at BR and SL sites accounted for 29.1 and 40.1% of $PM_{2.5}$, respectively. However, during summer, no significant difference in chemical composition of $PM_{2.5}$ was found between the two sites with the exception of $SO{_4}^{2-}$. Total concentration of the secondary ionic species constituted on average 43.9% of $PM_{2.5}$ at BR and 53.0% at SL. A noticeable difference in chemical composition between the two sites during summer was attributed to $SO{_4}^{2-}$, with approximately twofold concentration and 10% higher contribution in SL. Low wind speed and high relative humidity were important factors in secondary formation of water-soluble ionic species during winter at SL, resulting in $PM_{2.5}$ increase. While the secondary formation during summer was attributed to strong photochemical processes in daytime and high relative humidity in nighttime hours. The increase of $PM_{2.5}$ and its secondary ionic species during the winter haze pollution period at SL was mainly caused either by long-range transport (LTP) from the eastern Chinese regions, or by local pollution. However, the increased $SO{_4}^{2-}$ and $NO_3{^-}$ during summer at SL were mainly caused by LTP, photochemical processes in daytime hours, and heterogeneous processes in nighttime hours.