• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.77-90
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• 2022

Despite the decreasing trend of anthropogenic emissions in East Asia in recent years, haze days still frequently occur in spring. Atmospheric blocking, which occurs frequently in the northeastern Pacific, leads to persistent changes in large-scale circulation and blocks westerly flow in the East Asian region. During March 2019, frequent warm and stagnant synoptic meteorological conditions over East Asia were accompanied 6-7 days later by the Alaskan atmospheric blocking. The Alaskan atmospheric blocking over the period of March 18-24, 2019 led to high particulate matter (PM₁₀) severe haze days exceeding a daily average of 50 ㎍ m^-3 over the period of March 25-28, 2019 in South Korea. Although the high-PM₁₀ severe haze days were caused by warm and stagnant meteorological conditions, the regional contribution of anthropogenic emissions in eastern China was calculated to be 30-40% using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). The major regional contributions of PM₁₀ aerosols in the period of high-PM₁₀ severe haze days were as follows: nitrates, 20-25%; sulphates, 10-15%; ammonium, 5-10%; and other inorganics, 15-20%. Ammonium nitrate generated via gas-to-aerosol conversion in a warm and stagnant atmosphere largely contributed to the regional transport of PM₁₀ aerosols in the high-PM₁₀ severe haze days in South Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.239-254
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• 2015

Little information on HUmic-Like Substances (HULIS) in ambient particulate matter has been reported yet in Korea. HULIS makes up a significant fraction of the water-soluble organic mass in the atmospheric aerosols and influence their water uptake properties. In this study 24-hr $PM_{2.5}$ samples were collected between December 2013 and October 2014 at an urban site in Gwangju and analyzed for organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), water-soluble OC (WSOC), HULIS, and ionic species, to investigate possible sources and formation processes of HULIS. HULIS was separated using solid phase extraction method and quantified by total organic carbon analyzer. During the study period, HULIS concentration ranged from 0.19 to $5.65{\mu}gC/m^3$ with an average of $1.83{\pm}1.22{\mu}gC/m^3$, accounting for on average 45% of the WSOC (12~ 73%), with higher in cold season than in warm season. Strong correlation of WSOC with HULIS ($R^2=0.91$) indicates their similar chemical characteristics. On the basis of the relationships between HULIS and a variety of chemical species (EC, $K^+$, $NO_3{^-}$, $SO_4{^{2-}}$, and oxalate), it was postulated that HULIS observed during summer and winter were likely attributed to secondary formation and primary emissions from biomass burning (BB) and traffics. Stronger correlation of HULIS with $K^+$, which is a BB tracer, in winter ($R^2=0.81$) than in summer ($R^2=0.66$), suggests more significant contribution of BB emissions in winter to the observed HULIS. It is interesting to note that BB emissions may also have an influence on the HULIS in summer, but further study using levoglucosan that is a unique organic marker of BB emissions is required during summer. Higher correlation between HULIS and oxalate, which is mainly formed through cloud processing and/or photochemical oxidation processes, was found in the summer ($R^2=0.76$) than in the winter ($R^2=0.63$), reflecting a high fraction of secondary organic aerosol in the summer.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.88-94
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• 2012

One of the effective ways to reduce both $NO_x$ and PM at the same time in a diesel CI engine is to operate the engine in low temperature combustion (LTC) regimes. In general, two strategies are used to realize the LTC operation-dilution controlled LTC and late injection LTC - and in this study, the former approach was used. In the dilution controlled regime, LTC is achieved by supplying a large amount of EGR to the cylinder. The significant EGR gas increases the heat capacity of in-cylinder charge mixture while decreasing oxygen concentration of the charge, activating low temperature oxidation reaction and lowering PM and $NO_x$ emissions. However, use of high EGR levels also deteriorates combustion efficiency and engine power output. Therefore, it is widely considered to use increased intake pressure as a way to resolve this issue. In this study, the effects of intake pressure variations on performance and emission characteristics of a single cylinder diesel engine operated in LTC regimes were examined. LTC operation was achieved in less than 8% $O_2$ concentration and thus a simultaneous reduction of both PM and $NO_x$ emission was confirmed. As intake pressure increased, combustion efficiency was improved so that THC and CO emissions were decreased. A shift of the peak Soot location was also observed to lower $O_2$ concentration while $NO_x$ levels were kept nearly zero. In addition, an elevation of intake pressure enhanced engine power output as well as indicated thermal efficiency in LTC regimes. All these results suggested that LTC operation range can be extended and emissions can be further reduced by adjusting intake pressure.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1065-1076
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• 2016

This study analyzes the $PM_{10}$ characteristics (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than $10{\mu}m$), concentration, and emissions in eight large South Korean cities (Seoul, Incheon, Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju, Ulsan, Busan, Jeju). The annual median of $PM_{10}$ concentration showed a decline of $0.02{\sim}1.97{\mu}g/m^3$ in the regions, except for Incheon, which recorded an annual $0.02{\mu}g/m^3$ increase. The monthly distribution levels were high in spring, winter, fall, and the summer, but were lower in summer for all regions except for Ulsan. These differences are thought to be due to the dust in spring and the cleaning effect of precipitation in summer. The variation in concentrations during the day (diurnal variation) showed that $PM_{10}$ levels were very high during the rush hour and that this was most extreme in the cities (10.00 and 18.00-21.00). The total annual $PM_{10}$ emissions analysis suggested that there had been a general decrease, except for Jeju. On-road mobile (OM) sources, which contributed a large proportion of the particulates in most regions, decreased, but fugitive dust (FD) sources increased in the remaining regions, except for Daegu. The correlation analysis between $PM_{10}$ concentrations and emissions showed that FD could be used as a valid, positive predictor of $PM_{10}$ emissions in Seoul (74.5% (p<0.05)), Dajeon (47.2% (p<0.05)), and Busan (59.1% (p<0.01)). Furthermore, industrial combustion (IC) was also a significant predictor in Incheon (61.7% (p<0.01)), and on-road mobile (OC) sources were a valid predictor in Daegu (24.8% (p<0.05)).

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.497-514
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• 2017

This study quantitatively analyzes the effects of emission inventory choices on the simulated particulate matter (PM) concentrations and the domestic/foreign contributions in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) with an air quality forecasting system. The forecasting system is composed of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)-Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE)-Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (CMAQ). Different domestic and foreign emission inventories were selectively adopted to set up four sets of emissions inputs for air quality simulations in this study. All modeling cases showed that model performance statistics satisfied the criteria levels (correlation coefficient >0.7, fractional error <50%) suggested by previous studies. Notwithstanding the apparently good model performance of total PM concentrations by all emission cases, annual average concentrations of simulated total PM concentrations varied up to $20{\mu}g/m^3$ (160%) depending on the combination of emission inventories. In detail, the difference in simulated annual average concentrations of the primary PM coarse (PMC) was up to $25.2{\mu}g/m^3$ (6.5 times) compared with other cases. Furthermore, model performance analyses on PM species showed that the difference in the simulated primary PMC led to gross model overestimation in general, which indicates that the primary PMC emissions need to be improved. The contribution analysis using model direct outputs indicated that the domestic contributions to the annual average PM concentrations in the SMA vary from 44% to 67%. To account for the uncertainty of the simulated concentration, the contribution correction factor method proposed by Bae et al. (2017) was applied, which resulted in converged contributions(from 48% to 57%). We believe this study shows that it is necessary to improve the simulated concentrations of PM components in order to enhance the accuracy of the forecasting model. It is deemed that these improvements will provide more accurate contribution results.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.37-53
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• 1993

The polynuclear hydrocarbons (PAHs) emitted from coke oven standpipe were sampled using three sampling systems, including glass fiber filter+silver membrane filter, glass fiber filter+silver membrane filter+XAD-2 adsorbent tube, PTFE membrane filter+XAD-2 adsorbent tube, extracted by methylene chloride and analysed by gas chromathography using flame ionization detector. The results of this study were as follows. 1. Because the amounts of coke oven emissions(COE) were large, the analyses of PAHs were simple and possible without evaporation and concentration. Although the generation of COE was high during early stage of coking, the airborne concentration of PAHs was low and increased during late coking. 2. The contents of PAHs in COE were 1.35-2.81%. 3. The index components of PAHs were fluoranthene and pyrene. Their correlation coefficient to total PAHs were 0.96, 0.95, respectively. 4. The particulate PAHs were sampled by filter and gaseous PAHs by adsorbent tube. The collection efficiency of glass fiber filter+silver membrane filter was 20% of total amount sampled by filters+adsorbent and PTFE membrane filter 50%. Adsorbent tube must be attached to the filter to collect light and small PAH components. 5. The generation of acenaphthene and indeno (1,2,3-cd) pyrene were low and concentrations of fluorene and anthracene were $20-40ug/m^3$ throughout coking time. Other PAH eoncentrations were sometimes high. The generation of PAHs was low at 4-6 hours of coking time. The gaseous PAHs were generated earlier than particulate PAHs.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.86-96
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• 2011

The positive matrix factorization (PMF2) and multilinear engine (ME2) models have been shown to be powerful environmental analysis techniques and have been successfully applied to the assessment of ambient particulate matter (PM) source contributions. Because these models are difficult to apply practically, the US EPA developed a more user-friendly version of the PMF. The initial version of the EPA PMF model does not provide any rotational capabilities; for this reason, the model was upgraded to include rotational functions in the EPA PMF ver. 2.0. In this study, PMF and EPA PMF modeling identified ten particulate matter sources including secondary sulfate I, vehicle gasoline, secondary sulfate II, secondary nitrate, secondary sulfate III, incinerators, aged sea salt, airborne soil particles, oil combustion, and diesel emissions. All of the source profiles determined by the two models showed excellent agreement. The calculated average concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$ were consistent between the PMF2 and EPA PMF ($17.94{\pm}0.30{\mu}g/m^3$ and $17.94{\pm}0.30\;{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively). Also, each set of estimated source contributions of the PMF2 and EPA PMF showed good agreement. The results from the new EPA PMF version applying rotational functions were consistent with those of PMF2. Therefore, the updated version of EPA PMF with rotational capabilities will provide more reasonable solutions compared with those of PMF2 and can be more widely applied to air quality management.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.51-61
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• 2018

Transportation and storage technologies, which are key drivers for trade, has increased global trade of agricultural products about 165% from 1995 to 2015. Korea imports 76.2% of grain from major food exporters such as USA, Australia, Brazil, and China. The expected long shipping distances from these countries can seriously cause environmental impacts on various environmental categories such as climate change, particulate matter, and acidification. The goal of this study is to assess the environmental implications focused on greenhouse gases (GHGs) and particulate matters (PMs) emissions of imported grains (wheat, corn, and bean) using food miles analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA). The environmental impacts of imported crops are estimated by transportation modes using the national LCI database provided by Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI). The results of this study are as follows; (1) Imported wheat comes from USA (29%), AUS (27%), and URK (20%), corn is imported from USA (34%), BRA (29%), and URK (16%), and bean comes from BRA (57%), USA (40%), and CHN (2%); (2) the food miles of imported crops (wheat, corn, and bean) are 3.62E+10, 1.30E+11, and $2.20E+10ton{\cdot}km$, respectively; (3) the potential GHGs and PMs of wheat, corn, and bean are 5.02E+08, 1.67E+09, and 2.84E+08 kg $CO_2e$ and 5.89E+05, 1.83E+06, 3.07E+05 kg $PM_{10}e$, respectively. The outputs of this study could provide environmental impacts and carrying distances of imported agricultural products for preparing a plan to reduce environmental impacts.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.202-216
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• 2017

Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient. Thus, evaluating its flows and stocks in rice paddy ecosystems provides important insights into the sustainability and environmental loads of rice production. Among the N sources of paddy fields, atmospheric deposition and irrigation inputs remain poorly understood. In particular, insufficient information is available for atmosphere-rice paddy exchange of gaseous and particulate reactive N (Nr, all N species other than molecular N) which represents the net input or output through dry deposition and emission. In this study, we assessed the N inputs via atmospheric deposition and irrigation to a Japanese rice paddy area by weekly monitoring for 2 years with special emphasis on gas and particle exchange. The rice paddy during the cropping season acted as a net emitter of ammonia ($NH_3$) to the atmosphere regardless of the N fertilizer applications, which reduced the effects of dry deposition to the N input. Dry N deposition was quantitatively similar to wet N deposition, when subtracting the rice paddy $NH_3$ emissions from N exchange. The annual N inputs to the rice paddy were 3.2 to $3.6\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$ for exchange, 8.1 to $9.8\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$ for wet deposition, and 11.1 to $14.5\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$ for irrigation. The total N input, 22.8 to $27.5\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$, corresponded to 38% to 55% of the N fertilizer application rate and 53% to 67% of the brown rice N uptake. Monitoring of atmospheric deposition and irrigation as N sources for rice paddies will therefore be necessary for adequate N management.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2014

In winter 2013, extreme air pollution by fine particulate matter ($PM_{2.5}$) in China attracted much public attention. In order to simulate the $PM_{2.5}$ pollution, the Community Multiscale Air Quality model driven by the Weather Research and Forecasting model was applied to East Asia in a period from 1 January 2013 to 5 February 2013. The model generally reproduced $PM_{2.5}$ concentration in China with emission data in the year 2006. Therefore, the extreme $PM_{2.5}$ pollution seems to be mainly attributed to meteorological (weak wind and stable) conditions rather than emission increases in the past several years. The model well simulated temporal and spatial variations in $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations in Japan as well as China, indicating that the model well captured characteristics of the $PM_{2.5}$ pollutions in both areas on the windward and leeward sides in East Asia in the study period. In addition, contribution rates of four anthropogenic emission sectors (power generation, industrial, residential and transportation) in China to $PM_{2.5}$ concentration were estimated by conducting zero-out emission sensitivity runs. Among the four sectors, the residential sector had the highest contribution to $PM_{2.5}$ concentration. Therefore, the extreme $PM_{2.5}$ pollution may be also attributed to large emissions from combustion for heating in cold regions in China.