• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.971-981
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• 2010

The objectives of this study were to measure ambient total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations in Seoul, to analyze the characteristics of TGM concentration, and to identify of possible source areas for TGM using back-trajectory based hybrid receptor models like PSCF (Potential Source Contribution Function) and RTWC (Residence Time Weighted Concentration). Ambient TGM concentrations were measured at the roof of Graduate School of Public Health building in Seoul for a period of January to October 2004. Average TGM concentration was $3.43{\pm}1.17\;ng/m^3$. TGM had no notable pattern according to season and meteorological phenomena such as rainfall, Asian dust, relative humidity and so on. Hybrid receptor models incorporating backward trajectories including potential source contribution function (PSCF) and residence time weighted concentration (RTWC) were performed to identify source areas of TGM. Before hybrid receptor models were applied for TGM, we analysed sensitivities of starting height for HYSPLIT model and critical value for PSCF. According to result of sensitivity analysis, trajectories were calculated an arrival height of 1000 m was used at the receptor location and PSCF was applied using average concentration as criterion value for TGM. Using PSCF and RTWC, central and eastern Chinese industrial areas and the west coast of Korea were determined as important source areas. Statistical analysis between TGM and GEIA grided emission bolsters the evidence that these models could be effective tools to identify possible source area and source contribution.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2017

The altitudinal potential source contribution function (PSCFa) method was developed by considering topography and height of back trajectories. The PSCFa calculated on the contributions of trans-boundary transport to the hourly mean concentrations of aerosol optical depth (AOD) of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) in the Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Networks (DRAGON) KORea-US Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) campaign from March 31 to July 1 in 2016. Eastern China ($33^{\circ}N{\sim}35^{\circ}N$ and $119^{\circ}E{\sim}121^{\circ}E$) can be the major source of trans-boundary pollution to the western area in South Korea resulted from PSCFa (0~700 m). In this study, AOD by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was compared to verify the source regions. Regionally, the effects of the long-range transport of pollutants from the eastern China on air quality in south Korea have become more significant over this period.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.662-673
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• 2008

Two hybrid receptor models, potential source contribution function (PSCF) and concentration weighted tracjectory (CWT), were compared for locating $PM_{2.5}$ sources contributing to the atmospheric $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations in Seoul. The source contribution estimates by chemical receptor model (CMB) receptor model were used to identify better source areas, Among the sources, soil, agricultural burning, marine aerosol, coal-fired power plant and Chinese aerosol were only considered for the study because these sources were more likely to be associated with the long-range transport of air pollutant. Both methods are based on combining chemical data with calculated air parcel backward trajectories. However, the PSCF analyses were performed with trajectories above the $75^{th}$ percentile criterion values, while the CWT analyses used all trajectories. This difference resulted in locating of different sources, which might be helpful to interpret locating of $PM_{2.5}$ sources, High possible source areas in source contribution of soil and agricultural burning contributing to the Seoul $PM_{2.5}$ were inland areas of Heibei and Shandong provinces (highest density areas of agricultural production and population) in China. The "Chinese aerosol" was used as a representative source for the $PM_{2.5}$ originated from urban area in China. High possible source areas for the aerosol were the cities in China where are relatively close to the receptor. This result suggests that Chinese aerosol is likely to be a useful tool in studies on source apportionment and identification in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.520-529
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• 2015

The ambient $PM_{2.5}$ samples were collected by $PM_{2.5}$ sampler from September 2010 to December 2012 at Daegu University, Gyeongsan. A total of 260 samples were collected and 27 species were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma, ion chromatography, and thermal optical reflectance methods. Factor analysis identified four sources such as biomass burning source/secondary aerosol source, soil source, industry source, and incinerator source/mobile source. Also, backward trajectories were calculated using HYSPLIT 4 (Hybrid single-particle lagrangian integrated trajectory) model and PSCF (Potential source contribution function) model was applied to identify the possible source locations of carbonaceous species and water soluble ions species. PSCF results showed that the possible source locations of most chemical constituents measured in Gyeongsan were the industrial areas in the eastern coast of China, northeast regions of China, the Gobi Desert, and east sea of Korea.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.126-139
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• 2014

In order to estimate the influence of sources on $PM_{2.5}$ in the industrial area of Japan, we carried out a source analysis using chemical component data of $PM_{2.5}$. $PM_{2.5}$ samples were collected intermittently at an industrial area in Japan from July 2010 to November 2012. Water soluble ions ($Cl^-$, $NO_3{^-}$, $SO{_4}^{2-}$, $Na^+$,$NH_4{^+}$, $K^+$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$), elements (Al, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Sb, Pb), and carbonaceous species (OC, EC) of the $PM_{2.5}$ (a total of 198 samples) were analyzed. Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model was applied to the data of those chemical components to identify the source of $PM_{2.5}$. At this observation site, nine factors were extracted. The major contributors of $PM_{2.5}$ were secondary sulfate 1, in which loading factors of $SO{_4}^{2-}$ and $NH_4{^+}$ were large (percentage source contribution: 20.9%), traffic, in which loading factors of OC (organic carbon) and EC (elemental carbon) were large (20.8%), secondary sulfate 2, in which loading factors of K and $SO{_4}^{2-}$ were large (8.0%), steel mills (7.8%), secondary chloride and nitrate (7.0%), soil (5.0%), heavy oil combustion (3.8%), sea salt (3.8%), and coal combustion (2.3%). The conditional probability function (CPF) and the potential source contribution function (PSCF) were carried out to examine the influence of a regional source and a broad-based source, respectively. CPF results supported local source influences such as steel mills, sea salt, traffic, coal combustion, and heavy oil combustion. PSCF results suggested that ships in the East China Sea, an industrial area of the east coastal region of China, and an active volcano in the Kyushu region of Japan were potential regional sources of secondary sulfate 1. Secondary sulfate 2 was affected by the burning of biomass fields and by coal combustion in Chinese urban areas such as Beijing, Hebei, and western Inner Mongolia. Source characterization using continuous data from one site showed a potential source representing fossil fuel combustion is affected both by regional and broad-based sources.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.179-189
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• 2006

Ambient gas phase mercury concentrations including elemental mercury ($Hg^0$) were measured at the Potsdam, Stockton, and Sterling sites in NY from 2000 to 2003. Also, concentrations of ambient reactive gaseous mercury (RGM; $Hg^{2+}$) were measured at the Potsdam site during one year. The contribution of RGM($4.2{\pm}6.4pg/m^3$) was about $0.2{\sim}3%$ of the total gas phase mercury concentration measured (TGM: $1.84{\pm}1.24,\;1.83{\pm}0.32,\;3.02{\pm}2.14ng/m^3$ in Potsdam. Stockton, and Sterling, respectively) at the receptor sites. Potential Source Contribution Function (PSCF), a hybrid receptor modeling incorporating backward trajectories was performed to identify source areas of TGM. Using PSCF, southern New York, North Carolina, and eastern Massachusetts were identified as important source areas in the United States, while the copper smelters and waste incinerators located in eastern Quebec and Ontario were determined to be significant sources in Canada. The Atlantic Ocean was suggested to be a possible mercury source. PSCF incorporating back-dispersion and deposition was applied for RGM , as well as PSCF based on 2-days back-trajectories. Two different approaches yielded considerably different results, primarily due to the consideration of dispersion rather than deposition. Using back-trajectory based PSCF, eastern Ohio, southern New York, and southern Pennsylvania where large coal -fired power plants area located were identified as the large sources in US. Metallurgical industry located in eastern Quebec was resolved as well. From the result of back-dispersion and deposition based PSCF, Pennsylvania, mining facilities around Lake Superior, Toronto, Boston, MA, Quebec, and coal power plants in NY were identified to be the significant source areas for Potsdam site.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.286-296
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• 2007

Ozone creation potentials suited for Seoul metropolitan area was derived by utilizing the PAMS monitoring data and the source inventory. A simple box model with variable height was developed to calculate the incremental reactivity for all the ozone episode days in the year 2003 and 2004. RIR (Relative Incremental Reactivity) was introduced as a measure of contribution to ozone generation in the Seoul metropolitan area. RIR was defined as a function of ratio of VOC to $NO_x$ and therefore it addresses both VOC and $NO_x$ limited regime. For the days that more than 10 monitoring stations out of 27 monitoring station in Seoul recorded the daily maximum ozone concentrations higher than 70 ppb, toluene had the highest RIR value in all the type II and type III PAMS site and m/p-xylene followed with the second highest RIR value. Analyses using MIR (Maximum Incremental Reactivity) and POCP (Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential) instead of RIR also yields dominance of toluene and m/p-xylene in generating ozone concentrations to demonstrate the validity of RIR.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.135-143
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• 2006

The objective of this study is to develop PSCF (potential source contribution function) program and determine the optimal values of control parameters to enhance the prediction of PSCF modeling. This study provides an important information and methodologies that can be used to get better results of locating influencing sources, especially unknown and fugitive sources. To determine proper values of control parameters in PSCF model, the diagnostic assessment on the results obtained by the various input conditions was carried out. PSCF model has created and improved from version 1.0 to version 7.0 since 200 I and the measured data (at least > 100) of receptor, and the values of control input parameters should be arranged and determined to obtain reliable results in PSCF modeling. The size of modeling domain must be determined to include enough trajectories to get reliable results. And the size of grid is recommended to be 2.5 $\sim$ 5 degrees for global scale, 0.2 $\sim$ 1 degrees for regional scale and 0.05 degree for local scale.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.269-286
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• 2015

24-hr integrated $PM_{2.5}$ measurements were performed between December 2013 and October 2014 at an urban site in Gwangju and the collected samples were analyzed for organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), ionic species, and elemental species. Objectives of this study were to identify $PM_{2.5}$ pollution episodes, to characterize their chemical components, and to examine their probable origins. Over the course of the study period, average $PM_{2.5}$ concentration was $37.7{\pm}23.6$ $(6.0{\sim}121.5){\mu}g/m^3$. Concentrations of secondary ionic species; $NH_4{^+}$, $NO_3{^-}$, and $SO_4{^{2-}}$ was on average $5.54{\mu}g/m^3$ (0.28~ 20.86), $7.60{\mu}g/m^3$ (0.45~ 33.53), and $9.05{\mu}g/m^3$ (0.50~ 34.98), accounting for 13.7% (4.6~ 22.7), 18.6% (2.9~ 44.8), and 22.9% (4.9~ 55.1) of the $PM_{2.5}$ concentration, respectively. Average OC and EC concentrations were $5.22{\mu}g/m^3$ and $1.54{\mu}g/m^3$, taking possession of 4.6 and 22.2% (as organic mass) of the $PM_{2.5}$, respectively. Frequencies at which 24-hr averaged $PM_{2.5}$ exceeded a 24-hr averaged Korean $PM_{2.5}$ standard of $50{\mu}g/m^3$ (termed as an "episode" in this study) were 30, accounting for 21.3% of total 141 measurements. These pollution episodes were mostly associated with haze phenomenon and weak surface wind speed. It is suggested that secondary formation of aerosol was one important formation mechanism of the episodes. The episodes were associated with enhancements of organic mass, $NO_3{^-}$ and $SO_4{^{2-}}$ in winter, of $NO_3{^-}$ and $SO_4{^{2-}}$ in spring, and of $SO_4{^{2-}}$ in summer. Potential source contribution function results indicate also that $PM_{2.5}$ episodes were likely attributed to local and regional haze pollution transported from northeastern China in winter, to atmospheric processing of local emissions rather than long-range transport of air pollutants in spring, and to the $SO_4{^{2-}}$ driven by photochemistry of $SO_2$ in summer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.92-106
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• 2004

Elemental dry deposition fluxes were measured using dry deposition plates from March to June 1998 in Seoul, Korea. During this spring sampling period several yellow sand events characterized by long-range transport from China and Mongolia impacted the area. Understanding the impact of yellow-sand events on atmospheric dry deposition is critical to managing the heavy metal levels in the environment in Korea. In this study, the measured flux of a primarily crustal metal, Al and an anthropogenic metal, Pb was used with two hybrid receptor models, potential source contribution function (PSCF) and residence time weighted concentration (RTWC) for locating sources of heavy metals associated with atmospheric dry deposition fluxes during the yellow-sand events in Seoul, Korea. The PSCF using a criterion value of the 75th percentile of the measured dry deposition fluxes and RTWC results using the measured elemental dry deposition fluxes agreed well and consistently showed that there were large potential source areas in the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia and industrial areas near Tianjin, Tangshan, and Shenyang in China. Major industrial areas of Shenyang, Fushun, and Anshan, the Central China loess plateau, the Gobi Desert, and the Alaskan semi-desert in China were identified to be major source areas for the measured Pb flux in Seoul, Korea. For Al, the main industrial areas of Tangshan, Tianjin and Beijing, the Gobi Desert, the Alashan semi-desert, and the Central China loess plateau were found to be the major source areas. These results indicate that both anthropogenic sources such as industrial areas and natural sources such as deserts contribute to the high dry deposition fluxes of both Pb and Al in Seoul, Korea during yellow-sand events. RTWC resolved several high potential source areas. Modeling results indicated that the long-range transport of Al and Pb from China during yellow-sand events as well as non yellow-sand spring daytimes increased atmospheric dry deposition of heavy metals in Korea.