• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.79-91
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• 2011

In order to study interactions between climate change and air quality, a modeling system including the downscaling scheme has been developed in the integrated manner. This research focuses on the development of a downscaling method to utilize CCSM3 outputs as the initial and boundary conditions for the regional climate model, MM5. Horizontal/vertical interpolation was performed to convert from the latitude/longitude and hybrid-vertical coordinate for the CCSM3 model to the Lambert-Conformal Arakawa-B and sigma-vertical coordinate for the MM5 model. A variable diagnosis was made to link between different variables and their units of CCSM and MM5. To evaluate the dynamic downscaling performance of this study, spatial distributions were compared between outputs of CCSM/MM5 and NRA/MM5 and statistic analysis was conducted. Temperature and precipitation patterns of CCSM/MM5 in summer and winter showed a similar pattern with those of observation data in East Asia and the Korean Peninsula. In addition, statistical analysis presented that the agreement index (AI) is more than 0.9 and correlation coefficient about 0.9. Those results indicate that the dynamic downscaling system built in this study can be used for the research of interaction between climate change and air quality.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.186-198
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• 2013

The present work is an attempt to improve the performance of a regional air quality model by means of liking it with a global chemistry transport model. The global chemical transport model of GEOS-Chem is used to provide BC (Boundary Condition)s which reflect temporal and spatial variations at boundaries of regional chemical transport model of CMAQ over East Asia. First, GEOS-Chem outputs are evaluated by comparing predicted concentrations with observed monthly data of gas phase species and secondary inorganic aerosols from EANET (Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia) sites. The results show that predicted PM10 concentrations are in good agreement with the observations. This implies that GEOS-Chem outputs could be used to provide BCs to CMAQ. Simulated daily and monthly mean PM10 concentrations of CMAQ with the linkage of GEOS-Chem's BCs and constant BCs are then evaluated by comparing predicted concentrations with observations at API (Air Pollution Index) sites in China as well as EANET sites in Korea. CMAQ with the GEOS-Chem outputs improves model simulation in depicting observed PM10 concentrations comparing with those with constant BCs. It is also found that influence of aerosol species are largely dependent on the BCs over East Asia and Korea. Mean biases between simulated versus observed daily and monthly mean concentrations of PM10 with the GEOS-chem were improved by 1~8 ${\mu}g/m^3$ in China region, 3.26 ${\mu}g/m^3$ in Korea.

• Atmosphere
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.377-390
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• 2020

Not only emissions, but also atmospheric circulation is a key factor that affects local particulate matters (PM) concentrations in Korea through ventilation effects and transboundary transports. As part of the atmospheric circulation, air stagnation especially adversely affects local air quality due to weak ventilation. This study investigates the large-scale circulation related to air stagnation over Korea during winter and projects the climate change impacts on atmospheric patterns, using observed PM data, reanalysis and regional climate projections from HadGEM3-RA with Modified Korea Particulate matter Index. Results show that the stagnation affects the PM concentration, accompanied by pressure ridge at upper troposphere and weaken zonal pressure gradient at lower troposphere. Downscaling using HadGEM3-RA is found to yield Added-Value in the simulated low tropospheric winds. For projection of future stagnation, SSP5-8.5 and SSP1-2.6 (high and low emission) scenarios are used here. It has been found that the stagnation condition occurs more frequently by 11% under SSP5-8.5 and by 5% under SSP1-2.6 than in present-day climate and is most affected by changes in surface wind speed. The increase in the stagnation conditions is related to anticyclonic circulation anomaly at upper troposphere and weaken meridional pressure gradient at lower troposphere. Considering that the present East Asian winter monsoon is mainly affected by change in zonal pressure gradient, it is worth paying attention to this change in the meridional gradient. Our results suggest that future warming condition increase the frequency of air stagnation over Korea during winter with response of atmospheric circulation and its nonlinearity.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Simulation Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.20-36
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• 2001

The purpose of this paper is estimating environmental carving capacity of Seoul Metropolitan Area for a sustainable city management using system dynamics model. A sustainable development requires a society to define sustainability constraints or environmental limits, environmental carving capacity. Environmental carving capacity can be defined as the level of human activity which a region can sustain at an acceptable quality of life level. This concept of environmental carving capacity has several important application to sustainable city planning and management. If the limitation of a human activity can be supported by a scientific data on carving capacity, the resulting decision and actions could more easily win public support for a sustainable development. However, one of the key issues is how to operationalize the carving capacity. In this paper, the environmental carving capacity was operationalized as a maximum number of industry structure, population, and housing that can sustain certain level of environmental quality of Seoul Metropolitan Area. The model developed in this paper consisted off sectors: population, housing, industry, land, and environmental sector. The model limits its main focus on the NO$_2$level of ambient air of Seoul. Carving capacity Seoul Metropolitan Area was estimated by figuring out the maximum number of population, industry structure, housing at an equilibrium point that sustain a desirable NO$_2$level. Based on the model estimation, several policy implications for a sustainable city management was discussed.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.517-533
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• 2018

We utilize the CAMx (Comprehensive Air Quality Model with eXtensions) system and the PSAT (Particulate Source Apportionment Technology) diagnostic tool to determine the $PM_{2.5}$ concentration and to perform its source apportionment in the southeastern region of South Korea. For a year-long simulation, eight local authorities in the region such as Pohang, Daegu, Gyeongju, Ulsan, Busan-Gimhae, Gosung-Changwon, Hadong, and all remaining areas in Gyeongsangnam-do, are selected as source areas based on the emission rates of $NO_x$, $SO_x$, VOC, and primary PM in CAPSS (Clean Air Policy Support System) 2013 emissions inventory. The CAMx-PSAT simulation shows that Pohang has the highest $PM_{2.5}$ self-contribution rate (25%), followed by Hadong (15%) and Busan-Gimhae (14%). With the exception of Pohang, which has intense fugitive dust emissions, other authorities are strongly affected by emissions from their neighboring areas. This may be measured as much as 1 to 2 times higher than that of the self-contribution rate. Based on these estimations, we conclude that the efficiency of emission reduction measures to mitigate $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations in the southeastern region of South Korea can be maximized when the efforts of local or regional emission controls are combined with those from neighboring regions. A comprehensive control policy planning based on the collaboration between neighboring jurisdictional boundaries is required.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.133-139
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• 2010

Global human activities associated with the use of fossil fuels have aggravated climate change, increasing air temperature. Consequently, climate change has the potential to alter surface water temperature with significant impacts on biogeochemical cycling and ecosystems in natural water body. In this study, we examined temporal trends on historical records of surface water temperature, and investigated the air temperature/water temperature relationship and the potential water temperature change from an air temperature scenario developed with regional climate model. Although the temporal trends of water temperature are highly variable site-by-site, surface water temperature was highly dependent on air temperature, and has increased significantly in some sub-watersheds over the last two decades. The results presented here demonstrate that water temperature changes are expected to be slightly higher in river system than reservoir systems and more significant during winter than summer for both river and reservoir system. Projected change of surface water temperature will likely increase $1.06^{\circ}C$ for rivers and $0.95^{\circ}C$ for reservoirs during the period 2008 to 2050. Given the potential climatic changes, every $1^{\circ}C$ increase in water temperature could cause dissolved oxygen levels to fall every 0.206 ppm.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.378-380
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• 2005

Remote sensing of atmospheric aerosol using MODIS satellite data has been proven to be very useful in global/regional scale aerosol monitoring. Due to their large spatial resolution of $10km^2$ MODIS aerosol optical thickness (AOT) data have limitations for local/urban scale aerosol monitoring applications. Modified Bremen Aerosol Retrieval (BAER) algorithm developed by von Hoyningen-Huene et al. (2003) and Lee et al. (2005) has been applied in this study to retrieve AOT in fe resolutions of $500m^2$ over Korea. Look up tables (LUTs) were constructed from the aerosol properties based on sun-photometer observation and radiation transfer model calculations. It was found that relative error between the satellite products and the ground observations was within about $15\%$. Resulting AOT products were correlated with surface PMIO concentration data. There was good correlation between MODIS AOT and surface PM concentration under certain atmospheric conditions, which supports the feasibility of using the high-resolution MODIS AOT for local and urban scale air quality monitoring

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.49-62
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• 2005

Lake Paldang is a main resource of drinking water for 20 million people in the greater Seoul area. Dry deposition amounts of nitrogen and sulfur were estimated for three typical days in each season over the watershed of Lake Paldang. Models- 3/CMAQ (Community Multiscale Air Quality) and MM5 (Mesoscale Model) were used to predict air quality and meteorology, respectively. Aerosols as well as gaseous pollutants were considered. Nitrogen was mainly deposited in the form of HNO, while most of sulfur was deposited in the form of SO$_2$. Contribution of secondary pollutants was the largest in fall since they were transported from the greater Seoul area. However, contribution of secondarily-formed particulate pollutants to the nitrogen deposition was the largest in winter because semi-volatile ammonium nitrate favors lower temperature. Annual deposition amounts of nitrogen and sulfur were 37% and 26% of their emission amounts, respectively, over the watershed of Lake Paldang. Higher value of the nitrogen deposition showed a more influence of pollutants emitted in the greater Seoul area.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.25-48
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• 1993

International concern over the environmental pollution is ever increasing, and diversified countermeasures must be devised in Korea also. Global trend, damages, problems and countermeasures with respect to issues mentioned in the Rio Declaration, such as prevention of ozone layer destruction, reduction of migratory atmospheric pollution between neighboring countries, and prevention of global greenhouse effect, were discussed in this report. Conclusion of the report is summarized as follows : A. Measurement, Planning and Monitoring (1) Development and implementation of a global network for measurement and monitoring from the global aspects such factors as related to acid rain(Pioneer substances, pH, sulfate, nitrate), effect of global temperature(Air temperature, $CO_2$, $CH_4$, CFC, $N_2O$) and destruction of ozone layer($CFC_S$). (2) Establishment of network system via satellite monitoring movement of regional air mass, damage on the ozone layer and ground temperature distribution. B. Elucidation of Present State (1) Improvement and development of devices for carbon circulation capable of accurately forecasting input and output of carbon. (2) Developmental research on chemical reactions of greenhouse gas in the air. (3) Improvement and development of global circulation model(GCM) C. Impact Assessment Impact assessment on ecosystem, human body, agriculture, floodgate, land use, coastal ecology, industries, etc. D. Preventive Measures and Technology Development (1) Development and consumption of new energy (2) Development of new technology for removal of pioneer substances (3) Development of substitute matter for $CFC_S$ (4) Improvement of agriculture and forestry means to prevent the destruction of ozone layer and the greenhouse effect of the globe (5) Improvement of housing to prevent the destruction of ozone layer and the greenhouse effect of the globe (6) Development of new technology for probing underground water (7) Preservation of forest (8) Biomass 5. Policy Development (1) Development of strategy model (2) Development of long term forecast model (3) Development of penalty charge effect and expense evaluation methods (4) Feasibility study on regulations By establishing the above mentioned measures for environmentally sound and sustainable development to establish the right to live for humankind and to preserve the one and only earth.

• Mycobiology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.162-170
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• 2016

In this paper, we demonstrate the ability of Arabidopsis thaliana to detect different mixtures of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by the common indoor fungus, Aspergillus versicolor, and demonstrate the potential usage of the plant as a bioindicator to monitor fungal VOCs in indoor air. We evaluated the volatile production of Aspergillus versicolor strains SRRC 108 (NRRL 3449) and SRRC 2559 (ATCC 32662) grown on nutrient rich fungal medium, and grown under conditions to mimic the substrate encountered in the built environment where fungi would typically grow indoors (moist wallboard and ceiling tiles). Using headspace solid phase microextraction/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, we analyzed VOC profiles of the two strains. The most abundant compound produced by both strains on all three media was 1-octen-3-ol. Strain SRRC 2559 made several terpenes not detected from strain SRRC 108. Using a split-plate bioassay, we grew Arabidopsis thaliana in a shared atmosphere with VOCs from the two strains of Aspergillus versicolor grown on yeast extract sucrose medium. The VOCs emitted by SRRC 2559 had an adverse impact on seed germination and plant growth. Chemical standards of individual VOCs from the Aspergillus versicolor mixture (2-methyl-1-butanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol, 1-octen-3-ol, limonene, and ${\beta}-farnesene$), and ${\beta}-caryophyllene$ were tested one by one in seed germination and vegetative plant growth assays. The most inhibitory compound to both seed germination and plant growth was 1-octen-3-ol. Our data suggest that Arabidopsis is a useful model for monitoring indoor air quality as it is sensitive to naturally emitted fungal volatile mixtures as well as to chemical standards of individual compounds, and it exhibits relatively quick concentration- and duration-dependent responses.