• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.55-65
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• 2017

Average concentration of PM in Seoul metropolitan area satisfied the Korean air quality standard in 2010. Furthermore, concentration of PM in all boroughs across Seoul met the air environment standard in 2012. $PM_{10}$ concentration was relatively higher in center of Seoul in comparison to the rest, while $PM_{2.5}$ concentration showed exactly the contrary result. We analyzed the effect that PM emissions from vehicles would have on PM concentrations across Seoul. The results showed that average annual PM concentration recently decreased in Seoul although the number of vehicles registered annually continued its upward trend. By contrast, average fine dust concentrations in Seoul showed a decline which suggested that correlation between annual average PM concentrations and number of registered vehicles remained low. However, year-on-year vehicle registration rate recently showed a declining tendency in the same way as the trend of changes in average PM concentrations. Particularly, the upward trend in annual average PM concentrations in 2002 and 2007 was consistent with the increase in vehicle registration rate, suggesting that vehicle registration rate was closely associated with changes in PM concentrations.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2023.05a
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• pp.87-87
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• 2023

The impact of climate change on typhoons is a major concern in East Asia, especially due to the destructive effects of heavy rainfall on society and the economy, as many megacities are located along coastal regions. Although observations suggest significant changes in typhoon heavy rainfall, the extent to which anthropogenic forcing contributes to these changes has yet to be determined. In this study, we demonstrate that anthropogenic global warming has a substantial impact on the observed changes in typhoon heavy rainfall in the western North Pacific region. Observation data indicates that, in general, typhoon heavy rainfall has increased (decreased) in coastal East Asia (tropical western North Pacific) during the latter half of the 20th century and beyond. This spatial distribution is similar to the "anthropogenic fingerprint" observed from a set of large ensemble climate simulations, which represents the difference between Earth systems with and without human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. This provides evidence to support the claim that the significant increase in the frequency of typhoon heavy rainfall along coastal East Asia cannot be solely explained by natural variability. In addition, our results indicate that the signal of the "anthropogenic fingerprint" has been increasing rapidly since the mid-1970s and departed from natural variability in the early 2000s, indicating that the regional summer climate has already crossed the tipping point.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.101-119
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• 2018

In this study, we analyzed long-term measurements and air quality simulation results of four criteria air pollutants ($PM_{10}$, $O_3$, $NO_2$, and $SO_2$) for 10 years, from 2006 to 2015, with emphasis on trends of annual variabilities. With the observation data, we conducted spatial interpolation using the Kriging method to estimate spatial distribution of pollutant concentrations. We also performed air quality simulations using the CMAQ model to consider the nonlinearity of the secondary air pollutants such as $O_3$ and the influence of long-range transport. In addition, these simulations are used to deduce the effect of long-term meteorological variations on trends of air quality changes because we fixed the emissions inventory while changing meteorological inputs. The nation-wide inter-annual variability of modeled $PM_{10}$ concentrations was $-0.11{\mu}g/m^3/yr$, while that of observed concentrations was $-0.84{\mu}g/m^3/yr$. For the Seoul Metropolitan Area, the inter-annual variability of observed $PM_{10}$ concentrations was $-1.64{\mu}g/m^3/yr$ that is two times rapid improvement compared to other regions. On the other hand, the inter-annual variability of observed $O_3$ concentrations is 0.62 ppb/yr which is larger than the simulated result of 0.13 ppb/yr. Magnitudes of differences between the modeled and observed inter-annual variabilities indicated that decreasing trend of $PM_{10}$ and increasing trend of $O_3$ are more influenced by emissions and oxidation states than meteorological conditions. We also found similar patterns in $NO_2$. However, $NO_2$ trends showed greater regional and seasonal differences than other pollutants. The analytic approach used in this study can be applicable to estimate changes in factors determining air quality such as emissions, weather, and surrounding conditions over a long term. Then analysis results can be used as important data for air quality management planning and evaluation of the chronic impact of air quality.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.1035-1039
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• 2010

For 65 national forest areas in 1993 to 2008, the ambient sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$) concentrations were measured monthly using passive samplers and compared to the those of urban areas in order to investigate the characteristics of temporal and spatial distribution. In the forest areas, annual average concentration of sulfur dioxide gradually decreased from the beginning year of monitoring to 1997 and then had no significant change, such as the annual trend in urban areas monitored by Ministry of Environment. For the monitoring term, average concentration of sulfur dioxide in the forest areas was 5.6ppb, which was lower than the 10.1ppb in the urban areas and the EC ecological standard level (7.6 ppb). Seasonally, both in forest areas and urban areas the monthly average concentrations were much higher in winter and spring due to much more heating fuel consumption, and lowest in summer. Regional comparison to other regions of Gyeongbuk and Gyeonggi province showed that the concentration of sulfur dioxide was the highest during year. A significant positive correlation between sulfur oxides' emissions and sulfur dioxide concentration by province was observed, reflecting that the size and proximity of sources of atmospheric sulfur oxides could be important factors in determination.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.237-246
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• 2011

To explore the sources of carbonaceous material in the airborne particulate matter (PM), comprehensive PM sampling was performed (3 to 14 January 2010) at a traffic hot spot site (HS), Farm Gate, Dhaka using several samplers: AirMetrics MiniVol (for $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$) and MOUDI (for size fractionated submicron PM). Long-term PM data (April 2000 to March 2006 and April 2000 to March 2010 in two size fractions ($PM_{2.2}$ and $PM_{2.2-10}$) obtained from two air quality-monitoring stations, one at Farm Gate (HS) and another at a semi-residential (SR) area (Atomic Energy Centre, Dhaka Campus, (AECD)), respectively were also analyzed. The long-term PM trend shows that fine particulate matter concentrations have decreased over time as a result of government policy interventions even with increasing vehicles on the road. The ratio of $PM_{2.5}/PM_{10}$ showed that the average $PM_{2.5}$ mass was about 78% of the $PM_{10}$ mass. It was also found that about 63% of $PM_{2.5}$ mass is $PM_1$. The total contribution of BC to $PM_{2.5}$ is about 16% and showed a decreasing trend over the years. It was observed that $PM_1$ fractions contained the major amount of carbonaceous materials, which mainly originated from high temperature combustion process in the $PM_{2.5}$. From the IMPROVE TOR protocol carbon fraction analysis, it was observed that emissions from gasoline vehicles contributed to $PM_1$ given the high abundance of EC1 and OC2 and the contribution of diesel to $PM_1$ is minimal as indicated by the low abundance of OC1 and EC2. Source apportionment results also show that vehicular exhaust is the largest contributors to PM in Dhaka. There is also transported $PM_{2.2}$from regional sources. With the increasing economic activities and recent GDP growth, the number of vehicles and brick kilns has significantly increased in and around Dhaka. Further action will be required to further reduce PM-related air pollution in Dhaka.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.307-316
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• 2010

Complex terrain refers to irregular surface properties of the earth that influence gradients in climate, lateral transfer of materials, landscape distribution in soils properties, habitat selection of organisms, and via human preferences, the patterning in development of land use. Complex terrain of mountainous areas represents ca. 20% of the Earth's terrestrial surface; and such regions provide fresh water to at least half of humankind. Most major river systems originate in such terrain, and their resources are often associated with socio-economic competition and political disputes. The goals of the TERRECO-IRTG focus on building a bridge between ecosystem understanding in complex terrain and spatial assessments of ecosystem performance with respect to derived ecosystem services. More specifically, a coordinated assessment framework will be developed from landscape to regional scale applications to quantify trade-offs and will be applied to determine how shifts in climate and land use in complex terrain influence naturally derived ecosystem services. Within the scope of TERRECO, the abiotic and biotic studies of water yield and quality, production and biodiversity, soil processing of materials and trace gas emissions in complex terrain are merged. There is a need to quantitatively understand 1) the ecosystem services derived in regions of complex terrain, 2) the process regulation occurred to maintain those services, and 3) the sensitivities defining thresholds critical in stability of these systems. The TERRECO-IRTG is dedicated to joint study of ecosystems in complex terrain from landscape to regional scales. Our objectives are to reveal the spatial patterns in driving variables of essential ecosystem processes involved in ecosystem services of complex terrain region and hence, to evaluate the resulting ecosystem services, and further to provide new tools for understanding and managing such areas.