• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2010

To identify the domains that have the greatest impacts on air quality at the surface, both the upwind and downwind areas of Seoul were determined by season using refined wind fields. Four consecutive days were selected as the study period typical of each season. The mesoscale meteorology of the study period was reproduced by using the MM5 prognostic meteorological model (PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Model) with horizontally nested grids. The gridded meteorological field, which was used on the study area of $242\;km{\times}226\;km$ with grid spacing of 2 km, was generated by using the CALMET diagnostic meteorological model. Upwind and downwind areas of Seoul were determined by calculating 24-hour backward and forward air parcel trajectories, respectively, with u, v, and w velocity vectors. The results showed that the upwind and downwind areas were extended far to the northwest and the southeast as a result of high wind speeds in the spring and winter, while they were restricted on the fringe of Seoul in the summer and fall.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.395-401
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• 2012

Ten-year AVHRR sea surface temperature data obtained in the Yellow Sea are put into EOF analyses. Temperature variation is predominated by the first mode which is associated with the seasonal fluctuation of temperature with annual range decreasing with the bottom depth. Since such a strong annual signal may mask the upwind or downwind flows occurring intermittently during the winter, only the data obtained during this season are put into EOF analyses. Every winter shows similar results. The first mode, explaining more than 90% of total variance, appears to be a part of the seasonal variation of temperature mentioned above. In the second mode, the time coefficient is well correlated with northerly winds to which the responses of the trough and shallow coastal areas are opposite to each other. A simple theoretical consideration suggests the following physical explanation: The northerly wind stress anomaly creates an upwind (downwind) flow over the trough (coastal) areas, which then induces a temperature increase (decrease) by advection of heat, and vice versa for the southerly wind stress anomaly. Hence, this paper provides further evidence of the intermittent upwind or downwind flows occurring in the Yellow Sea every winter.

• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.473-482
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• 2015

In this study, street canyons with a higher downwind building (so called, step-up street canyons) are considered for understanding characteristics of flow and reactive pollutants' dispersion as a basic step to understand the characteristics in wider urban areas. This study used a CFD_NIMR_SNU coupled to a chemistry module just including simple $NO_X-O_3$ photochemical reactions. First, flow characteristics are analyzed in step-up street canyons with four aspect ratios (0.33, 0.47, 0.6, 0.73) defined as ratios of upwind building heights to downwind building height. The CFD_NIMR_SNU reproduced very well the main features (that is, vortices in the street canyons) which appeared in the wind-tunnel experiment. Wind speed within the street canyons became weak as the aspect ratio increased, because volume of flow incoming over the upwind building decreased. For each step-up street canyon, chemistry transport model was integrated up to 3600 s with the time step of 0.5 s. The distribution patterns of $NO_X$ and $O_3$ were largely dependent on the mean flow patterns, however, $NO_X$ and $O_3$ concentrations were partly affected by photochemical reactions. $O_3$ concentration near the upwind lower region of the street canyons was much lower than background concentration, because there was much reduction in $O_3$ concentration due to NO titration there. Total amount of $NO_X$ in the street canyons increased with the aspect ratio, resulting from the decrease of mean wind intensity.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.204-208
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• 2010

A scanning imaging spectrograph system was used in this study to retrieve readings of the 2-D distribution of $SO_2$ and BrO around the crater of the Sakurajima volcano in Japan. The measurement was carried out during the daytime on November 2, 2005. Measurements were made at the surface of the site, located 5 km from the Sakurajima crater. One hundred horizontal scans were performed. Each column scanned by the system consists of 64 vertical pixels in order to retrieve the spatial distributions of BrO and $SO_2$ in the plume in terms of slant column densities (SCDs). Measured spectra were analyzed to identify and quantify $SO_2$ and BrO in the volcanic plume utilizing the plume's specific absorption features in the ultra violet region. Two-dimensional BrO and $SO_2$ distributions in SCD were retrieved horizontally covering the upwind, crater and downwind areas, and vertically, including the plume in the center of the scanned image. Both horizontal and vertical dispersions of $SO_2$ SCD from the crater were successfully measured to be from $10^{17}$ to $4.5{\times}10^{18}$ molecules $cm^{-2}$. However, BrO was measured below $10^{15}$ molecules $cm^{-2}$, which is considered its background level.