• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.367-372
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• 2002

Asian dust aerosol layer of 4-6 km altitude accompanied by low clouds was observed by LIDAR and sky-radiometer in Tokyo urban area on April 10, 2001. To synthesize the top of atmosphere (TOA) reflectance, radiative transfer simulation conducted assuming aerosol/cloud vertical structure and aerosol size distribution that were modeled after the ground observations. The refractive index of Asian dust is derived from a laboratory measurement of sampled Chinese soil particles. The synthesized TOA reflectance is compared to the SeaWiFS-derived one sampled at the low cloud pixels whose airmass is the same as the one passed at the observation site. While the two TOA reflectances compare generally well with few percent difference in reflectance, possible sources of the discrepancy are discussed.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.159-172
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• 2019

To investigate the influence of pollution events on the chemical composition and formation processes of aerosol particles, 24-h integrated size-segregated particulate matter (PM) was collected during the fall season at an urban site of Gwangju, Korea and was used to determine the concentrations of mass, water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) and ionic species. Furthermore, black carbon (BC) concentrations were observed with an aethalometer. The entire sampling period was classified into four periods, i.e., typical, pollution event I, pollution event II, and an Asian dust event. Stable meteorological conditions (e.g., low wind speed, high surface pressure, and high relative humidity) observed during the two pollution events led to accumulation of aerosol particles and increased formation of secondary organic and inorganic aerosol species, thus causing $PM_{2.5}$ increase. Furthermore, these stable conditions resulted in the predominant condensation or droplet mode size distributions of PM, WSOC, $NO_3{^-}$, and $SO{_4}^{2-}$. However, difference in the accumulation mode size distributions of secondary water-soluble species between pollution events I and II could be attributed to the difference in transport pathways of air masses from high-pollution regions and the formation processes for the secondary chemical species. The average absorption ${\AA}ngstr{\ddot{o}}m$ exponent ($AAE_{370-950}$) for 370-950 nm wavelengths > 1.0 indicates that the BC particles from traffic emissions were likely mixed with light absorbing brown carbon (BrC) from biomass burning (BB) emissions. It was found that light absorption by BrC in the near UV range was affected by both secondary organic aerosol and BB emissions. Overall, the pollution events observed during fall at the study site can be due to the synergy of unfavorable meteorological conditions, enhanced secondary formation, local emissions, and long-range transportation of air masses from upwind polluted areas.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 1986

Particulate matter was collected by Andersen Air Sampler in the Seoul area during February-October, 1985, in order to investigate size distribution of sulfate and nitrate in aerosol, and conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfate and that of nitrogen dioxide to nitrate. The size distribution of sulfate and nitrate had fine mode. The ratio of fine sulfate to total sulfate in aerosol and that of fine nitrate to total nitrate showed between 54.6% and 86%, and 55.7% and 95%, respectively, which presumably originated from gaseous reaction of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere.

• Atmosphere
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.243-253
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• 2009

In other to interpret the long-term variations of sunshine duration, cloud lifetime, and precipitation intensity observed in and around Seoul and Busan for the period from 1986 to 2005, aerosol indirect effect was employed and applied. For the identification of long-term trend of aerosol concentration, observed visibility and AOT of AERONET sunphotometer data were also used over the same regions. The result showed that the time series of visibility was decreased and those of AOT increased, especially trends were remarkable in 2000s. In both regions, occurrence frequencies of observed cloudiness (cloud amount ${\leq}6/10$) and strong precipitation (rain rate > $0.5mmhour^{-1}$) have been steadily increased while those of cloudiness (cloud amount > 7/10) and weak precipitation (rain rate ${\leq}0.2mmhour^{-1}$) decreased. These results are corresponding to the trend of both visibility and AERONET data, implying the aerosol indirect effect that makes size of cloud droplet reduce, cloud life-time longer and precipitation efficiency decreased. Our findings demonstrate that, although these phenomena are not highly significant, weather and climate system over Korean urban area have been changed toward longer lifetime of small cloudiness and increasing precipitation intensity as a result of increased aerosol indirect effect.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2010.04a
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• pp.402-403
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• 2010

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.207-222
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• 2018

In this study, light absorption of carbonaceous species in $PM_{2.5}$ was investigated using a dual-spot 7-wavelength Aethalometer(model AE33) with 1-min time interval between January 01 and September 30, 2017 at an urban site of Gwangju. During the study period, two Asian dust (AD) events occurred in April (AD I) and May (AD II), respectively, during which light absorption in total suspended particles was observed. Black carbon (BC) was the dominant light absorbing aerosol component at all wavelengths over the study period. Light absorption coefficients by aerosol particles were found to have 2.7~3.3 times higher at 370 nm than at 880 nm. This would be attributed to light absorbing organic aerosols, which is called brown carbon (BrC), as well as BC as absorbing agents of aerosol particles. Monthly average absorption ${{\AA}}ngstr{\ddot{o}}m$ exponent ($AAE_{370-950nm}$) calculated over wavelength range of 370~950 nm ranged from 1.10 to 1.35, which was lower than the $AAE_{370-520nm}$ values ranging from 1.19~1.68 that was enhanced due to the presence of BrC. The estimated $AAE_{370-660nm}$ of BrC ranged from 2.2 to 7.5 with an average of 4.22, which was fairly consistent to the values reported by previous studies. The BrC absorption at 370 nm contributed 10.4~28.4% to the total aerosol absorption, with higher contribution in winter and spring and lower in summer. Average $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations were $108{\pm}36$ and $24{\pm}14{\mu}g/m^3$ during AD I, respectively, and $164{\pm}66$ and $43{\pm}26{\mu}g/m^3$ during AD II, respectively, implying the greater contribution of local pollution and/or regional pollution to $PM_{2.5}$ during the AD II. BC concentration and aerosol light absorption at 370 nm were relatively high in AD II, compared to those in AD I. Strong spectral dependence of aerosol light absorption was clearly found during the two AD events. $AAE_{370-660nm}$ of both light absorbing organic aerosols and dust particles during the AD I and II was $4.8{\pm}0.5$ and $6.2{\pm}0.7$, respectively. Higher AAE value during the AD II could be attributed to mixed enhanced urban pollution and dust aerosols. Absorption contribution by the light absorbing organic and dust aerosols estimated at 370 nm to the total light absorption was approximately 19% before and after the AD events, but it increased to 32.9~35.0% during the AD events. In conclusion, results from this study support enhancement of the aerosol light absorption due to Asian dust particles observed at the site.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.19 no.E3
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• pp.99-120
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• 2003

Visibility impairment in an urban area is mainly caused by airborne fine particulate matters. Visibility in a clean air environment is more sensitive to the change of PM$_{2.5}$ particle concentrations. However, a proportionally larger reduction in fine particle concentration is needed to achieve a small increment of visibility improvement in polluted areas. Continuous optical monitoring of atmospheric visibility and extensive aerosol measurements have been made in the urban atmosphere of Kwangju, Korea. The mean for fine particulate mass from 1999 to 2002 at Kwangju was measured to be 23.6$\pm$20.3 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥. The daily average seasonal visual range was measured to be 13.1, 9.2, 11.0, and 13.9 km in spring, summer, fall, and winter, respectively. The mean light extinction budgets by sulfate, nitrate, organic carbon, and elemental carbon aerosol were observed to be 27, 14, 22, and 12%, respectively. It is highly recommended that a new visibility standard and/or a fine particle standard be established in order to protect the health and welfare of general public. Much more work needs to be done in visibility studies, including long-term monitoring of visibility, improvement of visibility models, and formulating integrated strategies for managing fine particles to mitigate the visibility impairment and climate change.e.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.695-699
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• 2015

A high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) system based on injection-seeded Nd:YAG laser and iodine absorption filter has been developed for the quantitative measurement of aerosol and cloud. The laser frequency is stabilized at 80 MHz by a frequency locking system and the absorption line of iodine cell is selected at the 1111 line with 2 GHz width. The observations show that the HSRL can provide vertical profiles of particle extinction coefficient, backscattering coefficient and lidar ratio for cloud and aerosol up to 12 km altitude, simultaneously. For the measured cases, the lidar ratios are 10~20 sr for cloud, 28~37 sr for dust, and 58~70 sr for urban pollution aerosol. It reveals the potential of HSRL to distinguish the type of aerosol and cloud. Time series measurements are given and demonstrate that the HSRL has ability to continuously observe the aerosol and cloud for day and night.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.E1
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• pp.32-43
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• 2008

Source samples were collected to construct source profiles for 9 different source types, including soil, road dust, gasoline/diesel-powered vehicles, a municipal incinerator, industrial sources, agricultural/biomass burning, marine aerosol, and a coal-fired power plant. Seasonal profiles for 'Chinese aerosol', aerosols derived from the urban area of China, were reconstructed from seasonal $PM_{2.5}$ compositions reported in Beijing, China. Ambient $PM_{2.5}$ at a receptor site was also measured during each of the four seasons, from April 2001 to February 2002, in Seoul. The Chemical Mass Balance receptor model was applied to quantify source contributions during the study period using the estimated source profiles. Consequently, motor vehicle exhaust (33.0%), in particular 23.9% for diesel-powered vehicles, was the largest contributor affecting the $PM_{2.5}$ levels in Seoul, followed by agricultural/biomass burning (21.5%) and 'Chinese aerosol' (13.1%), indicating contributions from long-range transport. The largest contributors by season were: for spring, 'Chinese aerosol' (31.7%); for summer, motor vehicle exhaust (66.9%); and for fall and winter, agricultural/biomass burning (31.1% and 40.1%, respectively). These results show different seasonal patterns and sources affecting the $PM_{2.5}$ level in Seoul, than those previously reported for other cities in the world.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.59-68
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• 2011

The objective of the study was to investigate the main factors that contribute the variation of $PM_{10}$ concentration of Seoul and to quantify their effects using generalized additive model (GAM). The analysis was performed with 3 year air pollution data (2004~2006) measured at 27 urban sites and 7 roadside sites in Seoul, a background site in Gangwha and a rural site in Pocheon. The diurnal variation of urban $PM_{10}$ concentrations of Seoul showed a typical bimodal pattern with the same peak times as that of roadside, and the maximum difference of $PM_{10}$ level between urban and roadside was about $14{\mu}g/m^{3}$ at 10 in the morning. The wind direction was found to be a major factor that affects $PM_{10}$ level in all investigated areas. The overall $PM_{10}$ level was reduced when air came from east, but background $PM_{10}$ level in Gangwha was rather higher than the urban $PM_{10}$ level in Seoul, indicating that the $PM_{10}$ level in Gangwha is considerably influenced by that in Seoul metropolitan area. When hourly variations of $PM_{10}$ were analyzed using GAM, wind direction and speed explained about 34% of the variance in the model where the variables were added as a 2-dimensional smoothing function. In addition, other variables, such as diurnal variation, difference of concentrations between roadside and urban area, precipitation, month, and the regression slope of a plot of carbon monooxide versus $PM_{10}$, were found to be major explanatory variables, explaining about 64% of total variance of hourly variations of $PM_{10}$ in Seoul.