• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.207-215
• /
• 2006

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the spatial distribution and change of the frequency of Yellow Sand days and to examine their relationship with atmospheric circular characteristics at the surroundings of the Korean peninsula. Yellow Sand days data are used by intensity, Siberian High Index and monthly mean temperature of the Northern Hemisphere. In the Middle-western region, the occurrence frequency of Yellow Sand days was higher during the study period (1973-2004). Also, the occurrence frequency of Yellow Sand days increased to latter half 16 years compared with the first half 16 years, and be clearer in Middlewest regions. Yellow Sand days frequency increased, and the trend was distinct in the Jungbu region during the study period. Increasing trend of Yellow Sand days frequency was significant for the recent 22 years. Yellow Sand days had a negative relationship with Siberian High Index in February and March. Therefore, Siberian High Index became weaker in the spring, and possibility for the occurrence of Yellow Sand days was generating larger. Yellow Sand days had a positive relationship in monthly mean temperature of the Northern Hemisphere. Especially, the case of the strong Yellow Sand days is significant. Recently, global warming might be affecting the occurrence of strong Yellow Sand days.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.487-497
• /
• 2000

Spring time is a favorable season to be easily observed the Yellow Sand phenomenon in East Asia. In particular most of the phenomenon tend to occur in April. However, Yellow Sand phenomenon was observed from almost the whole country of Korea in winter of 1966, 1977 and 1999. The features of the synoptic weather pattern in the source regions, air stream flow between the source region and Korea, the measurement of TSP concentration, aerosol size distribution, and chemical composition of snow samples associated with Yellow Sand phenomenon were investigated. The result showed the characteristic evolutionary feature of the synoptic system associated with Yellow Sand phenomena, that is, a strong low level wind mobilized the dust within 2 or 3 days before Yellow Sand phenomenon being observed in Seoul. The wind was remarkably intensified in the source region on January 24, 1999 under the strong pressure gradient, A trajectory analysis showed that the Yellow Sand particle could be reached to Korea within 2 days from the source region, Gobi desert, through Loess plateau and Loess deposition region. The TSP concentration at the top of Kwanak mountain during the Yellow Sand phenomenon is abruptly increasing than the monthly mean concentration. The size resolved number concentration of aerosols ranging from 0.3 to 25${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ was analyzed during Yellow Sand episode. It was evident that aerosols were distinguished by particles in the range of 2-3 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ to result in the abrupt increase in January 1999, After Yellow Sand phenomenon, there was heavy snow in Seoul. By the analysis of snow collected during that time, it was observed that both the Ca(sup)2+ concentration and pH were increased abnormally compared to those in the other winter season.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.739-746
• /
• 1999

The spectral aerosol optical thickness of vertical air columns were measured by a ground-based multi-channel sunphotometer at the BAPMoN station(36$^{\circ}$31'N, 126$^{\circ}$19'E) in Anmyon Island, Korea, from 1 March 1998 to 31 May 1998. We used the data of three yellow sand and two clear sky days in order to analyze the temporal variations in aerosol optical thickness at the station. The basic aerosol optical thickness generally represented smaller than 0.3 in a clear sky and the range 0.5 to 1.1 in yellow sand. Especially the aerosol optical thickness represented larger than 0.9 in a heavy yellow sand. It was found that the aerosol optical thickness of yellow sand was highly increased in comparison with the case of a clear sky andparticles larger than 0.5$mu extrm{m}$ were also increased in the spectral distribution of aerosol volume during yellow sand. Consequently the spectral variations in tropospheric aerosol caused by yellow sand were determined by the number concentration of particles larger than 0.5${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and the magnitude of yellow sand.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 1997

Distribution of airborne microorganisms was determined with two different types of air samplers, the Anderson cascade sampler and the Aerobioscope sampler, in the vicinity of Taejon. The size distribution of particles carrying bacteria and fungi was concurrently measured. The concentration of detected viable airborne particles was greatly varied. It was observed that the number of microbial particles increased in April and October. The most isze o particles carrying bacteria was larger than 4.7 .mu.m in mean aerodiameter, which made up 69.8% of the total particle fraction. About 63.2% of fungi-carrying particles were smaller than 4.7 .mu.m in aerodiameter. The distribution of particles on Yellow Sand Phenomena days was also analyzed. The number of fine particles having mass median aero-diameter from 1.0 to 10.mu.m increased on Yellow Sand Phenomena days to about 6 times that on normal days and the n umber of colony forming unit (CFU/$\textrm{m}^3$) of airborne bacteria also increased by 4.3 times in April. The reuslts from the Anderson sampler showed that the concentration of bacteria increased greatly on the fraction of fine particles ranging from 0.6 $\mu$m to 4.7 $\mu$m in diameter. Unlike the increase in bacterial floraon Yellow Sand Phenomena days, the fungal concentration slightly decreased and showed a normal size distribution parttern. This study suggests that a long-range transmission of bacteria results form bacteria adsorbing onto the fine particles during the Yellow Sand Phenomena.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.233-244
• /
• 1994

The phenomenon of yellow sand (dust clouds) occurred in Korea during the spring of 1993 and 1994 is studied in detail. In total 6 cases including 15 days of yellow sand were observed in 1993 and the annual number of these events was found to increased. Examinations in this study include meteorological charts satellite imagery, pilot reports (PIREP) of Korea Air Force, and air concentrations of total suspended particulates(TSP). We present on estimation of total atmospheric loadings based on the observation and theory. According to the PIREP, in general the dust clouds travelled in the lower troposphere up to the level 5km. The visibility within the clouds was in the range of 3-8km The area covered by yellow sand in an event exceeded 0.4 M $\textrm{km}^2$ . According to trajectory analyses, dust clouds invaded Korea in April and May 1993 were landed in the sink area after 2~4 days travelling for 2,000~3,000km from a source region. Estimates of total atmospheric loadings of a dust cloud for April 23~24 in 1993 were 1.5 M ton. In addition, 7 dust storms were also reported in synoptic observations in NW China and Mongolia during the spring in 1994. The yellow sand was not reported with meteorological observations in Korea, however pilots reported significant dust clouds over the Yellow Sea on 8 and 13 April and 20 May 1994.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.333-339
• /
• 2002

Yellow sand (YS) storms were observed about ten times in the Korean peninsula during March and April in 2002. Twenty four hour fine particle (PM$\_$2.5/) samples were collected onto the 47 mm Teflon - coated quartz filters over 9 days during and after the events using the MiniVol Portable Air Sampler at a flow rate of 5 liters per minute. The highest PM$\_$2.5/ concentration measured during the YS period was 289 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥, which is 13 times higher than the lowest of the values for the samples collected during the non-yellow sand period. The filter samples were analyzed for inorganic ions using the IC, AAS and Autoanalyzer, and for metals using the ICP-MS. The results showed that the concentrations of some inorganic ions (e.g., Ca$\^$2+/ and SO$_4$$\^$2-/) and metals (e.g., Fe, Mn) of soil origin were elevated during the yellow sand events.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.16 no.10
• /
• pp.1157-1167
• /
• 2007

In an effort to interpret the characteristics of fine particle concentrations in Busan, time variations of hourly monitored concentrations $PM_{10}$ (Particulate Matter with aerodynamic Diameter ${\le}10\;{\mu}m$) in Busan are analyzed for the period from 2000 to 2005. The characteristics of aerosol second generation formation process is also interpreted qualitatively, by using the statistical analysis of the meteorological variables including temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity. The result shows some significant annual, seasonal, weekly and diurnal variations of $PM_{10}$ concentrations. In particular, seasonal(i.e., spring) variations are governed by frequency of yellow sand events even for the non-yellow sand cases where yellow-sand days are eliminated in our analysis. However, in seasonal variation, summer season predominate lower $PM_{10}$ concentrations due to the frequent precipitation, and weekly and diurnal variations are both found to be reflecting the emission rate from traffic amount. Correlation coefficients between $PM_{10}$ concentration and meterological variables for non-yellow sand days show overall negative correlation with visibility, wind speed, cloud amounts, and relative humidity. However for non-precipitation days, during non-yellow sand period positive correlation are found clearly with relative humidity, suggesting the importance of secondary aerosol formation in Busan that can be achieved by both homogeneous aerosol formation and heterogeneous transformations resulting from hygroscopic aerosol characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.307-314
• /
• 1998

To examine the detectability of the yellow sand and/or aerosol from China crossing over the Yellow Sea within the range of OSMI wavelengths(400-900 nm), we have investigated the optical characteristics of aerosols in yellow sand events observed on April, 1998 in Seoul. The spectral reflectance(%) and aerosol optical thickness in the range of Visible(VIS) and near Infrared (NIR) wavelengths were derived from the measurements of solar radiation using the GER-2600 spectroradiometer and sunphotometer during the April, 1798. The average spectral reflectance for the yellow sand events is over 40% and higher around 14:30 than 12:00 LST, but that for clear days is about 20% both at 12:00 and 14:30 LST in the range of 500-900 nm. The aerosol optical thickness at 501 nm varied from 0.25 on very clear day to 1.01 during a so-called "yellow-sand" episode and that for 673 nm varied from 0.14 to 0.92, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.215-224
• /
• 2004

We report the high concentration episodes for PM$_{10}$, SO$_2$, NO$_2$, and $O_3$ in many urban areas Korea during 2002. The high concentration episodes are identified based on the National Ambient Air Quality Standards and the observations obtained from the Regional Air Monitoring Network composed of approximately 160 air pollution monitoring stations located in a number of major or big cities in South Korea including Seoul, Pusan, Daegu, and Incheon cities. The results show that the twenty cases of high concentration episodes in 2002 consists of both ozone warning episodes (6 cases) and high PM$_{10}$ concentration cases (14 cases), and one half of the latter are found to occur in association with the Yellow Sand (Asian Dust) phenomena. The most outstanding characteristics of the reported episodes are the excessively high levels of maximum PM$_{10}$ concentrations during the Yellow Sand period (i.e., exceeding 3,000$\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ in April, 2002) and their variable occurrence frequencies across seasons. The high ozone concentration episode days are mainly resulting from both the high photochemical reactions and poor ventilations. The high PM$_{10}$ concentration days during non Yellow Sand periods, however, mostly occurred under the influence of synoptic meteorological conditions such as stagnant or slowly passing high pressure centers, and consequently prevailing weak wind speeds over the Korean peninsula. The overall results of our study thus suggest the importance of both synoptic and local meteorological factors for high concentration levels in the major and/or big cities in Korea.n Korea.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.137-147
• /
• 2012

The technique of Brightness Temperature Difference (BTD) between 11 and $12{\mu}m$ separates yellow sand dust from clouds according to the difference in absorptive characteristics between the channels. However, this method causes consistent false alarms in many cases, especially over the desert. In order to reduce these false alarms, we should eliminate the background noise originated from surface. We adopted the Background BTD (BBTD), which stands for surface characteristics on clear sky condition without any dust or cloud. We took an average of brightness temperatures of 11 and $12{\mu}m$ channels during the previous 15 days from a target date and then calculated BTD of averaged ones to obtain decontaminated pixels from dust. After defining the BBTD, we subtracted this index from BTD for the Yellow Sand Index (YSI). In the previous study, this method was already verified using the geostationary satellite, MTSAT. In this study, we applied this to the polar orbiting satellite, MODIS, to detect yellow sand dust over Northeast Asia. Products of yellow sand dust from OMI and MTSAT were used to verify MODIS YSI. The coefficient of determination between MODIS YSI and MTSAT YSI was 0.61, and MODIS YSI and OMI AI was also 0.61. As a result of comparing two products, significantly enhanced signals of dust aerosols were detected by removing the false alarms over the desert. Furthermore, the discontinuity between land and ocean on BTD was removed. This was even effective on the case of fall. This study illustrates that the proposed algorithm can provide the reliable distribution of dust aerosols over the desert even at night.