• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.16-37
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• 2018

In this study, difference in chemical composition of $PM_{2.5}$ observed between the year 2013 and 2015 at six air quality intensive monitoring stations (Bangryenogdo (BR), Seoul (SL), Daejeon (DJ), Gwangju (GJ), Ulsan (US), and Jeju (JJ)) was investigated and the possible factors causing their difference were also discussed. $PM_{2.5}$, organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), and water-soluble ionic species concentrations were observed on a hourly basis in the six stations. The difference in chemical composition by regions was examined based on emissions of gaseous criteria pollutants (CO, $SO_2$, and $NO_2$), meteorological parameters (wind speed, temperature, and relative humidity), and origins and transport pathways of air masses. For the years 2013 and 2014, annual average $PM_{2.5}$ was in the order of SL ($${\sim_=}DJ$$)>GJ>BR>US>JJ, but the highest concentration in 2015 was found at DJ, following by GJ ($${\sim_=}SJ$$)>BR>US>JJ. Similar patterns were found in $SO{_4}^{2-}$, $NO_3{^-}$, and $NH_4{^+}$. Lower $PM_{2.5}$ at SL than at DJ and GJ was resulted from low concentrations of secondary ionic species. Annual average concentrations of OC and EC by regions had no big difference among the years, but their patterns were distinct from the $PM_{2.5}$, $SO{_4}^{2-}$, $NO_3{^-}$, and $NH_4{^+}$ concentrations by regions. 4-day air mass backward trajectory calculations indicated that in the event of daily average $PM_{2.5}$ exceeding the monthly average values, >70% of the air masses reaching the all stations were coming from northeastern Chinese polluted regions, indicating the long-range transportation (LTP) was an important contributor to $PM_{2.5}$ and its chemical composition at the stations. Lower concentrations of secondary ionic species and $PM_{2.5}$ at SL in 2015 than those at DJ and GJ sites were due to the decrease in impact by LTP from polluted Chinese regions, rather than the difference in local emissions of criteria gas pollutants ($SO_2$, $NO_2$, and $NH_3$) among the SL, DJ, and GJ sites. The difference in annual average $SO{_4}^{2-}$ by regions was resulted from combination of the difference in local $SO_2$ emissions and chemical conversion of $SO_2$ to $SO{_4}^{2-}$, and LTP from China. However, the $SO{_4}^{2-}$ at the sites were more influenced by LTP than the formation by chemical transformation of locally emitted $SO_2$. The $NO_3{^-}$ increase was closely associated with the increase in local emissions of nitrogen oxides at four urban sites except for the BR and JJ, as well as the LTP with a small contribution. Among the meterological parameters (wind speed, temperature, and relative humidity), the ambient temperature was most important factor to control the variation of $PM_{2.5}$ and its major chemical components concentrations. In other words, as the average temperature increases, the $PM_{2.5}$, OC, EC, and $NO_3{^-}$ concentrations showed a decreasing tendency, especially with a prominent feature in $NO_3{^-}$. Results from a case study that examined the $PM_{2.5}$ and its major chemical data observed between February 19 and March 2, 2014 at the all stations suggest that ambient $SO{_4}^{2-}$ and $NO_3{^-}$ concentrations are not necessarily proportional to the concentrations of their precursor emissions because the rates at which they form and their gas/particle partitioning may be controlled by factors (e.g., long range transportation) other than the concentration of the precursor gases.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.35-47
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• 2001

Traffic represents one of the largest sources of primary air pollutants in urban area. As a consequence. numerous abatement strategies are being pursued to decrease the ambient concentration of pollutants. A characteristic of most of the these strategies is a requirement for accurate data on both the quantity and spatial distribution of emissions to air in the form of an atmospheric emission inventory database. In the case of traffic pollution, such an inventory must be compiled using activity statistics and emission factors for vehicle types. The majority of inventories are compiled using passive data from either surveys or transportation models and by their very nature tend to be out-of-date by the time they are compiled. The study of current trends are towards integrating urban traffic control systems and assessments of the environmental effects of motor vehicles. In this study, a methodology of motor vehicle emission calculation by using real-time traffic data was studied. A methodology for estimating emissions of CO at a test area in Seoul. Traffic data, which are required on a street-by-street basis, is obtained from induction loops of traffic control system. It was calculated speed-related mass of CO emission from traffic tail pipe of data from traffic system, and parameters are considered, volume, composition, average velocity, link length. And, the result was compared with that of a method of emission calculation by VKT(Vehicle Kilometer Travelled) of vehicles of category.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.63-75
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• 2015

Atmospheric environment in Korea is influenced by outside, especially China. The concentrations of air pollutants in China have showed decreasing trends since 2000. However, these concentration levels in China are still higher than other developed countries. The Chinese Government has tried several measures to control the air pollution. In this study, the details of the amendments and smog reduction strategies in China, especially for Beijing are reviewed and the strategies for Korean side to promote cooperation in Northeast Asia are suggested and discussed. The Chinese State Council amended the Environmental Protection Provisions and Clean Air Act and announced The Action Plan for Air Pollution Control (2013-2017), focusing on three key regions, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area (Jing-Jin-Ji), Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD). These policy actions and plan are mainly for the reducing coal usage and emissions from vehicles. It is suggested that, Korea should actively promote multi-national cooperation in the region to take an initiative role in environmental areas.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.196-209
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• 2009

Occurrences of sandstorms in the deserts and loess of Mongolia and northern China and associated dustfall episodes in the Korean Peninsula were monitored during the period January through December, 2005. False colour images were made by directly receiving the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data, and the distribution and transport of sandstorms were analyzed. The ground concentrations for PM10, PM2.5 and visibility of the dustfall episodes (PM10 concentration over $190{\mu}g\;m^{-3}$) were analyzed at Cheongwon, located midway in South Korea, and in the leeward direction of the place of origin of the sandstorms. Variations in the concentrations of $O_3,\;NO_2$, CO and $SO_2$ were also compared with dust concentrations in the dustfall episodes. Fewer occurrences of strong sandstorms in the place of origin were observed in 2005, due largely to the accumulation of snow and mild fluctuations of high and low pressure systems in the place of origin, thereby accounting for a low frequency of dustfall episodes in Korea, compared with those during the period 1997-2005. A total of 7 dustfall episodes were monitored in Korea in 2005 that lasted 11 days. In summer, sandstorms occurred less frequently in the source region in 2005 due to high humidity and milder winds, thereby causing no dustfall episodes in Korea. In case the sandstorms occurring at the place of source head directly to Korea without passing through large cities and industrial areas of China, the PM2.5 concentrations were measured at 20% or lower than the PM10 concentrations. However, when the sandstorms headed to Korea via the industrial areas of eastern China, where they pick up anthropogenic air pollutants, the PM2.5 concentrations were at least 25% higher of the PM10 concentrations. On the other hand, over 5 cases were observed and analyzed in 2005 where the PM10 concentrations of sand dust originating from the deserts were measured at $190{\mu}g\;m^{-3}$ or lower, falling short of the level of a dustfall episode.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.71-85
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to estimate air purification effectiveness considering the improvement of its methods related atmospheric environment. The air purification effectiveness is estimated in Daegu, one out of Korean Metropolitan cities because air pollution is getting serious in a heavily urbanized area. The absorption of pollutants is calculated by considering spatial heterogeneity that was not considered previous studies and the spatial resolution of air dispersion modeling is also improved by kriging method. According to the type and distribution of urban forest, total 26 kinds of plant communities were distributed with Pinus densiflora community, Pinus densiflora-Quercus mongolica community, Pinus densiflora-Quercus acutissima community and other kinds of communities in the study area. In the results of estimating the $CO_2$ absorption amount for identification of the air purification effectiveness on urban forest, the annual absorption amount was total 108,155t/yr. Also, the annual absorption amounts of $NO_2$ and $SO_2$ were total 183.5 ton and 410.2 ton respectively. The findings from this study can confirm the differences of pollutant absorption by concentration that could not identify if spatial distribution of pollutant concentration had not been considered.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.74-83
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• 2018

Anyone who wants to install local ventilation system must obtain a permission from the Ministry of Employment and Labor even if he has permission from the Ministry of Environment. This is because not only the Atmospheric Environmental Protection Act, but also the manufacturing industry's hazardous risk prevention plan under Article 48 Clause 2 of the Industrial Safety and Health Act is to be submitted by 15 days before the construction. Under the current Environmental Protection Act, the Ministry of Environment regulates only the emission of pollutants from local exhaust ventilation systems into the atmosphere and the contents of workers' safety and health within industrial sites are managed by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Even with the approval of the Ministry of Environment, the number of unsuccessful cases by the Ministry of Employment and Labor has increased, causing a growing discontent among the sites due to production delays and additional costs of improvement. In addition, local exhaust systems that are at greater risk of fire explosion have increased the risk of severe industrial accidents due to fire explosion. This is due to insufficient design of air volume, control speed, return speed, duct size, and risk of fire explosion. This is because the criteria and procedures for approval of local exhaust ventilation systems are similar, but the Industrial Safety and Health Act adds additional screening items for safety and safety of workers and fire and explosion. In this study, the Environment Ministry and the Employment and Labor Ministry seek to find a reasonable way to operate the system by comparing local exhaust ventilation system installation approval standards.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 1994

Sungnam city, as a major satellite town, is located in the southeast of Seoul. Atmospheric conditions are so stable that air pollutants from various emissions are tend to resist change because Sungnam city is located in the Namhansansung valley. The industrial distribution of Sungnam city are composed of various manufactories such as foods, fibers, chemicals, machinery and electronics etc. The heavy metal concentrations and size distribution are the most important parameters influencing among the way in which respirable suspended particulate matter interact with the human respiratory system. Respirable suspended particulate matter was collected on glass fiber filters from April 1993 to February 1994 according to particle size using Anderson sampler during 10 days per month at Sungnam city. 6 heavy metals, Fe, Zn, Pb Mn, Cu and Cd, were analyzed by particle size with atomic absorption spectrophotometry . The results could be summarized as follows: 1. The annual arithmetic mean concentration of total suspended particulate was 116.3$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ m', seasonal variation was the highest in spring season(196.5$\mu $g/m$^{3}$) and the lowest in Summer Season(72.9$\mu $g/m$^{3}$). 2. The ratio of airborne particulate concentrations respirable to nonrepairable( Res/Non- Res) of annual arithmetic mean value was 5.8'1, seasonal variation was highest in the spring season(6.3 : 1) and lowest in the summer season(4.6 : 1). 3. During the spring season the shape of the size distribution was trimodal which showed peaks at 3 size groups, which were below of 0.43$\mu $m, 3.3∼4.7$\mu $m and above of 11.0$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ respectively. 4. Respirable suspended particulate matter concentrations of Zn, Pb Cu and Cd were the highest in below of 0.43$\mu $m as follows; 0.517$\mu $g/m$^{3}$, 0.411 $\mu $g/m$^{3}$, 0.062$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ and 0.0310$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ , respectively, Fe and Mn were the highest in the particle size range of 4.7 ∼ 7.0$\mu $m as follows; 2.504$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ and 0.095$\mu $g/m$^{3}$, respectively. 5. The Pt Cd, Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn concentrations of annual arithmetic mean value respirable to non- respirable( Res/Non- Res ) were 33.65, 19.27, 17.74, 10.54, 3.20 and 5.20, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.423-437
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• 2008

Until comparatively lately, the annual time series of the $SO_2$ concentration had been shown in a decreasing trend in Ulsan as well as other Korean cities. However, the high concentration of $SO_2$ was frequently found in the specific countermeasure region including the national industrial complex such as Mipo and Onsan in the Ulsan city for the period of $2001{\sim}2004$. There are many conditions that can influence the high concentration of $SO_2$ at monitoring sites in Ulsan, such as: First, annual usage of the fuel including sulfur increased in comparison with the year before in spite of the fuel conversion policy which wants to use low sulfur oil less than 3% and LNG. Second, point source, such as the power plants and the petroleum and chemistry stacks, was the biggest contributor in $SO_2$ emission, as a analyzed result of both the air quality modeling and the stack tole-monitoring system (TMS) data. And third, the air pollutants that occurred in processes of homing and manufacturing of the fuel including sulfur were transported slow into a special monitoring site by accumulating along the frontal area of see-breeze. It was concluded that Ulsan's current environmental policy together with control methods should be changed into the regulation on total amount of emission, including a market-based emission trading with calculating of atmospheric environmental critical loads, for the $SO_2$ reduction like the specific countermeasure for the $O_3$ and PM10 reduction in the Seoul metropolitan area. And this change should be started in the big point sources of $1{\sim}3$ species because they are big contributors of Ulsan's $SO_2$ pollution. Especially it is necessary to revitalize of the self-regulation environmental management. Other control methods for sustaining the $SO_2$ reduction are as follows: maintenance of the fuel conversion policy, reinforcement of the regional stationary source emission standard, and enlargement of the stack TMS.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.223-236
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• 2001

The concentration of gaseous mercury (Hg) was measured at hourly intervals along with relevant environmental parameters from two monitoring stations (Hannam and Kwachun) in Seoul metropolitan city during September 1999 to July 2000. Irrespective of the environmental and areal differences in the two locations, the concentrations of observed Hg levels were remarkably compatible each other. The results showed that the mean Hg level in Hannam was measured to be 5.34${\pm}$3.92 ngm$^{-3}$ (N = 2576), while that of Kwachun was 5.25${\pm}$2.53 ngm$^{-3}$ (N = 1992). Using these measurement data, we inspected Hg distribution and behavior at various time scale. When the data were analyzed at 24 hr scale, the distribution patterns for the two areas were distinguished by enrichment in either night(Hannam) or day (Kwachun). The patterns for seasonal distributions were also opposing each other such as the occurrences of peak during winter (Hannam) or summer (Kwachun). In order to analyze the factors affecting Hg distributions between two sites over different time scale, we conducted both correlation and factor analysis on both all data sets and on seasonally divided data groups. Whereas Hg exhibits strong correlations with such parameters as PM (particulate matter), SO$_2$, and NO$_2$, its relationship with meteorological parameters was not significant enough in many cases. The results of factor analysis also indicated that the Hg levels are tightly associated with most pollutants, explaining the largest portions of statistical variance. According to our study, we conclude that patterns of Hg distributions can exhibit variable patterns depending on local source processes which we expect to be diverse among different areas.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.83-101
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• 2005

Because of its strong potential for health hazards, the concentration levels of airborne lead (Pb) have been circumscribed by environmental laws in many countries. In this study, we made a comparative study on the environmental behavior of Pb for the acquisition of its distribution characteristics using data sets collected from major cities in Korea for a period of 6 years (1998 through 2003). According to this study, Pb concentration decreased slowly in most industrialized cities of Koreathroughout the whole study. period. In contrast, such temporal signals were not evident in data sets collected from residential, commercial, and grassland areas. Although seasonal patterns generally exhibited the occurrences of high Pb concentration during the spring, results appear to reflect the influence of Asian Dust (AD) in the springtime. The results of our study clearly indicate that Pb distribution is strongly influencedby source types in relation to their land use patterns. Comparison of our Pb data sets with that of other countries indicates that Pb concentration levels obtained from relatively cleaner districts of Korea are still significantly higher than other countries. The results of this analysis generally indicate that Pb concentrations in most areas are affected by the type and strength of man-made activities. Considering that most areas are affected by a variety of pollutants, continuous efforts are needed to control Pb concentrations in the atmosphere.