• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.494-503
• /
• 2011

Fine particles ($PM_{2.5}$) were collected and analyzed from December 2005 through December 2009 in Chuncheon, Korea to investigate the long-term trend of $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations. Also $PM_{10}$ concentrations were collected from Environmental Monitoring System operated by Ministry of Environment. Average concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$ and $PM_{10}$ were 30.5 and 58.2 ${\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. Both $PM_{2.5}$ and $PM_{10}$ were significantly affected by meteorological factors including wind speed, wind direction and precipitation. They generally decreased as wind speed increased (p=0.000), and increased when there was a prevailing westerly wind. Low concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$ were observed during rainy days while high concentrations were shown when fog, mist and/or haze occurred.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.322-331
• /
• 2007

In this study, we have analyzed $PM_{10}$ concentration measured at Incheon Regional Air Monitoring Network (10 stations) and meteorological data at Incheon Weather Station to investigate factors (i.e. wind direction, wind speed, relative humidity, major meteorological phenomenon, and sea-land breezes existence) influencing $PM_{10}$ concentration in Incheon during 2005. Statistical differences among meteorological factors were assessed by Kruskal-Wallis test or Mann-Whitney U test. The main conditions causing high $PM_{10}$ concentration are summarized below; 1. When westerly wind prevailed (however, $PM_{10}$ decreased when winds were blowing from the east or north). 2. When the winds were calm, owing to accumulation of nearby emissions under stagnant conditions, or when the wind speed is in excess of 6 m/s, which shows the effect of fugitive dust produced by wind erosion. 3. Under the condition of high relative humidity and poor diffusion based on meteorological phenomenon such as fog, mist, and haze. 4. When the Sea-Land breezes existed, which occurred 70 days in Incheon during 2005 and contributed significantly to high $PM_{10}$ concentration in the coastal urban area. In conclusion, we have found that the meteorological factors have influence on $PM_{10}$ concentration in Incheon.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.283-302
• /
• 2022

Despite the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in China since January 23, 2020, haze days with high PM₁₀ levels of 88-98 ㎍ m^-3 occurred on February 1 and 2, 2020. During these haze days, the East Asian region was affected by a warm and stagnant air mass with positive air temperature anomalies and negative zonal wind anomalies at 850 hPa. The Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) was used to analyze the variation of regional PM₁₀ aerosol transport in Korea due to decreased anthropogenic emissions in East Asia. The base experiment (BASE), which applies the basic anthropogenic emissions in the WRF-Chem model, and the control experiment (CTL) applied by reducing the anthropogenic emission to 50%, were used to assess uncertainty with ground-based PM₁₀ measurements in Korea. The index of agreement (IOA) for the CTL simulation was 0.71, which was higher than that of BASE (0.67). A statistical analysis of the results suggests that anthropogenic emissions were reduced during the COVID-19 lockdown period in China. Furthermore, BASE and CTL applied to zero-out anthropogenic emissions outside Korea (BASE_ZEOK and CTL_ZEOK) were used to analyze the variations of regional PM₁₀ aerosol transport in Korea. Regional PM₁₀ transport in CTL was reduced by only 10-20% compared to BASE. Synthetic weather variables may be another reason for the non-linear response to changes in the contribution of regional transport to PM₁₀ in Korea with the reduction of anthropogenic emissions in East Asia. Although the regional transport contribution of other inorganic aerosols was high in CTL (80-90%), sulfate-nitrate-ammonium (SNA) aerosols showed lower contributions of 0-20%, 30-60%, and 30-60%, respectively. The SNA secondary aerosols, particularly nitrates, presumably declined as the Chinese lockdown induced traffic.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.204-214
• /
• 2014

Objectives: Vehicular emissions are one of the main sources of air pollution in urban areas. Correlation analysis was conducted between air pollutants and traffic volume in order to identify causes of air pollution in Gwangju. Methods: Using traffic volumes and air quality monitoring data from 2002 to 2012 from nine stations (seven urban areas, two roadside areas), especially at three sites where traffic volumes were high, the correlation coefficients were obtained between air pollutants as PM-10 (particulate matter), $NO_2$, $SO_2$, CO and $O_3$ at the stations and traffic volumes near the air monitoring stations. Results: Due to traffic volume and distance between the station and the traffic road, concentrations of pollutants at roadside areas were higher than at urban areas, with the exception of $O_3$. The concentration of $O_3$ showed statistically significance with those of other gas materials as $NO_2$, $SO_2$, and CO in winter (p<0.001) and spring (p<0.05). During the period of October 7 to 20, 2012, excluding periods of yellow dust, smog and rainy season, the ratio of $NO/(NO+NO_2)$ showed the highest value 0.57 and 0.40 at Unam and Chipyeong of two roadside stations, followed by 0.35 at Nongseong with vehicular effects. The correlation coefficient between traffic volume and $O_3$, CO, $NO_2$ became higher when the data on mist and haze days were excluded, than when all hourly data were used in that period, at the three sites of Unam, Chipyeong, and Nongseong. Conclusions: Air quality showed a considerable effect from vehicles at roadside areas compared to in urban areas. Air pollutant diminishment strategies need to be aggressively adopted in order to protect atmospheric environment.