Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment (한국대기환경학회지)

Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment (한국대기환경학회)
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Using visibility to estimate PM2.5 concentration trends in Seoul and Chuncheon from 1982 to 2014

시정을 이용하여 추정한 1982~2014년 서울과 춘천의 PM2.5 농도 변화 추이

  • Lee, Yong-Hee (Department of Environmental Science, Kangwon National University) ;
  • Kwak, Kyung-Hwan (School of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, Kangwon National University)
  • 이용희 (강원대학교 환경학과) ;
  • 곽경환 (강원대학교 환경융합학부)
  • Received : 2017.12.11
  • Accepted : 2017.12.22
  • Published : 2018.02.28
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Abstract

Long-term trend analysis on air pollutant concentrations is very important to diagnose the present status and plan for the future. In this study, the long-term trends of $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations were estimated based on the relationship between the visibility and $PM_{2.5}$ concentration regarding the effects of relative humidity in Seoul and Chuncheon. The relationships between the visibility and $PM_{2.5}$ concentration were derived from the measurement data in 2015 and 2016. Then, the annual trends of $PM_{2.5}$ concentration from 1982 to 2014 were estimated and compared to those of $PM_{10}$ concentration available in Seoul and Chuncheon. During the estimation process, four ranges of relative humidity were considered such as less than 30%, 31~50%, 51~70%, and 71~90%. In Seoul and Chuncheon, the visibility and $PM_{2.5}$ concentration generally have the inverse relationship while the visibility decreases as the relative humidity increases. The estimated $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations similarly showed the decreasing tendencies from 2006 to 2012 in Seoul and Chuncheon. However, the estimated $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations showed the increasing tendency before 2005 in Chuncheon in contrast to the decreasing tendency in Seoul. This implies that the long-term trends of $PM_{2.5}$ concentration in different cities in South Korea reflect the local influencing factors. For example, 'Special Act on the Improvement of Atmospheric Environment in the Seoul Metropolitan Area' can affect the different long-term trends in Seoul and Chuncheon. The estimated $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations were validated with the measured ones in Seoul and Chuncheon. While the general tendencies were well matched between the estimated and measured concentrations, the $PM_{2.5}$ concentration trends in 1990s and their monthly variations are needed to be improved quantitatively using more reference data for longer years.

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References

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