• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.176-188
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• 2008

Anthropogenic emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide in Northeast Asia are of great concern because of their impact on air quality and atmospheric chemistry on regional and intercontinental scales. Satellite remote sensing based on DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) technique has been preferred to measure atmospheric trace species and to investigate their emission characteristics on regional and global scales. Absorption spectra obtained by the satellite-born instrument, SCIAMACHY (Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography) have been utilized to retrieve the information of $SO_2$ and $NO_2$ over Northeast Asia. $SO_2$ levels over Northeast Asia were in order of East China, Yellow Sea, South Sea and Korean Peninsula with mean vertical columns of $1.78({\pm}1.0){\times}10^{16}$, $1.11({\pm}0.67){\times}10^{16}$, $0.60({\pm}0.63){\times}10^{16}$, $0.71({\pm}0.65){\times}10^{16}\;molecules/cm^2$, respectively. $NO_2$ levels were in order of East China, Yellow Sea, Korean Peninsula, and South Sea with mean vertical columns of $1.2({\pm}0.56){\times}10^{16}$, $0.38({\pm}0.19){\times}10^{16}$, $0.48({\pm}0.28){\times}10^{16}$, $0.26({\pm}0.16){\times}10^{16}\;molecules/cm^2$, respectively. High levels of $SO_2$ and $NO_2$ were observed over East China, in particular in winter by the contribution of heating fuel combustion exhausts. The $SO_2$ and $NO_2$ levels over East China were the highest in January with 34% and 42% higher over the annual means. Low levels of $SO_2$ ranged over Korean peninsula, while $NO_2$ levels were relatively high, in particular in winter. The $SO_2$ and $NO_2$ levels over Yellow Sea were relatively higher compared to those over Korean peninsula and South Sea, which could be mainly attributed to their transport from East China.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.164-172
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• 2015

Seoul subway plays an important part for the public transportation service in Seoul metropolitan area. As the subway system is typically a closed environment, frequent air pollution problems occurred and passengers get malhealth impact. Especially particulate matters (PM) is well known as one of the major pollutants in subway environments. The purpose of this study was to compare the concentrations of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ in the Seoul subway system and to provide fundamental data in order to management of subway system. $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ samples were collected in the M station platform and tunnel of Subway Line 4 in Seoul metropolitan and in an outdoor location close to it from Apr. 21, 2010~Oct. 27, 2013. The samples collected on teflon filters using $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ mini-volume portable samplers and PM sequential sampler. The PM contributions were $48.6{\mu}g/m^3$ (outdoor), $84.6{\mu}g/m^3$ (platform) and $204.8{\mu}g/m^3$ (tunnel) for $PM_{10}$, and $34.6{\mu}g/m^3$ (outdoor), $49.7{\mu}g/m^3$ (platform) and $83.1{\mu}g/m^3$ (tunnel) for $PM_{2.5}$. The $PM_{10}$ levels inside stations and outdoors are poorly correlated, indicating that $PM_{10}$ levels in the metro system are mainly influenced by internal sources. In this study, we compared PM concentrations before and after operation of ventilation and Electrostatic Precipitator (EP). Despite the increased PM concentration at outdoor, $PM_{10}$ concentration at platform and tunnel showed the 31.2% and 32.3% reduction efficiency after operation the reduction system. The overall results of this study suggest that the installation and operation of the ventilating system and EP should have served as one of the important components for maintaining the air quality in the subway system.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.234-245
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• 2010

Twenty-four hour integrated $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ samples were measured during springtime (March, April, and May) in Busan for three years from 2006 to 2008, and mass concentrations and metallic elements of measurement were analyzed to investigate temporal, spatial, chemical characteristics of the mass concentration and metallic elements in association with meteorological conditions including Asian Dust (AD) vs. non Asian Dust (NAD) seasons, and other air mass transport patterns. The result showed that $PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$ and $PM_{10-2.5}$ concentrations were on average of $126.2{\pm}89.8$, $85.5{\pm}41.6$, and $40.7{\pm}54.9{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively, and the $PM_{2.5}/PM_{10}$ and $PM_{10-2.5}/PM_{2.5}$ ratios were 0.70 and 0.48, respectively. The highest concentrations of PM were observed when air parcels were originated from both northwest sector covering Beijing and west sector including Shanghai areas.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.179-186
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• 2020

The purposes of this paper were: 1) to identify the structural changes of the northeast Asia airport network caused by the pandemic of COVID-19 using social network analysis (SNA) and 2) to suggest proposals for improving airport competitiveness. In this respect, the entire international air routes in northeast Asia airport collected data of 4-10 March 2019 and 9-15 March 2020 through schedules analyzer database of OAG. We found that both the density and centrality have decreased since the spread of COVID-19. The government and airport authorities need active support such as a reduction of various fees and a moratorium on transportation rights to overcome the crisis in the air transport industry. When the COVID-19 situation calms down in the future, we hope that further research will be conducted to identify the structural changes in the SNA aspects through the vast data establishment in countries such as the EU and America.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.114-127
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• 2015

In the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA), ozone ($O_3$) concentration is still higher than in other urban areas in developed countries. In order to reveal the current state of photochemical air pollution and to provide data for validation of chemical transport models, vertical profiles of meteorological parameters and ozone concentrations were measured by ozonesonde in two field campaigns: the first one, during the change of season from wet to dry-cold (November 2011) and the second during the dry-warm season (March 2012). Unlike previous similar field campaigns, ozonesonde was launched twice daily. The observation data were used to analyze the production and distribution of ozone in the convective boundary layer. The observation days covered a wide range of meteorological conditions, and various profiles were obtained. The evolution of the mixing layer (ML) height was analyzed, revealing that ML evolution was faster during daytime in March 2012 than in November 2011. On a day in November 2011, the early-morning strong wind and the resulting vertical mixing was observed to have brought the high-ozone-concentration air-mass to the ground and caused relatively high surface ozone concentration in the morning. The amount of produced ozone in the MCMA was estimated by taking the difference between the two profiles on each day. In addition to the well-known positive correlation between daily maximum temperature and ozone production, effect of the ML height and wind stagnation was identified for a day in March 2012 when the maximum ground-level ozone concentration was observed during the two field campaigns. The relatively low ventilation coefficient in the morning and the relatively high value in the afternoon on this day implied efficient accumulation of the $O_3$ precursors and rapid production of $O_3$ in the ML.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.247-257
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• 2019

Objectives: The Korea Ministry of Environment regulates concentrations of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) through Atmosphere Environmental Standards to protect public health from HAPs. However, simply determining the exceedance of HAP concentrations has several limitations and more comprehensive assessment is required. In addition, integrated risk assessment is needed considering exposure in all microenvironments, including outdoor as well as indoor environments. The purpose of this study was to assess the differences in risk by sub-population groups according to time-activity patterns and reported concentrations, as well as the lifetime risk for Koreans. Methods: In this study, we calculated time-weighted average exposure concentrations for benzene and $PM_{10}$ among preschool-age children, students, housewifes, workers, and the elderly using residential time and concentrations for indoor (house, school or workplace, other), outdoor, and transport by the meta-analysis method. The risk assessments were conducted by excess cancer risk and disease death risk using 1,000,000 Monte-Carlo simulations for probabilistic analysis. Results: Preschool-age children, students, housewifes, workers, and the elderly spent 91.9, 86.0, 79.8, 82.2, and 77.3% of their day in their house, workplace, or school, respectively. The more than 99% excess cancer risk for benzene exceed 1.0E-06 in all sub-populations and lifetime. The acute disease death risk for $PM_{10}$ for housewifes and workers for lifetime were 3.35E-04 and 3.18E-04, and chronic disease death risks were 2.84E-03 and 2.70E-03, respectively. Conclusions: The risk of benzene and $PM_{10}$ by sub-population group and for the lifetime of housewifes and workers were assessed. Benzene showed risky results for this study. All disease death risks of $PM_{10}$ were higher than 1.0E-04 and showed different risks by sub-population. This study can be used as a basis for lifetime exposure and risk assessment to benzene and $PM_{10}$.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.23-35
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• 2022

Recently, passengers using public transport are concerned about the effects of COVID-19 and fine dust. Therefore, from February 2020 to February 2021, we investigated whether SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected even after disinfection in 55 public transportation places visited by confirmed patients in Seoul. 34 air samples and 702 object surface samples were collected and tested with RT-PCR, one surface sample was positive. In addition, preemptive investigations were conducted in 22 subway trains that passengers were being on board at that time. 1,018 preemptive tests were performed, and all were negative. Although PM-2.5 is dangerous in itself, it can be a potential carrier of viruses. It seemed that a solution was needed as one line continuously exceeded the criteria of PM-2.5. Through this study, it is judged that cluster infection in public transportation can be prevented if efforts to reduce the concentration of fine dust, appropriate disinfection management, and personal disinfection such as wearing a mask in public transportations.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.899-914
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• 2023

Various seeding materials for cloud seeding are being used, and sodium chloride powder is one of them, which is commonly used. This study analyzed the experimental results of multi-aircraft cloud seeding in connection with Republic of Korea Air Force (CN235) and KMA/NIMS(Korea Meteorological Administration/National Institute of Meteorological Sciences) Atmospheric Research Aircraft. Powdered sodium chloride was used in CN235 for the first time in South Korea. The analysis of the cloud particle size distributions and radar reflectivity before and after cloud seeding showed that the growth efficiency of powdery seeding material in the cloud is slightly higher than that of hygroscopic flare composition in the distribution of number concentrations by cloud aerosol particle diameter (10 ~ 1000 ㎛). Considering the radar reflectivity, precipitation, and numerical model simulation, the enhanced precipitation due to cloud seeding was calculated to be a maximum of 3.7 mm for 6 hours. The simulated seeding effect area was about 3,695 km², which corresponds to 13,634,550 tons of water. In the precipitation component analysis, as a direct verification method, the ion equivalent concentrations (Na⁺, Cl^-, Ca²⁺) of the seeding material at the Bukgangneung site were found to be about 1000 times higher than those of other non-affected areas between about 1 and 2 hours after seeding. This study suggests the possibility of continuous multi-aircraft cloud seeding experiments to accumulate and increase the amount of precipitation enhancement.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.108-121
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• 2009

The suspended particulate matters have been collected on membrane filters and glass fiber filters by an 8-stage cascade impactor for 2 years (Sep. 2005${\sim}$Sep. 2007) in Kyung Hee University-Global Campus located on the border of Yongin and Suwon. The 20 chemical species (Al, Mn, Si, Fe, Cu, Pb, Cr, Ni, V, Cd, Ba, $Na^+$, ${NH_4}^+$, $K^+$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Cl^-$, ${NO_3}^-$, and ${SO_4}^{2-}$) were analyzed by an ICP-AES and an IC after performing proper pre-treatments of each sample filter. Based on these chemical information, the PMF receptor model was applied to identify the source of ambient size-by-size particulate matters. The receptor modeling is the one of the statistical methods to achieve resonable air pollution management strategies. A total of 10 sources was identified in 9 size-ranges such as long-range transport, secondary aerosol, $NH_{4}NO_{3}$ related source, coal combustion, sea-salt, soil, oil combustion, auto emission, incineration, and biomass burning. Especially, the secondary aerosol source assorted in fine and coarse modes was intensively studied.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.330-338
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• 2010

In this study, removal characteristics of nitrogen oxides $(NO_x)$ from road transport by using peat as the packing media for biodegradation have been investigated in the long term. Physicochemical and biological treatment of peatmixed media eliminates any requirement to use chemical substances and also facilitates the biodegradable actions of microorganism. Safe biodegradation of pollutants, no need to apply additional microbes owing to their active growth, and no generation of secondary pollutants were found in this experiment. It was concluded that average removal efficiencies of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide $(NO_2)$ were 80% and 97% respectively with respect to the linear velocity 35~40 mm/s and 0.3 ppm ozone concentration in the long period operation. Inflow concentration of nitric oxide over 0.05 ppm was suitable when pretreated with ozone. Non-ozone stage was performed with linear velocity 20~100 mm/s and then the average removal efficiency of nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide were 38% and 94% respectively. Other results showed that the apparent static pressure was raised with increases in applied water content and aerial velocity in mixed media during fan operation.