• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.196-205
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• 2008

Variability in vertical ozone and meteorological profiles was measured by 2Z electrochemical concentration cells (ECC) ozonesonde at Bangyi in Seoul ($37.52^{\circ}N$, $127.13^{\circ}E$) during June $6{\sim}9$, 2003 in odor to identify the vertical distribution of ozone and its relationship with the lower-atmospheric structure resulted in the high ozone concentrations near the surface. The eight profiles obtained in the early morning and the late afternoon during the study period clearly showed that the substantial change of ozone concentrations in lower atmosphere(${\sim}5\;km$), indicating that it is tightly coupled to the variation of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) structure as well as the background synoptic flow. All profiles observed early in the morning showed very low ozone concentrations near the surface with strong vertical gradients in the nocturnal stable boundary layer due to the photochemical ozone loss caused by surface NO titration under very weak vertical mixing. On the other hand, relatively uniform ozone profiles in the developed mixing layer and the ozone peaks in the upper PBL, were observed in the late afternoon. It was noted that a significant increase in ozone concentrations in the lower atmosphere occurred with the corresponding decrease of the mixing height in the late afternoon on June 8. Ozone in upper layer did not vertically vary much compared to that in PBL but changed significantly on June 6 that was closely associated with the variation of synoptic flows. Interestingly, heavily polluted ozone layers aloft (a maximum value of 115 ppb around 2 km) were formed early in the morning on 6 through 7 June under dominant westerly synoptic flows. This indicates the effects of the transport of pollutants on regional scale and consequently can give a rise to increase the surface ozone concentration by downward mixing processes enhanced in the afternoon.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2018

The radon concentration in soil varies with environmental factors such as atmospheric temperature and pressure, rainfall and soil temperature. The effects of these factors, therefore, should be differentiate in order to analyzed the anomalous radon variation caused by earthquake events. For these reasons, a comparative analysis between the radon variations with environmental factors and the anomalous variations caused by Gyeong-ju earthquake occurred in September 12, 2016 has been conducted. Radon concentration in soil and environmental factors were continuously measured at a monitoring ste located in 58Km away from earthquake epicenter from January 01, 2014 to May 31, 2017. The co-relationships between radon concentration and environmental factors were analyzed. The seasonal average radon concentration(n) and the standard variation(${\rho}$) was calculated, and the regions of ${\pm}1{\rho}$ and ${\pm}2{\rho}$ deviations from seasonal average concentration were investigated to find the anomalous radon variation related to Gyeong-ju earthquake. Earthquake effectiveness and q-factor were also calculated. The radon concentration indicated the seasonal variation pattern, showing high in summer and low in winter. It increases with increasing air temperature and soil temperature, and has the positive co-relationships of $R^2=0.9136$ and $R^2=0.8496$, respectively. The radon concentration decreases with increasing atmospheric pressure, and has the negative co-relationships of $R^2=0.7825$. Four regions of ${\pm}2{\rho}$ deviation from average seasonal concentration (A1: 7/3~7/5, A2: 7/18, A3: 8/4~8/5, A4: 10/17~10/20) were detected before and after Gyeong-ju earthquake. A1, A2, A3 were determined as the anomalous radon variation caused by the earthquake from co-relationship analyses with environmental factors, earthquake effectiveness and q-factor. During the period of anomalous radon variation, correlation coefficients between radon concentration and environmental factors were significantly lowered compared to other periods such as air temperature ($R^2=0.2314$), soil temperature ($R^2=0.1138$) and atmospheric pressure ($R^2=0.0475$). Annual average radon concentration was also highest at 2016, the year of Gyeong-ju earthquake.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.277-288
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• 2010

The multi-level $H_2O/CO_2$ profile system has been widely used to quantify the storage and advection effects on energy and mass fluxes measured by eddy covariance systems. In this study, we expanded the utility of the profile system by accommodating air sampling devices for isotope analyses of water vapor and $CO_2$. A pre-evacuated 2L glass flask was connected to the discharge of an Infrared Gas Analyzer (IRGA) of the profile system so that airs with known concentration of $H_2O$ and $CO_2$ can be sampled. To test the performance of this sampling system, we sampled airs from 8 levels (from 0.1 to 40 m) at the KoFlux tower of Gwangneung deciduous forest, Korea. Air samples in the 2L flask were separated into its component gases and pure $H_2O$ and $CO_2$ were extracted by using a vacuum extraction line. This novel technique successfully produced vertical profiles of ${\delta}D$ of $H_2O$ and ${\delta}^{13}C$ of $CO_2$ in a mature forest, and estimated ${\delta}D$ of evapotranspiration (${\delta}D_{ET}$) and ${\delta}^{13}C$ of $CO_2$ from ecosystem respiration (${\delta}^{13}C_{resp}$) by using Keeling plots. While technical improvement is still required in various aspects, our sampling system has two major advantages over other proposed techniques. First, it is cost effective since our system uses the existing structure of the profile system. Second, both $CO_2$ and $H_2O$ can be sampled simultaneously so that net ecosystem exchange of $H_2O$ and $CO_2$ can be partitioned at the same temporal resolution, which will improve our understanding of the coupling between water and carbon cycles in terrestrial ecosystems.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.32-43
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• 2021

Multichannel automated chamber systems (MCACs) were developed for the continuous monitoring of soil CO2 efflux in forest ecosystems. The MCACs mainly consisted of four modules: eight soil chambers with lids that automatically open and close, an infrared CO2 analyzer equipped with eight multichannel gas samplers, an electronic controller with time-relay circuits, and a programmable logic datalogger. To examine the stability and reliability of the developed MCACs in the field during all seasons with a high temporal resolution, as well as the effects of temperature and soil water content on soil CO2 efflux rates, we continuously measured the soil CO2 efflux rates and micrometeorological factors at the Nam-san experimental site in a Quercus mongolica forest floor using the MCACs from January to December 2010. The diurnal and seasonal variations in soil CO2 efflux rates markedly followed the patterns of changes in temperature factors. During the entire experimental period, the soil CO2 efflux rates were strongly correlated with the temperature at a soil depth of 5 cm (r2 = 0.92) but were weakly correlated with the soil water content (r2 = 0.27). The annual sensitivity of soil CO2 efflux to temperature (Q10) in this forest ranged from 2.23 to 3.0, which was in agreement with other studies on temperate deciduous forests. The annual mean soil CO2 efflux measured by the MCACs was approximately 11.1 g CO2 m-2 day-1. These results indicate that the MCACs can be used for the continuous long-term measurements of soil CO2 efflux in the field and for simultaneously determining the impacts of micrometeorological factors.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.77-82
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• 2022

This study aims to understand how mobile and stationary air pollution sources affect the air quality and soil properties in urban parks. We selected three sites of urban parks in Seoul as follows: Ha-neul Park in Mapo-gu (Site_M), Ill-won Eco-Park in Gangnam-gu (Site_G), and Yangjae Citizen's Forest in Seocho-gu (Site_Y), and compared the results of each site's traffic volume, air quality concentration, and soil analysis. Traffic volume was high in Site_M, followed by Site_G and Y; Site_M and G were closer to the resource recovery facility than Site_Y. Hence, we hypothesized that PM and NO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere were higher in Site_M than Site_G and Y, causing different soil nitrogen content among sites due to different atmospheric deposition. Consistent with our hypothesis, the concentrations of PM2.5 and NO₂ were higher in Site_M and G than Site_Y, while Site_Y had higher PM10 than other sites. The soil NO₃^- contents showed no significant difference among three sites, whereas the soil NH₄+ content was extremely high in Site_Y. This high content of soil NH₄⁺ is thought to be due to acidification from excessive fertilization. Lower soil pH of Site_Y further supported the evidence of heavy fertilization in this site. Overall nitrogen dynamics implies that soil nitrogen status is more influenced by park management such as fertilization rather than atmospheric deposition. Despite of lower soil NH₄⁺ content of Site_M and G than Y, vegetation vitality looked similar among three sites. This indirectly indicates that excessive fertilizer input in urban park management needs to be reconsidered. This study showed that even if the air quality was different due to mobile and stationary sources, it did not directly affect the soil nitrogen nutrient status of the adjacent urban park.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.171-180
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• 2013

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of crystalline organic-inorganic hybrid compounds formed by coordination of metal clusters or ions with organic linkers. MOFs have recently attracted intense research interest due to their permanent porous structures, large surface areas and pore volume, high-dispersed metal species, and potential applications in gas adsorption, separation, and catalysis. $CO_2$ adsorption in MOFs has been investigated in two areas of $CO_2$ storage at high pressures and $CO_2$ adsorption at atmospheric pressure conditions. In this short review, $CO_2$ adsorption/separation results using MOFs conducted in our laboratory was explained in terms of four contributing effects; (1) coordinatively unsaturated open metal sites, (2) functionalization, (3) interpenetration/catenation, and (4) ion-exchange. Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) were also considered as a candidate material.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.230.2-230.2
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• 2016

A new approach for antimicrobial is based on the overproduction of reactive nitrogen species (RNS), especially; nitric oxide (NO) and peroxinitrite ($ONOO^-$-) are important factors to deactivate the bacteria. Recently, non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) has been frequently used in the field of microbial sterilization through the generation of different kinds of RNS/ROS species. However, in previous study we showed APPJ has combine effects ROS/RNS on bacterial sterilization. It is not still clear whether this bacterial killing effect has been done through ROS or RNS. We need to further investigate separate effect of ROS and RNS on bacterial sterilization. Hence, in this work, we have enhanced NO production, especially; by applying a 1% of HNO3 vapour to the N2 based APPJ. In comparison with nitrogen plasma with inclusion of water vapour plasma, it has been shown that nitrogen plasma with inclusion of 1% of HNO3 vapour has higher efficiency in killing the E. coli and different type of cancer cell through the high production of NO. We also investigate the enhancement of NO species both in atmosphere by emission spectrum and inside the solution by ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy. Moreover, qPCR analysis of oxidative stress mRNA shows higher gene expression. It is noted that 1% of HNO3 vapour plasma generates high amount of NO for killing bacteria and cancer cell killing.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.303-306
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• 2005

Transient luminous events (TLEs; sprites, elves, jets and etc.) are lightning-related optical flashes occurring above thunderstorms. Since the first discovery of sprites in 1989, scientists have learned a great deal about the morphological, spectroscopic and electromagnetic characteristics of TLEs through ground and spacecraft campaigns. However, most of the TLE studies were based on events recorded over US High Plains. To elucidate the possible biasing effects, space-borne observations are needed and have their merits. Imager of sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning (ISUAL) on the FORMOSAT-2 satellite is the first instrument to carry out a true global measurement of TLEs from a low- earth orbit. In this short paper, we apply a common astronomical data analysis technique, two-color diagram, on the ISUAL spectrophotometer (SP) data. By choosing appropriated bandpasses and converting the measured flux of TLEs into the unit of magnitude, two-color diagrams of TLEs can be constructed. We demonstrate that two-color diagrams, which were constructed from the narrow-band spectrophotometer data, can be used to classify different types of TLEs and trace their temporal evolution. The amount of reddening due to Earth's atmosphere can also be estimated from two-color diagrams assembled from the broad-band spectrophotometer data.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.167-176
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• 2008

Atmospheric N deposition has far-reaching impacts on forest ecosystems, including on-site impacts such as soil acidification, fertilization, and nutrient imbalances, and off-site environmental impacts such as nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emission. Although chronic N deposition has been believed to lead to forest N saturation, recent evidence suggests that N retention capacity, particularly in the forest floor, can be surprisingly high even under high N deposition. This review aims to provide an overview of N retention processes in the forest floor and the implications of changing C-N interactions for C sequestration. The fate of available N in forest soils has been explained by the competitive balance between tree roots, soil heterotrophs, and nitrifiers. However, high rates of N retention have been observed in numerous N addition experiments without noticeable increases in tree growth and soil respiration. Alternative hypotheses have been proposed to explain the gap between the input and loss of N in N-enriched, C-limited systems, including abiotic immobilization and mycorrhizal assimilation, both of which do not require additional C sources to incorporate N in soil N pools. Different fates of N in the forest floor have different implications for C sequestration. N-induced tree growth can enhance C accumulation in tree biomass as observed across temperate regions. C loss from forests can amount to or outweigh C gain in N-saturated, declining forests, while another type of 'C-N decoupling' can have positive or neutral effects on soil C sequestration through hampered organic matter decomposition or abiotic N immobilization, respectively.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2017

Fine polymeric fibers have been gaining interest from the energy harvesting/storage, tissue, and bioengineering industries because of advantages such as the small diameter, high porosity, permeability, and similarities to a natural extracellular matrix. Electrospinning is one of the most popular methods used to fabricate polymeric fibers because it is not as limited in regards to the materials selection, and it does not require expensive or complex equipment. However, electrospun fibers have a severe aerodynamic instability because the small diameter fibers are able to pass through the atmospheric layer when there is a high electric field. As a result, electrospun fibrous mats have serious difficulties with controlling its shape and geometric properties. In this study, a hybrid nano/microfibrous mat is presented that is fabricated using electrospinning with two different solvent-based PCL solutions. This provides control of the fiber diameter, mat porosity, and mechanical properties. Various hybrid fibrous mats were fabricated after an experimental investigation of the effects of solvent on fiber diameter. It was then demonstrated that the mechanical properties and porosity of the fabricated various hybrid mats could be successfully controlled.