• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1223-1237
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• 2020

This study focused on comparing the meteorological conditions in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) on high-event days and non-event days in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA). We utilized observed PM10 and meteorological variables at the surface as well as at the upper heights. The results showed that high-event days were consistently associated with lower wind speed, whereas wind direction showed no particular difference between high-event and non-event days with frequent westerlies and northwesterlies for both cases. During high-event days, the temperature was much warmer than the monthly normal values with a sharp increasing trend, and Relative Humidity (RH) was higher than the monthly normal, especially on high-event days in February. During high-event days in spring, a double inversion layer was present at surface and upper heights. This indicates that stability in the multi-layer is an important indicator of higher PM10 concentrations. Net radiation in spring and winter is also closely associated with higher PM10 concentrations. Strong net radiation resulted in large sensible heat, which in turn facilitated a deeper mixing height with diluted PM10 concentrations; in contrast, PM10 concentrations were higher when sensible heat in spring and winter was very low. We also confirmed that convective and friction velocity was higher on non-event days than on high-event days, and this was especially obvious in spring and winter. This indicated that thermal turbulence was dominant in spring, whereas in winter, mechanical turbulence was dominant over the SMA.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.361-369
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• 1997

In order to investigate the abundance and transboundary fluxes of air pollutants over the Yellow Sea, airborne measurements were made aboard the SF-600 aircraft (Pan-Asia Engineering) in March, 1996. The data presented in this paper are preliminary results and airborne experiment will be carried out until 1999. The vertical profile of relevant meteorological parameters such as temperature, water vapor, wind direction and wind speed were also observed at Taean. Mixing layer height was about 1000~1100m during the flights. The SO$_2$ and NO$_{x}$ concentrations were 3~6 ppb and 5~7 ppb below 1000 m, within 1 ppb and 3~5 ppb at 1000~2000m, respectively. Backward trajectory analyses were also carried out. A mathematical method by Lelieveld et al.(1989) was used to estimate the flux of air pollutants through the planetary boundary layer of Yellow Sea area. Transboundary fluxes were calculated using the measurement results with respect to the pollutants concentration, depth of the planetary boundary layer, wind speed and wind direction. The estimated transboundary flux of SO$_2$through the western boundary of Korea was about 39~42 tons/hour.r.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.419-426
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• 2003

This study was performed to research ozone concentration related to airmass thunderstorm using 12 years meteorological data(1990~2001) at Busan. The occurrence frequency of thunderstorm during 12 years was 156 days(annual mean 13days). The airmass thunderstorm frequency was 14 days, most of those occurrence at summertime(59%). In case August 4, 1996, increase of ozone concentration was simultaneous with the decrease of temperature and increase of relative humidity, In case July 23, 1997, ozone concentration of western site at Busan increased, while its of eastern site decreased as airmass thunderstorm occurred(about 1500LST). It is supposed that these ozone increases are the effect of ozone rich air that is brought down by cumulus downdrafts from height levels where the ozone mixing ratio is larger. Thunderstorms can cause downward transport of ozone from the reservoir layer in the upper troposphere into planeta교 boundary layer(PBL). This complex interaction of source and sink processes can result in large variability fer vertical and horizontal ozone distributions. Thus a variety of meteorological precesses can act to enhance vertical mixing between the earth's surface and the atmospheric in the manner described fer thunderstorm.

• 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.

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 1997

Handling the emergency problems such as Chemobyl accident require real time prediction of pollutants dispersion. One-point real time sounding at pollutant source and simple model including turbulent-radiation process are very important to predict dispersion at real time. The stability categories obtained by one-dimensional numerical model (including PBL dynamics and radiative process) are good agreement with observational data (Golder, 1972). Therefore, the meteorological parameters (thermal, moisture and momentum fluxes; sensible and latent heat; Monin-Obukhov length and bulk Richardson number; vertical diffusion coefficient and TKE; mixing height) calculated by this model will be useful to understand the structure of stable boundary layer and to handling the emergency problems such as dangerous gasses accident. Especially, this simple model has strong merit for practical dispersion models which require turbulence process but does not takes long time to real predictions. According to the results of this model, the urban area has stronger vertical dispersion and weaker horizontal dispersion than rural area during daytime in summer season. The maximum stability class of urban area and rural area are 'A' and 'B' at 14 LST, respectively. After 20 LST, both urban and rural area have weak vertical dispersion, but they have strong horizontal dispersion. Generally, the urban area have larger radius of horizontal dispersion than rural area. Considering the resolution and time consuming problems of three dimensional grid model, one-dimensional model with one-point real sounding have strong merit for practical dispersion model.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2007

Vehicle exhaust is a dominant source of air pollutants in urban areas. Since people are easily exposed to vehicle exhaust particles while driving a car and/or traveling via public transportation, air pollution near traffic has been extensively studied in developed countries. In this paper, investigations on vehicle-related fine particulate air pollution at roadsides and on roads in Seoul, Korea were reviewed to understand air pollution near traffic. Comparison of $PM_{10}$ concentrations in Seoul showed that roadside air is more contaminated than urban air, implying that exposure levels near vehicular emissions are more critical to sensitive persons. Concentrations of ultrafine particles and BC (black carbon) at roadsides of Seoul fluctuate highly for short durations, responding to traffic situations. Diurnal variations of ultrafine particles and BC concentrations at roadsides seem to be affected by traffic volume, mixing layer height, and wind speed. Concentrations of ultrafine particles and BC decrease as distance from the road increases due to dilution during transport. On-road air pollution seems to be more severe than roadside air pollution in Seoul. Since nearby traffic air pollution has not been well understood in Seoul, further studies including various vehicular air pollutants and representative locations are needed.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.703-714
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• 2010

In this study, we analyzed the impact of orographic and thermal forcing on the atmospheric flow field over the urban metropolitan areas on urban artificial buildings and future development plan. Several numerical experiments have been undertaken in order to clarify the impacts of the future development plan on urban area by analyzing practical urban ground conditions, we revealed that there were large differences in the meteorological differences in each case. The prognostic meteorological fields over complex areas of Seoul, Korea are generated by the PSU/NCAR mesoscale model(MM5). we carried out a comparative examination on the meteorological fields of topography and land-use that had building information and future development plan. A higher wind speed at daytimes tends to be forecasted when using new topography and land use data that have a high resolution with an appropriate limitation to the mixing height and the nocturnal boundary layer(NCB). During nighttime periods, since radiation cooling development is stronger after development plan, the decreased wind speed is often generated.

• 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.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 1992

Handling the emergency problems such as Chemobyl accident require real time prediction of pollutants dispersion. One-point real time sounding at pollutant source and simple model including turbulent-radiation process are very important to predict dispersion at real time. The stability categories obtained by one-dimensional numerical model (including PBL dynamics and radiative process) are good agreement with observational data (Golder, 1972). Therefore, the meteorological parameters (thermal, moisture and momentum fluxes; sensible and latent heat; Monin-Obukhov length and bulk Richardson number; vertical diffusion coefficient and TKE; mixing height) calculated by this model will be useful to understand the structure of stable boundary layer and to handling the emergency problems such as dangerous gasses accident. Especially, this simple model has strong merit for practical dispersion models which require turbulence process but does not takes long time to real predictions. According to the results of this model, the urban area has stronger vertical dispersion and weaker horizontal dispersion than rural area during daytime in summer season. The maximum stability class of urban area and rural area are "A" and "B" at 14 LST, respectively. After 20 LST, both urban and rural area have weak vertical dispersion, but they have strong horizontal dispersion. Generally, the urban area have larger radius of horizontal dispersion than rural area. Considering the resolution and time consuming problems of three dimensional grid model, one-dimensional model with one-point real sounding have strong merit for practical dispersion model.al dispersion model.

• Journal of Environmental Analysis, Health and Toxicology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.220-228
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• 2018

$PM_{2.5}$-bound mercury (PBM) was monitored at weekly intervals for three years (from 2014 to 2016) at an urban (Seoul) and rural site (Baengnyeong) in South Korea. The average PBM concentrations in $PM_{2.5}$ samples over the entire sampling period were $12{\pm}11pg/m^3$ and $36{\pm}34pg/m^3$ for Baengnyeong and Seoul, respectively. Seasonal differences were pronounced, with concentrations being highest in winter due to local meteorological conditions (high gas-particle coefficient due to low temperature and low mixing layer height in winter) as well as seasonal factors, such as coal combustion for heating purposes in China. In Baengnyeong, the significant positive correlation of PBM with $PM_{2.5}$, air pollutants, and heavy metals suggested that coal combustion in China might be the most important source of ambient mercury in Korea. In winter, no correlation of PBM with $PM_{2.5}$, air pollutants, and heavy metals was seen in Seoul. Furthermore, Seoul showed higher $PBM/PM_{2.5}$ and $Pb/PM_{2.5}$ ratios in winter due to the strong atmospheric oxidation-reduction reaction conditions as well as local and regional PBM sources. We conclude that immediate attention must be given to addressing PBM levels in Korea, including considering it as a key component of future air quality monitoring activities and mitigation measures.