• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.297-310
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• 2007

Recent evidence has demonstrated that the pollutant recirculation can play an important role in leading to high ozone $(O_3)$ concentrations. In this study, the MM5-CAMx air quality modeling system was applied to simulate the pollutant recirculation and identify the transport of pollution during the high $O_3$ event (the maximum $O_3$ of 195 ppb) observed in the Greater Seoul Area (GSA) on $1{\sim}4$ June in 2004. The results showed a weak northeasterly synoptic wind during the night and early morning moved the air parcels containing the locally emitted urban pollution to the coast, which contributed to enhance $O_3$ formation in the southwest part of the GSA. As the sea breeze developed and started to penetrate inland in the late afternoon, the rapid build-up of $O_3$ concentration was found in the southwest coastal area due to the recirculation of the polluted air loaded with high level $O_3$. The simulated backward trajectories and observations at coastal sites confirmed the recirculation of pollutant with the late sea breeze is the dominant factor affecting the occurrence of high $O_3$ concentrations in the southwestern GSA.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.347-361
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• 2003

Sulfur dioxide (SO$_2$), ozone, total suspended particulates (TSP) and PM$_{2.5}$ were measured at Deokjeok Island in the Yellow Sea during April 1999 to June 2000. Although the emission amount of air pollutants is quite low in this small island of 36 km$^2$ with 1.4 thousand inhabitants, there are pollutant sources such as an oil -firing power plant and a wharf for ferryboat. The island is also influenced from the emissions from the greater Seoul area in the east and from China in the west. In order to characterize the pollutant variations due to interactions between transport and local emissions. the correlation between variations of SO$_2$ and ozone was investigated. Mass and ion concentrations of TSP and PM$_{2.5}$ were examined on selected episode days of positive and negative correlations between the two gaseous species in spring and winter. The effects of transport were pronounced on the days of positive correlation in spring with higher concentrations of ozone and PM$_{2.5}$. TSP concentrations were also high on these days because of high wind speeds. On the days of negative correlation in spring, frequent fog associated with low wind speeds facilitated SO$_2$ oxidation and increased sulfate accompanied with decrease in nitrate in PM$_{2.5}$ and chloride in TSP. This latter phenomena was noticeable since it showed that chemical composition of fine particles could be significantly altered not only during the transport but also by local environment.ronment.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.215-224
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• 2004

We report the high concentration episodes for PM$_{10}$, SO$_2$, NO$_2$, and $O_3$ in many urban areas Korea during 2002. The high concentration episodes are identified based on the National Ambient Air Quality Standards and the observations obtained from the Regional Air Monitoring Network composed of approximately 160 air pollution monitoring stations located in a number of major or big cities in South Korea including Seoul, Pusan, Daegu, and Incheon cities. The results show that the twenty cases of high concentration episodes in 2002 consists of both ozone warning episodes (6 cases) and high PM$_{10}$ concentration cases (14 cases), and one half of the latter are found to occur in association with the Yellow Sand (Asian Dust) phenomena. The most outstanding characteristics of the reported episodes are the excessively high levels of maximum PM$_{10}$ concentrations during the Yellow Sand period (i.e., exceeding 3,000$\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ in April, 2002) and their variable occurrence frequencies across seasons. The high ozone concentration episode days are mainly resulting from both the high photochemical reactions and poor ventilations. The high PM$_{10}$ concentration days during non Yellow Sand periods, however, mostly occurred under the influence of synoptic meteorological conditions such as stagnant or slowly passing high pressure centers, and consequently prevailing weak wind speeds over the Korean peninsula. The overall results of our study thus suggest the importance of both synoptic and local meteorological factors for high concentration levels in the major and/or big cities in Korea.n Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.621-638
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• 2017

Meteorological characteristics related to variations in ozone ($O_3$) concentrations in the Korean peninsula before, during, and after Typhoon Talas (1112) were analyzed using both observation data and numerical modeling. This case study takes into account a high $O_3$ episode (e.g., a daily maximum of ${\geq}90ppb$) without rainfall. Before the typhoon period, high $O_3$ concentrations in the study areas (e.g., Daejeon, Daegu, and Busan) resulted from the combined effects of stable atmospheric conditions with high temperature under a migratory anticyclone (including subsiding air), and wind convergence due to a change in direction caused by the typhoon. The $O_3$ concentrations during the typhoon period decreased around the study area due to very weak photochemical activity under increased cloud cover and active vertical dispersion under a low pressure system. However, the maximum $O_3$ concentrations during this period were somewhat high (similar to those in the normal period extraneous to the typhoon), possibly because of the relatively slow photochemical loss of $O_3$ by a $H_2O+O(^1D)$ reaction resulting from the low air temperature and low relative humidity. The lowest $O_3$ concentrations during the typhoon period were relatively high compared to the period before and after the typhoon, mainly due to the transport effect resulting from the strong nocturnal winds caused by the typhoon. In addition, the $O_3$ increase observed at night in Daegu and Busan was primarily caused by local wind conditions (e.g., mountain winds) and atmospheric stagnation in the wind convergence zone around inland mountains and valleys.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.683-694
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• 2016

Sensitivity analysis of the WRF model according to the impact of nudging (e.g., nudging techniques and application domains) was conducted during high nocturnal ozone episode to improve the prediction of the regional ozone concentration in the southeastern coastal area of the Korean peninsula. The analysis was performed by six simulation experiments: (1) without nudging (e.g., CNTL case), (2) with observation nudging (ONE case) to all domains (domain 1~4), (3) with grid nudging (GNE case) to all domains, (4)~(6) with grid nudging to domain 1, domain 1~2 and domain 1~3, respectively (GNE-1, GNE-2, GNE-3 case). The results for nudging techniques showed that the GNE case was in very good agreement with those observed during all analysis periods (e.g., daytime, nighttime, and total), as compared to the ONE case. In particular, the large effect of grid nudging on the near-surface meteorological factors (temperature, relative humidity, and wind fields) was predicted at the coastline and nearby sea during daytime. The results for application domains showed that the effects of nudging were distinguished between the meteorological factors and between the time periods. When applied grid nudging until subdomain, the improvement effects of temperature and relative humidity had differential tendencies. Temperature was increased for all time, but relative humidity was increased in daytime and was decreased in nighttime. Thus, GNE case showed better result than other cases.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.177-189
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• 2010

In order to incorporate correctly the large or local scale circulation in an atmospheric model, a nudging term is introduced into the equation of motion. The MM5 model was used to assess the meteorological values differences in each case, during ozone episode days in Gwangyang bay. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of horizontal and vertical flow fields according to the surface and vertical observation data assimilation by upper wind conditions. Therefore, we carried out several numerical experiments with various parameterization methods for nudging coefficient considering the upper wind conditions (synoptic or asynoptic condition). Nudging considering the synoptic and asynoptic nudging coefficient does have a clear advantage over dynamic initialization, therefore appropriate limitation of these nudging coefficient values on its upper wind conditions is necessary before making an assessment. Obviously, under the weak synoptic wind, there was apparent advantage associated with nudging coefficient by the regional difference. The accuracy for the prediction of the meteorological values has been improved by applying the appropriate PBL (Planetary Boundary Layer) limitation of circulation.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.550-561
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• 2009

This study is to investigate the air pollution characteristics of an industrialized midsize west-coastal city by comparing air quality to a neighboring inland city. The hourly averaged data of $O_3$, $SO_2$, $NO_2$, CO, and $PM_{10}$ measured from continuous air quality monitoring sites in Gunsan (coastal) and Jeonju (inland) were analyzed. The data set covers the period from 2004 to 2006. The annual average concentrations of the air pollutants in two cities were compared in their abundances and temporal trends as well. $O_3$ and $SO_2$ in Gunsan were relatively higher than those in Jeonju, while vice versa in case of $NO_2$ and $PM_{10}$. It seems that heavy automobile emissions from Jeonju mainly bring on higher $NO_2$ and $PM_{10}$ than those in Gunsan on annual base. $NO_2$ concentrations in both cities showed bimodal diurnal variations with peaks in the morning and in the late evening. These peaks correspond to the coupled effects of rush hour traffic and meteorological conditions (i.e., variation of mixing height and dispersion conditions). Maximum hourly averages of $NO_2$ ranged from 18 ppb to 28 ppb at Jeonju, and from 12 ppb to 20 ppb at Gunsan. $O_3$ showed typical diurnal variation with a maximum in the afternoon between 14:00 and 16:00 LST. Diurnal variations of CO and $PM_{10}$ were similar to $NO_2$ while $SO_2$ was similar to $O_3$. Seasonal variations of $PM_{10}$ in both cities indicated that their concentrations during spring season were significantly high. Asian dust storms occur frequently during spring and seem to affect increase in $PM_{10}$. High $O_3$ and $PM_{10}$ days were selected from both cities. The analyses based on the HYSPLIT trajectory model during the high $O_3$ and $PM_{10}$ showed these episodes (six cases) were mostly coincident with Asian dust storm originated from northern China and Mongolia. However, these high air pollution episodes in the west coastal cities may not only be caused by the Asian dust but also affected by other air pollutants transported from China accompanying the Asian dust.