• Wind and Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.455-478
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• 2008

The present study aims to estimate the wind ventilation performance for pedestrian level domains from the air quality point of view. Three typical models of a dense urban area were considered and numerically simulated in order to examine the effects of the geometry of such models on wind flow characteristics, which in turn affect the air quality, within the pedestrian domain of a street canyon located within this area. The calculated flow fields were employed to estimate the exceedance probabilities within the study domain using a new approach: air exchange rate within the domain. The study has been applied to nine cities in Japan: Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Niigata, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Sendai, Yokohama, and Kyoto, based on their mean wind velocity data. The results demonstrated that the exceedance probability analysis of the pedestrian wind environment could be a valuable tool during the design stage of inhabited areas for the evaluation of pollutant-removal efficiency by the applied wind. Also, the calculated probabilities demonstrated substantial dependence on both the geometry of building arrays and the wind conditions of the nine cities.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.544-553
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• 2017

There is an overall guideline of the installation of air quality monitoring stations in Korea, but specified steps for the selection of monitoring sites for hazardous air pollutants(HAPs) are not provided. In this study, we proposed a systematic method for the selection of monitoring sites for HAPs using geographic information system (GIS). As a case study, the Seoul metropolitan area (Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province) was chosen, and 15 factors including population, vehicle registration, and emission data were compiled for each grid cell ($7km{\times}7km$). The number of factors above the top 30% of individual data for each grid cell was used to select priority monitoring sites for HAPs. In addition, several background sites were added for data comparison and source identification. Three scenarios were suggested: Scenario 1 with 7 sites, Scenario 2 with 17 sites, and Scenario 3 with 30 sites. This proposal is not the final result for an intensive monitoring program, but it is an example of method development for selecting appropriate sampling sites. These results can be applied not only to HAPs monitoring in megacities but also to the national HAPs monitoring network.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.3-9
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• 2008

The rapid urbanization after 1970s caused the shortage of dwellings in urban areas. As the result, the underground dwellings were developed to compensate for the insufficient dwelling spaces. While the underground dwellings have some advantage in the respect of thermal and acoustic environment, they usually have the basic problems in the indoor air quality because of the lack of natural ventilation through small window areas. The purpose of this study is to investigate and to improve the indoor air quality of underground dwellings. Thirty Units in Seoul and Gyung-Gi Province were investigated into the indoor environmental conditions. For the purpose of the improvement of their indoor air quality, Automatically-operated ventilating fan was installed in a sample unit which has worst indoor environmental condition. Then the indoor air quality was monitored when it was operated by $CO_2$ control system and timer. Finally economic feasibility study was made considering the effect of the improvement of indoor air quality. The extra cost for installing timer could be paid back only in 10 months, so timer-installed automatic fan is recommended to improve the indoor air quality of underground dwellings.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.108-121
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• 2008

On January 1, 2005, the Korean Ministry of Environment put into operation a comprehensive program, so called 'Blue Sky 21' project, for the improvement of air quality in greater Seoul metropolitan area. This program was legally based on the 'Special Act on Metropolitan Air Quality Improvement' for Greater Seoul area, which was established in 2003, and should be updated every 10 years. The principal objective of this program is to improve the air quality in Seoul and surrounding area by 2014 to the levels of air quality in Tokyo and Paris, with particular emphases on reducing the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and $PM_{10}$. Any regulation of the emission of toxic air pollutants in general, and $NO_2$ and $PM_{10}$ in particular, should be based on human exposure levels and consequential health effects. In this article, the contents and feasibility of the special program were critically evaluated with respect to the reduction of health risks. Important issues for improving not only air quality but public health are discussed, and future requirements for the success of the special program are suggested.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.939-951
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• 2012

This study is conducted to estimate the air temperature decreasing effects by restoring urban streams using WRF/CALMET coupled system. The types of land use on covered streams are constructed with the land cover map from Korea ministry of environment. Restoring covered streams changes the types of land use on covered areas to water. Two different types of land use(CASE 1 and CASE 2) are inputted to the WRF/CALMET coupled system in order to calculate the temperature difference. The results of the WRF/CALMET coupled system are similar to the observed values at automatic weather stations(AWS) in Busan area. Restoring covered streams causes temperature to be decreased by about $0.34{\sim}2^{\circ}C$ according to the locations of streams and the regions that temperature is reduced are widely distributed over the restored area. Reduction of temperature is increased rapidly from morning and maximus at 13LST. Natural restoration of streams will reduce the built-up area within urban. With this, temperature reductions which are the cause to weaken the urban heat island appear. Relief of urban heat island will help to improve the air quality such as accumulation of air pollutants in within urban area.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.665-681
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• 2012

This study investigates the influence of anthropogenic heat (AH) release on urban boundary layer in the Gyeong-In region using the Weather Research and Forecasting model that includes the Seoul National University Urban Canopy Model (SNUUCM). The gridded AH emission data, which is estimated in the Gyeong-In region in 2002 based on the energy consumption statistics data, are implemented into the SNUUCM. The simulated air temperature and wind speed show good agreement with the observed ones particularly in terms of phase for 11 urban sites, but they are overestimated in the nighttime. It is found that the influence of AH release on air temperature is larger in the nighttime than in the daytime even though the AH intensity is larger in the daytime. As compared with the results with AH release and without AH release, the contribution of AH release on urban heat island intensity is large in the nighttime and in the morning. As the AH intensity increases, the water vapor mixing ratio decreases in the daytime but increases in the nighttime. The atmospheric boundary layer height increases greatly in the morning (0800 - 1100 LST) and midnight (0000 LST). These results indicate that AH release can have an impact on weather and air quality in urban areas.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.25-36
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to assess the environmental carrying capacity of Chongju City for the environmental management and the urban growth management. The urban environmental carrying capacity assessment of the city by the index of ecological footprint(EF), shows that the ecosystem of the city has been overloaded and most of the deficiencies has come from outside of the city. The EF index, the area of land per capita required for production and consumption in the city, was 1.731 ha per capita in 1989 and 1.901 ha per capita in 1999. On the other side, the ecologically productive land is 0.0175 ha per capita. It means that every citizen owes 1.88 ha per capita to the ecosystem in 1999. The land consumption of the city has increased by 0.1705 ha per capita during the last 10 years. The capacity of infrastructure and the service supply estimated by the Onishi model does not exceed the demand of the city in 1999. But the rapidly increasing population and fast urban growth need the expansion of the capacity. The water supply capacity of the city appears to be sufficient in 1999, but the water supply demand will increase in the future. The capacity of sewage treatment facilities seems to be sufficient, but the higher level of sewage treatment facilities should be adopted for the improvement of water quality as the generation of sewage will increase and its characteristics will also make the wastewater treatment difficult. Due to the decrease of solid waste generated, the land fill capacity for solid waste disposal is not insufficient at present, but the capacity will be saturated in the near future. Therefore, the scientific management system of solid wastes should be introduced. The air quality of the city meets both the national air quality standard and WHO recommendation standard, but the strong regulation and control of automobile emission gas such as CO, $CO_2$, NOx and HC is required for clean air.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.536-546
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• 2016

The diurnal variations of $O_3$ and $NO_2$ in an urban park and the effects of air temperature and wind speed on the diurnal variations are investigated. $O_3$ and $NO_2$ concentrations were observed at a site in an urban park of Seoul from 27 July 2015 to 9 August 2015. The $O_3$ and $NO_2$ concentrations observed in the urban park are compared to those observed at the Gangnam air quality monitoring station (AQMS). The $O_3$ concentration is higher in the urban park than at the Gangnam AQMS in the daytime because the amount of $O_3$ dissociated by NO is smaller as well as partly because the amount of $O_3$ produced in the oxidation process of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is larger in the urban park than at the Gangnam AQMS. The $NO_2$ concentration is lower in the urban park than at the Gangnam AQMS during day and night because the observation site in the urban park is relatively far from roads where $NO_x$ is freshly emitted from vehicles. The difference in $NO_2$ concentration is larger in the daytime than in the nighttime. To examine the effects of air temperature and wind speed on the diurnal variations of $O_3$ and $NO_2$, the observed $O_3$ and $NO_2$ concentrations are classified into high or low air temperature and high or low wind speed days. The high $O_3$ and $NO_2$ concentrations in the daytime appear for the high air temperature and low wind speed days. This is because the daytime photochemical processes are favorable when the air temperature is high and the wind speed is low. The scatter plots of the daytime maximum $O_3$ and minimum $NO_2$ concentrations versus the daytime averages of air temperature and wind speed show that the daytime maximum $O_3$ and minimum $NO_2$ concentrations tend to increase as the air temperature increases or the wind speed decreases. The daytime maximum $O_3$ concentration is more sensitive to the changes in air temperature and wind speed in the urban park than at the Gangnam AQMS.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.260-267
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• 2015

The $PM_{10}$, $SO_2$ and $NO_2$ mass concentrations were obtained over five years from monitoring stations across Nanchong, a southwest city in China. Changes in urban air quality over time, as well as the factors influencing that change, were evaluated based on air pollutant concentrations, the Air Pollution Index (API), and the Comprehensive Pollution Index (P). The results showed that the total annual mean $PM_{10}$, $SO_2$ and $NO_2$ concentrations over the five years studied were $61.1{\pm}1.1$, $45.0{\pm}3.9$ and $34.9{\pm}4.9{\mu}g{\cdot}m^{-3}$, respectively. The annual mean concentrations displayed a generally decreasing trend; lower than the annual mean second-level air quality limit. Meanwhile, the annual mean API values were in a small range of 52-53, the air quality levels were grade II, and P values were 1.06-1.21 less than the slight level ($P{\leq}1.31$). Total monthly mean $PM_{10}$, $SO_2$, $NO_2$ concentrations, and API and P values were consistently higher in winter and spring than during autumn and summer. The results of a correlation analysis showed that temperature and pressure were the major meteorological factors influencing pollution levels. Pollution sources included industrial coal and straw burning, automobiles exhaust and road dust, fireworks, and dust storms.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.377-387
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• 2021

Background and objective: To improve air quality, particulate matter (PM) can be reduced using green infrastructure. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to determine the particulate matter reduction potential of climbing plants used for green walls, an element of vertical green infrastructure. Methods: A sealed chamber with controlled environmental variables was used to assess the PM reduction level caused by climbing plants. PM concentration in the plant chamber was measured after two and four hours of PM exposure, and the reduction potential was assessed based on the leaf area. Results: Compared to the empty chamber (Control), the PM reduction speed per hour was higher in the plant chamber, which confirmed that climbing plants contribute to the reduction of PM in the air. The PM reduction speed immediately after exposure in the plant chamber was high, but this slowed over time. Additionally, PM has been continuously reduced in plants with large leaves. As a result of calculating the particulate matter reduction level based on leaf area, it was found that there was a difference by particle size. Actinidia arguta, Parthenocissus tricuspidata, Trachelospermum asiaticum, and Euonymus fortunei var. radicans showed a high reduction effect. The trichomes on the leaf surface of Trachelospermum asiaticum were found to affect PM reduction. Conclusion: PM adsorption on the leaf surface is an important factor in reducing its concentration. It was possible to compare different plants by quantifying the amount of PM reduction during a fixed time period. These results can be used as the basic data to select the plant species suitable for urban green walls in terms of PM reduction.