• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.780-788
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• 2013

This study attempted to determine important meteorological parameters related to airborne pollen concentrations in urban areas. Hourly pollen measurement data were prepared from a regular sampling with a volumetric Burkard spore trap at a site in the Ulsan city, during the spring season (March~May) of 2011. Results showed that the daily mean and maximum concentrations for total pollen counts during the spring season were statistically significantly correlated with both air temperature and wind speed; daily mean pollen concentration was the most highly related to daily maximum temperature (r=0.567, p<0.001). It was also identified that pollen concentration has a stronger relationship with wind speed at the rural site than at the urban one, which confirms that strong wind conditions over the pollen sources area can be favorable for pollen dispersal, resulting in increases in airborne pollen concentrations downwind. From the results of an oak-pollen episode analysis, it was found that there was a significant relationship between hourly variation of oak pollen concentrations and dynamic meteorological factors, such as wind and mixing height (representing the boundary layer depth); especially, a strong southwestern wind and elevated mixing height was associated with high nocturnal concentrations of oak pollen. This study suggests that temperature, wind, and mixing height can be important considerations in explaining the pollen concentration variations. Additional examination of complex interactions of multiple meteorological parameters affecting pollen behavior should be carried out in order to better understand and predict the temporal and spatial pollen distribution in urban areas.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.34 no.6_1
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• pp.879-891
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• 2018

In this study, the effects of urban redevelopment and building construction on the change of the detailed flows around the Pukyong National University (PKNU) campus located in the building-congested area was investigated using a CFD (computational fluid dynamics) model and GIS (geographic information system). For the analysis of the detailed flows before and after the constructions of the buildings around and within the campus, numerical simulations for the 16 inflow directions were performed before and after the construction. We used, as reference wind speeds at the inflow boundaries, the averaged wind speeds observed at the Gwangan light beacon (962) where there is no surrounding obstacle (i.e., building and terrain) acting as friction. We analyzed the area fractions in which wind speeds at z = 2.5 m changed after the construction for 16 inflow directions. The area fractions were relatively large in the east-south-easterly and southerly cases, because of the high-rise buildings constructed at the east and the apartment complex and the Engineering buildings constructed at the south of the PKNU campus. In the case of the easterly of which frequency is highest among the wind directions observed at the Daeyeon AWS (AWS 942) located inside the PKNU campus, the wind-speed change was not significant even after the constructions. It is shown that the building construction has affected the detailed flows around as well as even in the far downwind region of the constructed buildings. Also, it is shown that the GIS and CFD model are useful for analyzing the detailed flows in planning the urban redevelopment and/or building construction.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.169-179
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• 1991

Atmospheric $O_3$ in the biosphere is formed under the favourable meteorological condition, when the primary pollutants, such as $NO_2, HC, CO, CH_4$, etc., react with over constituents. Observed annual average concentrations for 1989 and 1990 were 11.8 and 10.4 ppb, respectively. THe number of days measured ozone over 80 ppb in Seoul were 36 in 1989 and 39 in 1990. In general, monthly maximum values occurred in May and August. In comparison with 1 $\sim$ 2 maxima of $O_3$ distribution in large cities in other countries, it was found that there were 3 $\sim$ 4 maxima in Seoul and its suburbs. Topographic effects, resulted by wind channelling in the Han River valley and by the blocking of air pollutants in the mountain, appeared to produce multiple centres of $O_3$ maxima in Seoul. Surface $O_3$ values were low with decreasing solar radiation, when the cloudiness increased and precipitation occurred. According to 12 cases examined, 2 cases shown here, $O_3$ values exceeding 80 ppb were occurred when the Korean peninsular was under the influence of the backside airflows with high intensity of solar radiation. Occasionally, sea breezes were observed to occur in warm seasons, and the chanelling effect of the Han River valley appeared to increase the general wind (speed) to the east side of Seoul. In this meso-scale situation $O_3$ in downwind is highly correlated with precursors. The sea breeze of 2 $\sim$ 4 m $s^{-1}$ will take 3 $\sim$ 5 hours to transport photochemical precursors for 20 $\sim$ 50 km. In turn the areas of maximum $O_3$ occurrence in Seoul are in the range of meso-scale transport of air pollutants.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.449-456
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• 2007

Dispersion coefficient preprocessing schemes have been examined to improve plume dispersion model performance in complex coastal areas. The performances of various schemes for constructing the sigma correction order were evaluated through estimations of statistical measures, such as bias, gross error, R, FB, NMSE, within FAC2, MG, VG, IOA, UAPC and MRE. This was undertaken for the results of dispersion modeling, which applied each scheme. Environmental factors such as sampling time, surface roughness, plume rising, plume height and terrain rolling were considered in this study. Gaussian plume dispersion model was used to calculate 1 hr $SO_2$ concentration 4 km downwind from a power plant in Boryeung coastal area. Here, measured data for January to December of 2002 were obtained so that modelling results could be compared. To compare the performances between various schemes, integrated scores of statistical measures were obtained by giving weights for each measure and then summing each score. This was done because each statistical measure has its own function and criteria; as a result, no measure can be taken as a sole index indicative of the performance level for each modeling scheme. The best preprocessing scheme was discerned using the step-wise method. The most significant factor influencing the magnitude of real dispersion coefficients appeared to be sampling time. A second significant factor appeared to be surface roughness, with the rolling terrain being the least significant for elevated sources in a gently rolling terrain. The best sequence of correcting the sigma from P-G scheme was found to be the combination of (1) sampling time, (2) surface roughness, (3) plume rising, (4) plume height, and (5) terrain rolling.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.315-329
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• 2023

We investigated the wind characteristics in the near-surface layer during the landfall of Typhoon Mujigae (2015) based on observations from wind towers in the coastal areas of Guandong province. Typhoon Mujigae made landfall in this region from 01:00 UTC to 10:00 UTC on October 4, 2015. In the region influenced by the eyewall of the tropical cyclone, the horizontal wind speed was characterized by a double peak, the wind direction changed by >180°, the vertical wind speed increased by three to four times, and the angle of attack increased significantly to a maximum of 7°, exceeding the recommended values in current design criteria. The vertical wind profile may not conform to a power law distribution in the near-surface layer in the region impacted by the eyewall and spiral rainband. The gust factors were relatively dispersed when the horizontal wind speed was small and tended to a smaller value and became more stable with an increase in the horizontal wind speed. The variation in the gust factors was the combined result of the height, wind direction, and circulation systems of the tropical cyclone. The turbulence intensity and the downwind turbulence energy spectrum both increased notably in the eyewall and spiral rainband and no longer satisfied the assumption of isotropy in the inertial subrange and the -5/3 law. This result was more significant in the eyewall area than in the spiral rainband. These results provide a reference for forecasting tropical cyclones, wind-resistant design, and hazard prevention in coastal areas of China to reduce the damage caused by high winds induced by tropical cyclones.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.269-278
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• 2016

In order to improve air quality in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA), the "Special Act on Seoul Metropolitan Air Quality Improvement" has been enforced since 2005. The strategy has resulted in some reduction of air pollution, but there has not been much research into the quantitative impact analysis of each separate preventive countermeasure. Therefore, we analyzed nitrogen oxide reduction resulting from implementation of the emission control plan for on-road mobile sources. The MM5-SMOKE-CMAQ model system was employed for air quality prediction. Reduced $NO_x$ emissions for SMA was 16,561 ton, 4.7% of reduction rate, in 2007. One countermeasure, tighter acceptable standards for manufacturing vehicles, dominated other countermeasures for effective $NO_x$ emission control. Large spatial differences in reduced emissions, those for Seoul being twice that of Incheon and Gyeonggi, showed greater $NO_x$ emission reduction impact in the heart of the metropolitan complex. The $NO_2$ concentration decreased by 0.60 ppb (2.0%), 0.18 ppb (1.5%), and 0.22 ppb (1.7%) in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi, respectively. Concentration decreases in spring and winter were larger, 1.5~2.0 times, than summer and fall. However, the $NO_2$ reduction impact did not correspond directly to local $NO_x$ emission controls in the city area because of the natural flow and dispersion, both urban and downwind.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.69-81
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• 2009

Using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, the effects of building complexes constructed under an urban renewal plan on air flows in an urban area were investigated. For this, the geographic information system (GIS) data were used as the input data of the CFD model and four experiments were numerically simulated for different inflow directions (westerly, southerly, easterly, and northerly cases). Before constructing building complexes under the urban renewal plan, wind speed at the pedestrian level was very low around buildings because of decrease in wind speed by the drag effect of the densely distributed low-rise buildings. As the high-rise buildings were constructed and building density decreased by the urban renewal plan, wind speed at the pedestrian level increased compared to that before the urban renewal plan because the drag effect by the buildings decreases and the channeling effect satisfying the mass continuity partially appeared at the spaces among the high-rise buildings. At the upper levels, wind speed partially increased inside the high-rise buildings due to the channeling effect but it remarkably decreased across a vast extent of the downwind regions due to the generation of the recirculation zone and the drag effect of the high-rise buildings.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.347-359
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• 2009

The concentrations of PAHs in $PM_{10}$ fine particles were determined at two sites, which were Jongno, one of the urban core sites of Seoul, and Yongin, a downwind site of Seoul. The average concentration of PAHs in $PM_{10}$ was $19.92{\pm}18.49\;ng\;m^{-3}$ with the range of $1.28{\sim}81.22\;ng\;m^{-3}$ at Jongno site of Seoul from August 2006 to August 2007, and $14.06{\pm}9.96\;ng\;m^{-3}$ with the range of $1.66{\sim}31.84\;ng\;m^{-3}$ at Yongin site from September to November of 2006. In the results of monthly comparison, the concentration of PAHs in August was the lowest level of $3.23\;ng\;m^{-3}$, but the highest level of $46.24\;ng\;m^{-3}$ in January. The seasonal comparison showed the concentration in winter was higher by the factor of 11.9 than in summer. The concentrations of PAHs during a warm period (November${\sim}$March) increased as 5.1 times higher than those during a cold period (April${\sim}$October). The concentrations of PAHs were assumed to be largely attributed to the consumption of fossil fuels, temperature, mixing height, and photochemical reactions in Seoul metropolitan area.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.208-213
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• 2013

The suitability of the site criteria is a basic requirement for securing safety of nuclear power plants. The suitability should be confirmed through the estimation of environmental radiation effects at the exclusion area boundary under the severe weather conditions. In this study, field tracer experiments over short range of 1 km radius under severe weather conditions were conducted at flat area in Daejeon. Severe weather conditions are represented with stable atmospheric condition and low wind speed. In general, the condition is appeared at clean night time with weak wind. The analysis of the measured distribution of the released tracer gas shows two big differences between the results of the past experiments conducted under the favorable weather conditions. One is the difficulty of finding the typical distribution of the released tracer gas with peak concentration in the downwind direction. The other one is the appearance of the contour of the concentration of tracer gas at several hundred meters even though the gas released at 10 m height over the ground.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.492-500
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to estimate the applicability of regional sample collection of environmental samples. The concentration of asbestos fibers were analyzed with two devices. One was an existing commercial air sampling pump that has been proved to be accurate and exact, and the other is a remodeled pump for sample collection which was made from an electric bubble generator originally designed for aquarium fish. Samples were collected with the two devices under the same environmental conditions and collection equipment. A comparative analysis of the concentration of ambient asbestos fiber was then performed. Methods: Based on previous research, six farmhouses with asbestos fiber slate roofs known to have high concentrations of asbestos fiber were selected. Using the existing commercial air sampling pump and the remodeled electric bubble generator, four to seven samples were collected each day one meter downwind from the edge of the slate roof at high volume (about 4 L/min) and low volume (about 1.4 L/min). The analyzer responsible for sample quality control of asbestos fibers counted the number of asbestos fibers with a phase microscope. Results: The rates of flow change of the existed sampler and the remodeled pump at high volume were 0.82% and 0.17%, respectively. The rates of flow change at low volume were 3.83% and 1.09%, but there was not significant difference. The rates of flow change are within the error range (${\pm}5%$) of OSHA analyzing methods. For the high volume sampler, the average asbestos fiber concentration in the air collected by the existed sampler is 6.270 fibers/L and for the remodeled one 5.527 fibers/L, not a significant difference. For the low volume sampler, the average asbestos fiber concentration in the air collected by the existed sampler is 7.755 fibers/L and for the remodeled one 7.706 fibers/L, not a significant difference. The total area of the slate roof of the targeted farmhouse has an effect on the concentration of asbestos fibers in the air from the existing pump and the remodeled one (p<0.01). Conclusions: The sampling function between the existing commercial pump and the remodeled one shows little difference. Therefore, the remodeled pump is considered a pump with a good availability for collecting ambient air asbestos samples.