Youngsin Chun

Synopsis, transport, and physical characteristics of Asian dust in Korea

Historical records in association with Asian dust events were retrieved from ancient Korean literature, which in conjunction with modern observations, indicate that dust events have occurred most frequently in the springtime during the last two centuries. Recent observations through surface network exhibit that Asian dust took place more often in the western part of the Korean peninsula over the last 20 years. In this study, two dust cases, April 1998 and January 1999, were selected to examine detailed conditions most favorable for dust generation, emission, and transport to Korea and to investigate the effect of dust particles on physical and optical properties of aerosols collected in Seoul. Dust transported to the Korean peninsula is closely linked to dust storms generated in upstream regions of the Yellow River or Manzurian plain, which are known as main source regions. Judged from synoptic conditions for both spring and winter dust events, meteorological settings favorable for dust emission are high surface winds and baroclinic instability at 1.5 km level. A strong wind belt, formed at a 5 km level, expedites dust transport, and this is typically much faster in winter. It was confirmed from a backward trajectory analysis that the air carrying mineral dust particles originated from deserts in central Asia and in 1 day passed through the Korean peninsula during wintertime. The effect of mineral dust on aerosol particles is well depicted in the size-separated number concentrations of aerosols observed in Seoul. In both cases, concentrations of coarse particles larger than 0.82 μm were distinctly enhanced while those of fine particle smaller than 0.5 μm were reduced. The measurements of optical depth also indicate that the atmosphere is more turbid with larger particles during dust events.

Chemical composition and source signature of spring aerosol in Seoul, Korea

The measurement of atmospheric aerosol was made in Seoul during the spring of 1998. The objective of this study was to investigate the chemical characteristics of atmospheric aerosol with an emphasis on the effect of Asian dust. Total suspended particles (TSP) and particles smaller than 10 mm (PM10) were collected during March-

Chemical speciation of individual atmospheric particles using low-Z electron probe X-ray microanalysis:: characterizing “Asian Dust” deposited with rainwater in Seoul, Korea

Chemical speciation of individual microparticles is of much interest in environmental atmospheric chemistry; e.g. the determination of the elemental concentrations in individual atmospheric aerosol particles is important to study the chemical behavior of atmospheric pollution. Recently, an EPMA technique using an X-ray detector equipped with an ultra-thin window, allowing EPMA to determine concentrations of low-Z elements, such as C, N, and O, in individual particles of micrometer size, has been developed. This technique, called low-Z electron probe X-ray microanalysis (low-Z EPMA), is applied to characterize the water-insoluble part of “Asian Dust”, deposited by washout in the form of rainwater during an Asian Dust storm event and collected in Seoul, Korea. In this study, it was demonstrated that the single particle analysis using low-Z EPMA provided detailed information on various types of chemical species in the sample. In addition to aluminosilicates, silicon oxide, iron oxide, and calcium carbonate particles, which are expected to be present, carbonaceous particles are also observed in a significant fraction. This unexpected finding that particle sample originated from an arid area contains significant amount of carbonaceous particles is supported by the investigation of a “China Loess” sample. In addition, we also performed single particle analysis for a local soil sample, in order to check the possible influence from local sources on “Asian Dust”. The characteristics of the local soil particle sample, e.g. the types of aluminosilicate particles and the abdundance of particles with deviating chemical species, are clearly different from “Asian Dust” and “China Loess” samples, whereas those two are similar, implying that the “Asian Dust” sample was not much influenced by local sources.

PM10 data assimilation over south Korea to Asian dust forecasting model with the optimal interpolation method

A data assimilation (DA) system using ground PM10 observation for Asian Dust Aerosol Model version 2 (ADAM2), which is the operational dust forecasting model of Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), has been developed with the optimal interpolation (OI) method. The observations are provided by the PM10 network operated by KMA. Three DA experiments are performed to simulate a dust event observed in Korea from 1 March to 31 May 2009 with different assimilation cycles of 24 (DA24), 12 (DA12), and 06 hours (DA06). 48-hour forecasts from the adjusted Initial Condition (IC) of dust concentration are compared with control simulation (CTL) and observation from independent stations. It is found that CTL simulates spatial patterns of dust emitted and transported associated with a developing low pressure system over the dust source regions quite well, compared with satellite measurement. However, it appears that there is considerable uncertainty in estimating the concentration of dust. With IC adjustment, the model simulates improved dust concentration, showing considerably reduced RMSE, particularly for the prediction within 12 hours of forecast. At the same time, it is shown that the time interval of DA affects the predictability of ADAM2, so that DA06 appears to have better predictability within a 12-hour simulation, reducing RMSE by 50% compared with CTL. This suggests that assimilating PM10 to the dust prediction model using OI has the potential to predict air quality in Korea when the cycle of assimilation is sufficiently short.

A parameterization of dust concentration (PM10) of dust events observed at Erdene in Mongolia using the monitored tower data

Hourly mean time series of dust concentration (PM₁₀) measured at 3m high and a sonic-anemometer measured momentum and kinematic heat fluxes at 8m high above the surface have been obtained from a 20-m monitoring tower located at Erdene in the Asian dust source region of Mongolia for years of 2009 and 2010. These time series were used to identify dust events and to develop optimal regression equations for the dust concentration of dust events with the friction velocity (u(*)) and the convective velocity scale (w(*)). In total, 68 dust events were identified in 2009 (except for November) and 43 dust events for the period from March to August in 2010. The duration of each dust event ranged from 3-29 h in 2009 and 5-35 h in 2010. The maximum hourly mean dust concentration of the dust event was found to be 4,107 μg m⁻³ in May in 2009 and 4,708 μg m⁻³ in March in 2010 while a minimum of 251 μg m⁻³ in August in 2009 and 662 μg m⁻³ in June in 2010. The optimal regression equation for the dust concentration (C) of dust events was found to have the form of log C=a+b(u(*)+cw(*))(n), where a, b, c and n are constants that vary month to month. The convective velocity scale (w(*)) that has not been taken into account in most dust modelings was found to enhance the dust concentration of dust events during the cold period from December to March when the soil temperature was below the freezing level for both the stable (w(*)<0) and unstable (w(*)>0) stratifications, whereas the convective velocity caused a reduction in the dust concentrations during the warm period from April to October, suggesting the importance of the convective velocity to estimate dust concentration of dust events.

The Aerosol Characteristics in Coexistence of Asian Dust and Haze during 15~17 March, 2009 in Seoul

The variation of the physicochemical properties of atmospheric aerosols in coexistence of the heavy Asian Dust and Haze observed from to March 2009 in Seoul was scrutinized through the mass and ion concentration observations and synoptic weather analysis. Although the ratio of PM1.0/PM10 was constant at 0.3 (which is typical during Asian Dust period in Korea) during the measurement period, both PM10 and PM1.0 mass concentrations were 3~6 times and 2~4 times higher than that of clear days, respectively. Water-soluble ion components accounted for 30~50% of PM10 and 50~70% of PM1.0 mass concentration. One of the secondary pollutants, was found to be associated with and in coarse mode indicating that the aerosol derived from natural source was affected by anthropogenic pollutants. While the acidity of the aerosols increased in fine mode when the stagnation of weather patterns was the strongest (March ), the alkalinity increased in coarse mode when new air masses arrived with a southwestern wind after ending a period of stagnation (March ). In the selected case, SOR (Sulfur Oxidation Ratio, ) and NOR (Nitrogen Oxidation Ratio, ) values of ion components were higher than the general values during Asian Dust period. These results imply that dust aerosols could be mixed with pollutants transported from China even in heavy Asian Dust cases in Korea.

Monitoring of Acid Rain over Korean Peninsula

In order to investigate the temporal and spacial deposition characteristics of acid rain, five monitoring sites were set up in the central part of Korean Peninsula. Rainwater samples were collected by wet-only sampler from 1992 to 1997. The pH and conductivity values were measured and the major water soluble ionic components were also analyzed. Ion balance between anion and cation sum was calculated to check out the data quality of samples. The acidity of rainwater was influenced by the local sources and meteorological factors such as surface wind, moving path of storm, precipitation process, and so on. Backward trajectories were depicted to investigate the effect due to moving path of weather system. The rainwater shows strong acidity in winter and weak in summer. The pH and ion concentrations were highly dependent on synoptic weather system. In addition, we sampled fog/cloud at Mt. Sobaek (BAPMoN Station) from June to August 1995 and characterized the fog/cloud chemistry according to surface wind system of sampling site. The volume-weighted mean pH of fog/cloud samples is 4.39 at Mt. Sobaek during the sampling period.

Improved parameterization of dust emission (PM10) fluxes by the gradient method using the Naiman tower data at the Horqin desert in China.

Dust emission/deposition flux has been estimated using the gradient method with the two-level (3 and 15m high) measured PM(10) concentrations and the sonic anemometer measured momentum and kinematic heat fluxes at 8m high from a 20-m monitoring tower located at Naiman (Horqin desert) in the Asian dust source region in China for the winter of November 2007 to March 2008. The time series of measured PM(10) concentration at 3m high is used to identify the dust event and the non-dust event periods. It is found that the dust emission/deposition flux (F(C)) shows a significant diurnal variation with the maximum emission flux of 5.8 kg km(-2)h(-1) at noon and the minimum of -1.6 kg km(-2)h(-1) in the afternoon for the non-dust event cases. Whereas for the dust event cases, the dust emission flux is found to occur when the prevailing winds are westerlies to northerlies with the maximum flux of 1275 kg km(-2)d(-1), while the maximum dust deposition flux of 148 kg km(-2)d(-1) occurs with the prevailing winds of southerlies to easterlies without any diurnal variation. The optimal regression equation between F(C) and the friction velocity (u(*)) for the dust emission cases is found to be F(C)=9.55 u(*)(3.13) with the R(2) value of 0.73. However, this regression equation can be improved by taking into account the convective velocity (w(*)). The resulting optimal regression equation is found to be F(C)=9.3(u(*)-0.1w(*))(3.19) for the stable stratification (w(*)<0) with the R(2) value of 0.77 and F(C)=10.5(u(*)+0.34w(*))(4.11) for the unstable stratification (w(*)>0) with the R(2) value of 0.78, suggesting the importance of the convective velocity on the dust emission flux.

On large-scale transport of dust storms and anthropogenic dust-falls over east Asia observed in central Korea in 2009

Dust air pollution has been routinely monitored in central Korea for the last two decades. In 2009, there were eight typical episodes of significant dust loadings in the air: four were caused by dust storms from deserts in Mongolia and Northern China, while the remaining were typical cases of anthropogenic air pollution masses arriving from the Yellow Sea and East China. These natural dust loadings occurred with cool northwesterly airflows in the forward side of an intense anticyclone coming from Mongolia and Siberia. The mean concentrations of the four natural dustfall cases for TSP, PM10 and PM2.5 were 632, 480 and 100 μg m−3, respectively. In contrast, the anthropogenic dust-pollution episodes occurred with the warm westerly and southwesterly airflows in the rear side of an anticyclone. This produced a favorable atmospheric and chemical condition for the build-up of anthropogenic dust air pollution in the Yellow Sea. The mean concentrations of the four anthropogenic dust loadings for TSP, PM10 and PM2.5 were 224, 187 and 137 μg m−3, respectively. The contents of fine dust loadings of PM2.5 were comparatively high in the cases of anthropogenic air pollution. High atmospheric concentrations of fine particles in the atmosphere cause poor visibility and constitute a health hazard. Satellite observations clearly showed the movement of dust-pollution masses from Mongolia and Northern China and from the Yellow Sea and East China that caused these dust pollution episodes in Korea.

The comparison of two severe Hwangsa (Asian dust) cases of spring and winter in Seoul, Korea

This study investigated meteorological, physical, and chemical characteristics of 2 severe Hwangsa (Asian dust, maximum average of PM10 above 1000 μg m−3) observed in Seoul, the capital city of Korea, during 30∼31st May, 2008 (DSS2008) and 25∼26th December, 2009 (DSS2009). DSS2008 and DSS2009 had a same source region and route. However, they have different meteorological conditions. DSS2009 had a shorter travel time from the source region to Korea and shorter duration time in Korea than DSS2008 due to a strong winter Siberian anticyclone. One of DSS2008 sample was affected by not only Asian dust but also a long-range transported haze due to consecutive influx after low pressure passed while DSS2009 sample collected only dust aerosol. For both cases, the mass concentration of coarse particles (PM10-1) increased by 3∼14 times compared to that during non Asian dust period, however, that of fine particles (PM1) increased only in DSS2008. For DSS2008 water-soluble ion balance between anions and cations in fine mode was close to 1:1 while cations were higher than anions in coarse mode. NH4+ and Ca2+ were found to be the main contributing factors for the neutralization. Cl− loss was observed about 60% indicating an active interaction of Na+ with pollutants. Reconstruction of chemical compositions showed relatively high concentrations of secondary pollutants (NH4NO3 and (NH4)2SO4), CaCO3, and Ca(NO3)2 compared to that during non Asian dust period. DSS2009 exhibited the typical characteristics of Asian dust having a high concentration of Ca2+ with higher equivalent concentration of cations than anions in all size bins. Cl− loss was hardly observed. The secondary pollutants were lower than that of non Asian dust cases. The result of reconstruction of ionic components indicated the CaCO3 derived from soil particle, CaSO4, and Ca (NO3)2 were dominant in DSS2009.