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It is imperative to understand the changes of the levels of air pollutants in Northeast Asia with respect to the changes of the emissions of air pollutants. In this study, we analyzed long-term trends of both the chemical composition of fine particles and gaseous species in Seoul, a megacity, and Baengnyeong Island, a background area located in the Yellow Sea of Republic of Korea (South Korea) from 2012 to 2019. Long-term changes of the concentrations of air pollutants were analyzed using the Mann–Kendall trend test and Sen's slope. Since the SO2 emissions in this region have been significantly reduced during last decade, NO3− has become the major species of fine particles instead of SO42−. Seoul and Baengnyeong Island are rich in NH4+ in the atmosphere, and due to the SO2 emission reduction, the balance of ammonia–nitric acid–sulfuric acid has been changed, and the concentration of NO3− has increased. This trend is more obvious in Baengnyeong Island than Seoul due to the lower local emissions in Baengnyeong Island. As a result of this study, it is possible to confirm that concentrations of air pollutants and the majority of aerosols affecting PM2.5 concentrations in Northeast Asia have changed according to the changes in emissions in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Due to its proximity to the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) (40 km from Seoul proper to North Korea) and the characteristics of energy consumption (coal and biomass burning as major primary energy sources), air pollutants emitted from North Korea are likely to influence the air quality in the SMA. To understand the transport of air pollutants emitted from North Korea, backward trajectories arriving in Seoul were estimated and classified into four cases depending on which area the trajectories predominantly passed through for the sampling days between 2002 and 2003. The ambient data of particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed for the samples. Then, based on the contribution of biomass burning calculated by the chemical mass balance (CMB) model applied and the influence of air pollutants'' emissions from North Korea to SMA is semi-quantified. The result was verified by the spatial and seasonal variations of the PAH emission in China based on the previous works. It is estimated that the influence from North Korea on the particulate PAHs concentration in Seoul was up to 20% of the observed values. Further study directions are discussed to make more quantitative and reliable estimation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: To identify the ambient characteristics of a mega city in Northeast Asia, the particulate PAHs in TSP were measured for 18months at Seoul, the capital of Korea. The average concentration of the ambient particulate PAHs at Seoul for the sampling period was 26.6±28.4ngm−3 with the range from 1.57 to 166ngm−3. It showed winter maxima and summer minimum mainly due to the increased fuel consumption in winter both at Seoul and Northeast Asia. The ambient level of PAHs in Seoul was lower than the cities in China but higher than other urban areas. The stronger relationship between the ambient particulate PAHs concentrations and the inverse of the ambient temperature (1/T) at Seoul compared to Gosan, a background site in Korea and the difference of the distributions of BeP/BaP ratios at Seoul and Gosan might be due to the characteristics of Seoul which was governed by both transport from outside and local emissions. The relationship between the particulate PAHs concentration and (1/T) can be used as an indicator for those two factors for Seoul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The levels of PM.25 PAHs at Mt. Halla site, Jeju Island, a background site in Korea were observed between March 1999 and March 2002. A seasonal variation was observed for the particulate PAHs concentrations with high levels during cold season similar to Gosan, a nearby coastal background site, due to the seasonal variations of fossil fuel usage in Asia. The total average concentration of ambient particulate PAHs was 404±579 pg m− 3, about one order lower than the ambient level at Gosan. However, the ratios of the anthropogenic inorganic ion concentrations between Mt. Halla and Gosan were smaller, 1.5 for non sea-salt (nss) sulfate and 2.7 for nitrate. Two possible explanations for these characteristics are (1) two sites measured different air parcels and/or (2) the effect of local emissions were different at two sites. Based on the Bep/BaP ratio result, upper air wind direction data, backward trajectory analysis, and LIDAR measurement data at Gosan, it was found that the degree of the effects of local emissions to the sampling sites be the major reason for the different PAHs levels at two sites though, in some cases, the air parcels arriving at Mt. Halla were different from those arriving at Gosan. For secondary aerosol such as nss sulfate, the lower concentration difference indicates both site are affected by regional transport. It points that the measurement result for directly emitted species such as PAHs at Gosan might be significantly influenced by local emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The atmospheric size distributions of particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their deposition fluxes were measured at four sites in August and at three sites in November 1999, in Korea. The total ambient particulate PAHs concentrations at each site ranged between 6.7 and 128.7 ng m−3. In November, the total PAHs concentrations at Inchon (IC) were the highest, followed by Yangsuri (YS) and Seoul (SE). This trend is contrary to the expectation that the total PAHs concentrations at IC and SE be higher than that at YS because IC and SE are highly industrialized large cities and YS is rural area. The size distributions of individual PAHs in IC and SE show trimodal in Dp ≤ 9 µm while the particulate PAHs in YS were distributed evenly to fine- and coarse-size particles. These results suggest that YS has local sources in addition to transport of PAHs emitted from urban sources. The measured dry deposition fluxes of total PAHs ranged from 6.9 to 12.6 µg m−2 day−1 in August, and from 5.9 to 8.5 µg m−2 day−1 in November. Individual PAH fluxes were dominated by high molecular weight (MW) PAHs at all sampling sites in August. But dry deposition fluxes of low MW PAHs were higher than high MW PAHs at all sampling sites in November. This result indicates that major sources of ambient PAHs have seasonal variety. The Sehmel-Hodgson model was used to estimate dry deposition velocities as a function of particle size for the multistep deposition model calculation. The calculated fluxes agreed fairly well with the measured fluxes, and it was shown that large particles (Dp > 9 µm) are more important than small particles (Dp > 9 µm) in particulate dry deposition of PAHs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to proximity and the characteristics of energy usage and resultant emissions of air pollutants, it has been speculated that biomass fuel burning activities in North Korea would affect the air quality in Seoul significantly. Based on the measured levels of levoglucosan and organic carbon (OC) in Seoul, the three-dimensional potential source contribution function (3D-PSCF) method was applied to estimate the degree of contribution of biomass fuel burning activities in North Korea to the air quality in Seoul. Relative importance of biomass fuel burning consumed in neighboring regions is estimated in the order of North Korea, Northeast China, North China, and East China. The 3D-PSCF method evaluates that biomass fuel burning activities, compared to other sources of OC, in Northeast China and North Korea highly contribute to the air quality in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA). Relative importance as a source area of air pollutants between North Korea and Northeast China should be further validated. • 3-D PSCF, an extended PSCF method was applied to identify major source areas of the observed levoglucosan in Seoul. • It is estimated that biomass fuel burning activities in North Korea and North & Northeast & East China contribute to the air quality in the SMA. • North Korea and Northeast China are evaluated as important potential source areas for the observed biofuel burning OC in Seoul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]