Temporal and Spatial Variations in Fine and Coarse Particles in Seoul, Korea

Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2015 · Aerosol and Air Quality Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2013.12.0362· OSTI ID:1392371

Ghim, Young Sung

Concentrations of fine (PM2.5) and coarse particles (PM10 -2.5), whose diameters are less 2.5 µm, and between 2.5 and 10 µm, respectively, at ambient air monitoring stations in Seoul between 2002 and 2008 were analyzed. Effects of Asian dust are mainly manifested as concentration spikes of PM10 - 2.5 but were considerable on PM2.5 levels in 2002 when Asian dust storms were the strongest. Excluding the effects of Asian dust, annual average PM2.5 showed a downward trend. Despite a similarity in year - to - year variations, PM10- 2.5, mostly affected by fugitive dust emissions, and CO and NO2, primarily affected by motor vehicle emissions, did not show a decrease. PM2.5 along with CO and NO2 had the highest values during the morning rush hour. PM10 - 2.5 peak lagged about one hour behind that of PM2.5 because of fugitive dust emissions despite an increasing mixing height. On high PM2.5 days, PM2. 5 peaks occurred two hours later than usual as the effects of secondary formation became more important. A test for the spatial variabilities shows that PM10 - 2.5, which is known to be greatly influenced by local effects, is lower in its correlation coeffic ient and higher in its coefficient of divergence (COD, which serves as an indicator for spatial variability) than PM2.5, albeit that the difference between the two is small. The average COD of PM2.5 among monitoring stations was about 0.2 but was lowered t o 0.13 when considering high PM2.5 days only, which signifies that spatial uniformity increases significantly.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science; Korea Meteorological Administration Research and Development Program
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1392371
• Journal Information: Aerosol and Air Quality Research, Journal Name: Aerosol and Air Quality Research Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 2015; ISSN 1680-8584
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Fugitive dust
High PM2.5 days
Spatial variability
Time trends
Vehicular emissions