Field Measurements of Visibility and AerosolChemistry at Two Urban Sites in Korea: Seoul andIncheon

摘要

In order to investigate the causes of visibility degradation in the metropolitan area ofSeoul, extensive chemical and optical monitoring of aerosol was conducted at two urbansites; Junnong, Seoul and Yonghyun, Incheon during several seasonal intensivemonitoring periods between August 2002 and August 2004. Light extinction, scattering,and absorption coefficients were measured simultaneously with a transmissometer, anephelometer, and an aethalometer, respectively. Continuous aerosol chemicalmeasurement was also made with Sunset EC/OC carbon analyzers and on-line ionmonitors. The mean light extinction budget for five major aerosol components;ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, fine carbonaceous particles (EC+OC), fine soil,and coarse particle was estimated on the basis of aerosol chemistry data, and comparedwith the results of aerosol optical measurements. Results revealed no improvement inthe visibility condition in the mega-cities of Seoul and Incheon, Korea. The worstvisibility condition was correlated with an increment in mass concentration of sulfateand nitrate, and elemental carbon particles.