Health-related Weather Forecasts In Korea: Current Status And Perspectives

摘要

Global warming and consequent extreme weather events pose a growing threat to human health. In particular, frequent outbreaks of hot, humid weather in summer have caused human casualties in various places of the world. Airborne pollen can aggravate respiratory allergic diseases. The East Asian region is known to have some of the heaviest emissions of anthropogenic pollutants in the world. Accordingly, harmful air pollutants are ubiquitous and occur in dense concentrations in the region. They are produced from various sources and processes in the atmosphere. All these pollutants pose a threat to patients with respiratory diseases, including asthma. In addition to anthropogenic air pollutants, massive Asian dust storms which have arisen in the 21st century are causing great inconvenience in people's daily lives as well as to industrial activities. It is necessary to supply the general public with diverse information on the impacts of the weather and climate on health. It is expected that demands for the health-related weather forecasts will dramatically increase in the future. This paper gives an overview of a series of research projects on health-related weather forecasts conducted in Korea with some future perspectives.