High Loading for Air Pollution in the Byunsan Peninsula of Korea by an Interplay of the Saemangeum Project and Winter Monsoon

• Main Authors: Chang-Jin Ma, Gong-Unn Kang, Ki-Hyun Kim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Asian Association for Atmospheric Environment 2012-09-01
• Series: Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• Subjects: saemangeum project; wintertime atmosphere; byunsan peninsula; elements; long-range transport
• Online Access: http://asianjae.org/_common/do.php?a=full&b=11&bidx=1575&aidx=19873

The wintertime high loading for atmospheric pollutants is certainly expected in the Byunsan Peninsula of Korea because of a great-scale reclamation project having construction of 33 km tidal sea dike impounding an area of over 40,000 ha and long-range transport. The goal of this study is to trace the origin of this wintertime burden for ambient particulate matter (hereafter called “PM”) in the Byunsan Peninsula of Korea. The size-segregated (i.e., cutoff size from 0.01 μm to 4.7 μm) PM sampling was conducted at a ground-based site of Byunsan Peninsula located in the west coast of Korean Peninsula during the height of dike constructing. Data archived in this study are the mass concentrations of ionic, elemental, and carbonic components in size-fractioned PM. The elemental mass of individual submicrometer particles was also analyzed. The sum of 5-source (i.e., elemental carbon, organic materials, inorganic secondary pollutants, crustal matter, and sea-salts) concentrations shows the bimodal distribution (major and minor peaks formed around Dp, 0.65 μm and Dp, 4.7 μm, respectively) by border with 0.19 μm of cutoff size. The concentrations of EC in PM1.1-0.01 in winter and spring times were 4.62 μg m-3 and 3.74 μg m-3, respectively. Elemental masses of submicron individual particles are classified into two groups, i.e., the major elements (Cl, Al, Si, S, and P) and the minor trace elements. Cluster analysis differentiated the elements in submicron individual particles into 4-cluster. Among them, three clusters are in agreement with the major (Al, Si, S, and P), minor (Fe, Ca, and K), and trace compositions of coal burning. Meanwhile, Cl classified as an independent cluster has different source profile which was mainly due to the Saemangeum seawall project. Some highly toxic elements (e.g., Cr, Mn, and As (and/or Pb)) were also detected in some part of submicron individual PM. As a consequence, the combination of the Saemangeum project and winter monsoon played a considerable part in the double aggravation of wintertime air pollution in the Byunsan Peninsular.