Abstract
In 2008, multiple episodes of large-scale transport of natural airborne particles and anthropogenically affected particles from different sources in the East Asian continent were identified in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite RGB-composite images and the mass concentrations of ground level particulate matters. To analyze the aerosol size distribution during the large-scale transport of atmospheric aerosols, both aerosol optical depth (AOD; proportional to the aerosol total loading in the vertical column) and fine aerosol weighting (FW; fractional contribution of fine aerosol to the total AOD) of Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol products were used over the East Asian region. The six episodes of massive natural airborne particles were observed at Cheongwon, originating from sandstorms in northern China, Mongolia and the loess plateau of China. The PM and PM stood at 70% and 16% of the total mass concentration of TSP, respectively. However, the mass concentration of PM among TSP increased as high as 23% in the episode in which they were flowing in by way f the industrial area in east China. In the other five episodes of anthropogenically affected particles that flowed into the Korean Peninsula from east China, the mass concentrations of PM and PM among TSP reached 82% and 65%, respectively. The average AOD for the large-scale transport of anthropogenically affected particle episodes in the East Asian region was measured at 0.42±0.17 compared with AOD (0.36±0.13) for the natural airborne particle episodes. Particularly, the regions covering east China, the Yellow Sea, the Korean Peninsula, and the east Korean sea were characterized by high levels of AOD. The average FW values observed during the event of anthropogenically affected aerosols (0.63±0.16) were moderately higher than those of natural airborne particles (0.52±0.13). This observation suggests that anthropogenically affected particles contribute greatly to the atmospheric aerosols in East Asia.
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