Comparative Analysis of the Correlation Between Local Meteorological Elements and the Concentration of Airborne Fungi in the Beopjusa and Seonamsa Temples

Abstract

This study involved a comparative analysis of the correlation between meteorological elements and the concentration of airborne fungi(CFU) in relation to biological damage to two temples on piedmonts, which is a cultural heritage building. The work compared Beopjusa temple in Boeun(Chungcheongbuk-do Province) and Seonamsa temple in Suncheon(Jeollanam-do Province). Twelve meteorological elements and the CFU were measured and the Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the degree of the relationship between them. The results showed that Beopjusa temple had high wind speed, high total horizontal radiation, high evaporation, and large number of days with precipitation. Seonamsa temple had high air temperature, high relative humidity, high dew point temperature, high sea level pressure, high precipitation, and high CFU. The CFU at Beopjusa temple did not have a linear correlation with meteorological elements, but at Seonamsa temple it was highly positive correlated with the number of days with precipitation, relative humidity, and precipitation, and was highly negative correlated with total horizontal radiation. In addition, Beopju and Seonamsa temple had a common linear relationship between factors not affected by the topographical conditions, and had a individual linear correlation between factors affected by the topographical conditions. Key words: Cultural heritage building, Biological damage, Meteorological elements, Concentration of airborne fungi(CFU), Correlation analysis