Abstract
ABSTRACT To evaluate the effectiveness of the air quality management policies in Northeast Asia, especially in China and South Korea, temporal variation in the major contributors of the observed particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Seoul between 2002 and 2013 was estimated via receptor modeling. In addition, analyses of the air parcel movement and the statistics related to energy usage and PAH emissions in the region were conducted to validate the modeling results. Five factors were identified: coal usage for coke ovens, residential coal use, vehicular emission, biomass burning, and other emission sources. It was found that the PAH concentration in the ambient air in Seoul has been affected not only by domestic emissions but also by transported PAHs originating outside Korea, such as emissions from coal use in China and biomass burning in Northeast Asia. In addition, the impact from North Korea was verified for the PAHs emitted from biomass burning. The contribution of coal combustion decreased while that of vehicular sources increased during the study period; the contribution from biomass burning, however, remained consistent. Despite uncertainties in the modeling results, which are discussed in this paper, this study demonstrates that the air quality management policies in China and South Korea have been successful in reducing particulate PAH emissions.
Highlights
Ambient air quality in Seoul is affected by air pollutants emitted both from Seoul proper and outside of Seoul, notably Korea and Northeast Asian countries. Kim (2006) examined the measurement and modeling results of the early 2000s and estimated the atmospheric particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than or equal to a nominal 10 μm (PM10) mass fraction flowing into Seoul from outside to be about 30%, mostly from China.Energy consumption and resultant emissions of air pollutants from both Seoul and outside might affect the air quality in Seoul
It was found that the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) concentration in the ambient air in Seoul has been affected by domestic emissions and by transported PAHs originating outside Korea, such as emissions from coal use in China and biomass burning in Northeast Asia
Despite uncertainties in the modeling results, which are discussed in this paper, this study demonstrates that the air quality management policies in China and South Korea have been successful in reducing particulate PAH emissions
Summary
Ambient air quality in Seoul is affected by air pollutants emitted both from Seoul proper and outside of Seoul, notably Korea and Northeast Asian countries (see, for example, Lee and Kim, 2007). Kim (2006) examined the measurement and modeling results of the early 2000s and estimated the atmospheric particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than or equal to a nominal 10 μm (PM10) mass fraction flowing into Seoul from outside to be about 30%, mostly from China.Energy consumption and resultant emissions of air pollutants from both Seoul and outside might affect the air quality in Seoul. Ambient air quality in Seoul is affected by air pollutants emitted both from Seoul proper and outside of Seoul, notably Korea and Northeast Asian countries (see, for example, Lee and Kim, 2007). Kim (2006) examined the measurement and modeling results of the early 2000s and estimated the atmospheric particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than or equal to a nominal 10 μm (PM10) mass fraction flowing into Seoul from outside to be about 30%, mostly from China. Energy consumption and resultant emissions of air pollutants from both Seoul and outside might affect the air quality in Seoul. PAHs are widely distributed in the atmosphere and identified as the suspected carcinogen (Ravindra et al, 2008). Except for benzo[j]fluoranthene in the 17 priority PAHs from ATSDR, other compounds are
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