Provider-oriented weather information has been rapidly changing to become more customer-oriented and personalized. Given the increasing interest in wellness and health topics, the demand for health weather information, and biometeorology, also increased. However, research on changes in the human body according to weather conditions is still insufficient due to various constraints, and interdisciplinary research is also lacking. As part of an effort to change that, this study surveyed medical practitioners at an actual treatment site, using questionnaires, to investigate what kind of weather information they could utilize. Although there was a limit to the empirical awareness that medical staff had about weather information, most respondents noted that there is a correlation between disease and weather, with cardiovascular diseases (coronary artery disease (98.5%) and hypertension (95.9% ), skin diseases (atopic dermatitis (100%), sunburn (93.8%)) being the most common weather-sensitive ailments. Although there are subject-specific differences, most weather-sensitive diseases tend to be affected by temperature and humidity in general. Respiratory and skin diseases are affected by wind and solar radiation, respectively.

This study analyzes the PM10 characteristics (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 ㎛), concentration, and emissions in eight large South Korean cities (Seoul, Incheon, Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju, Ulsan, Busan, Jeju). The annual median of PM10 concentration showed a decline of 0.02~1.97 ㎍/㎥ in the regions, except for Incheon, which recorded an annual 0.02 ㎍/㎥ increase. The monthly distribution levels were high in spring, winter, fall, and the summer, but were lower in summer for all regions except for Ulsan. These differences are thought to be due to the dust in spring and the cleaning effect of precipitation in summer. The variation in concentrations during the day (diurnal variation) showed that PM10 levels were very high during the rush hour and that this was most extreme in the cities (10.00 and 18.00-21.00). The total annual PM10 emissions analysis suggested that there had been a general decrease, except for Jeju. On-road mobile (OM) sources, which contributed a large proportion of the particulates in most regions, decreased, but fugitive dust (FD) sources increased in the remaining regions, except for Daegu. The correlation analysis between PM10 concentrations and emissions showed that FD could be used as a valid, positive predictor of PM10 emissions in Seoul (74.5% (p<0.05)), Dajeon (47.2% (p<0.05)), and Busan (59.1% (p<0.01)). Furthermore, industrial combustion (IC) was also a significant predictor in Incheon (61.7% (p<0.01)), and on-road mobile (OC) sources were a valid predictor in Daegu (24.8% (p<0.05)).