This study analyzed the characteristics of high PM2.5 episodes that meets the concentration criteria of Emergency Reduction Measures Plan (ERMP) in Busan during the 2015-2020, and compared with those in Seoul. As a first step, the CAPSS-2017 emission data was employed to analyze the emission differences between Busan and Seoul, and pointed out that Busan emission included the dominance of ship emissions (37.7%) among total PM2.5 city emissions, whereas fugitive PM2,5 emission was the highest in Seoul. These emission characteristics are indicating that the controlling action plan should be uniquely applied to cope with ERMP in each region. We selected extremely high PM2.5 episode days that meet the criteria of ERMP levels. In Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam region, 15, 16, and 8 days of extremely high PM2.5 cases were found, respectively, whereas Seoul showed approximately doubling of occurrences with 37 cases. However, the occurrences in summer season indicated big differences between two cities: the proportion of summer-season occurrence was 13-25% in Busan, whereas no single case have occurred in Seoul. This is suggesting the needs of comprehensive summer emission reduction plan with focusing on sulfur reduction to effectively cope with the ERMP levels in summer in the southeastern region, including Busan.

We analyzed the recent characteristics of Particulate Matter (PM) including PM10 (PM with diameter of less than 10μm) and PM2.5 (PM with diameter of less than 2.5μm) observed in Busan metropolitan area, and compared them with those measured in Seoul metropolitan area. This analysis includes the monthly, seasonal, and annual variations and differences, in emissions and chemical compositions observed in both Busan and Seoul areas. Synoptic meteorological conditions were investigated at the time when high PM concentrations occurred in each of the two areas. The results showed clearly decreasing trends of annual mean concentrations with strong seasonal variations: lower in summer and higher in winter in both areas. In comparison with Seoul, the seasonal variation in Busan demonstrated relatively lower, but showed greater summer fluctuations than in Seoul metropolitan area. This is implying the importance of secondary generation of PM in summer via active photochemical reaction in Busan area. In high concentration days, Busan’s chemical composition of sulfate was higher than that of nitrate in summer, whereas nitrate was higher than sulfate in Seoul. The ratios of NO3 - to SO4 2-(N/S ratio) showed lower in Busan approximately by a factor of 1/2(half of N/S ratio) in Busan compared with that in Seoul. Others such as synoptic characteristics and emission differences were also discussed in this study.