A statistical change-point analysis examined the existence of climate regime shift in the time series of the Asian dust frequency in Seoul during spring. As a result, the Asian dust frequency in Seoul during spring has sharply increased since 1993. To investigate the cause of the increasing Asian dust frequency in Seoul during spring, therefore the averages during the period of 1993 to 2011 and the differences in large-scale environment during the period of 1974 to 1992 were analyzed. According to the analysis results for 850 hPa, 500 hPa, and 200 hPa stream flows, northwesterly anomaly was formed from the Lake Baikal to the Korean Peninsula due to the intensification of anomalous anticyclonic circulation in Northern China. This northwesterly anomaly has become a major circulation that moves the sand particles from Northern China to Seoul.

Asian dust (or yellow sand) occurring mainly in spring in East Asia is affected by the distribution of weather systems. This study was performed to investigate the characteristics of suspended particulate for Asian dust at Busan, Korea in 20 March 2010, which was one of the extreme case for the last 10 years. There was used the data of weather chart, satellite, automatic weather system (AWS), PM10, laser particle counter (LPC), and backward trajectories model. In synoptically, the high pressure was located in the northwestern part and low pressure was located in the northeastern part of Korea. The strong westerly winds from surface to upper layer makes it possible to move air masses rapidly. Air masses passing through Gobi Desert in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia plateau covered the entire Korean peninsula. As the results of aerosol analysis, PM10 concentration at Gudeok mountain in Busan was recorded 2,344 ㎍/m3 in 2300 LST 20 March 2010 and their concentration was markedly increased at coarse mode particle. In surface condition, westerly wind about 3 ∼ 5 m/s was dominant and small particles of 0.3 ∼ 0.5 ㎛ were distributed on the whole. In heavy metal components analysis, the elements from the land was predominated.

This study introduces a novel approach to the differentiation of two phenomena, Asian Dust and haze, which are extremely difficult to distinguish based solely on comparisons of PM10 concentration, through use of the Optical Particle Counter (OPC), which simultaneously generates PM10, PM2.5 and PM1.0 concentration. In the case of Asian Dust, PM10 concentration rose to the exclusion of PM2.5 and PM1.0 concentration. The relative ratios of PM2.5 and PM1.0 concentration versus PM10 concentration were below 40%, which is consistent with the conclusion that Asian Dust, as a prime example of the coarse-particle phenomenon, only impacts PM10 concentration, not PM2.5 and PM1.0 concentration. In contrast, PM10, PM2.5 and PM1.0 concentration simultaneously increased with haze. The relative ratios of PM2.5 and PM1.0 concentration versus PM10 concentration were generally above 70%. In this case, PM1.0 concentration varies because a haze event consists of secondary aerosol in the fine-mode, and the relative ratios of PM10 and PM2.5 concentration remain intact as these values already subsume PM1.0 concentration. The sequential shift of the peaks in PM10, PM2.5 and PM1.0 concentrations also serve to individually track the transport of coarse-mode versus fine-mode aerosols. The distinction in the relative ratios of PM2.5 and PM1.0 concentration versus PM10 concentration in an Asian Dust versus a haze event, when collected on a national or global scale using OPC monitoring networks, provides realistic information on outbreaks and transport of Asian Dust and haze.

The aerosol number concentration have measured with an aerodynamic particle sizer spectrometer(APS) at Gosan in Jeju Island, which is known as background area in Korea, from March 2010 to February 2011. The obtained results of asian dust events and non-asian dust period have been compared. The results show that the entire averaged aerosol number concentration from APS measurement during asian dust events and non-asian dust period are about 341 particles/㎝3 and 240 particles/㎝3, respectively. During asian dust events, the number concentration in small size ranges(≤0.4 ㎛) are similar to non-asian dust period, however, those in large size ranges(≥0.7 ㎛) are very higher than non-asian dust period. The contributions of the size resolved number concentration(23 channel in 0.25∼10.0 ㎛) to total number concentration in that range are dramatically decreased with increased particle size. The contributions of smaller size ranges(≤0.4 ㎛) during asian dust events are very low compared with non-asian dust period, on the other hand, those of larger size ranges(≥0.4 ㎛) are higher than non-asian dust period. total aerosol number concentration are depended on the number concentration in range of smaller than 0.58 ㎛ during non-asian dust period and asian dust events. On the other hand, PM10 mass concentration has mainly affected with the number concentration in range of smaller than 1.0 ㎛ during non-asian dust period, however, during asian dust events, the mass concentration has mainly affected with the number concentration in range of 0.65∼3.0 ㎛.

The effects of volcanic ashes on human health differ in distance and time. It was found that indirect and long-term damages are significant in remote areas from the volcanoes, while the direct and physical damages in adjacent areas are observed. In general, the minute polluted particles of volcano ashes are diffused to remote area from the volcanoes after staying over atmosphere. As a result, those particles have indirect and significant effects on human health such as eye disease, atopic dermatitis and PTSD, as similar as previous research results on Asian dust. This presentation presents the effects of volcano ashes and similar situation such as Asian dusts on human health based on indirect and long-term damage factors in remote areas from volcanoes. Further, this study provides a fundamental reference for medical hazard mitigation through examining the factors that affect health hazards in similar situation such as Asian dust.

2009년 3월 17일 채집된 황사 총시료(TSP)의 개별 입자에 대하여, 고분해 주사전자현미경 및 에너지분산 X선 분광분석을 이용한 광물학적 특성 및 혼합상태 분석을 실시하였다. 황사 입자들 중, 석영, 사장석, K-장석, 각섬석, 흑운모, 백운모, 녹니석, 방해석 등은 비교적 조립질 입자로 산출되며, 이들 입자는 앓은 극미립 일라이트질 점토광물 층으로 피복되어 있다. 극미립 점토광물 입자들은 또한 개별 점토 덩어리를 형성한다. 조립질 방해석 외에 나노섬유 방해석들이 개별적으로 또는 집합체로 큰 입자를 피복하거나 점토광물과 함께 덩어리를 형성한다. 입자의 주 광물에 따라 광물학적 분류를 실시하고 빈도를 구하였다. 이번 TSP의 단일입자 광물학적 특성 및 혼합상태는 기존의 PM10 분석 결과와 거의 차이가 없었다.

This study investigates the relationship between Asian dust and asthma disease in Seoul, using data of Asian dust occurrences and the number of treatments for asthma between 2005 and 2008. The data include the number of treatments for asthma on the basic day paired with the average number of treatments for asthma on the compared days. The compared day is defined by the day of no Asian dust in same month and day of the week as the basic day, when Asian dust occurs. Also, the basic day is expanded to the day after three days from the day of Asian dust. The paired two sample t-test for the number of treatments for asthma on the basic day and the compared days revealed that the Asian dust occurrences are correlated with the asthma disease. The number of treatments for asthma is significantly increased on the one and two days after Asian dust occurs. On the other hand, there's no significant difference in the number of treatments for asthma between the days of Asian dust occurrence and the days of no Asian dust, which implies that people usually try not to go out when Asian dust occurs.

The research was conducted to simulate and interpret the change of PM10 profile by Asian dust using the CALPUFF modeling system for the period April 6 through 18, 2001. The results, which are represented a daily variation of PM10 concentration before and after Asian dust, was located between a minimum concentration of 50 μg/㎥ and a maximum concentration of 100 μg/㎥. Most concentration peaks in the PM10 profile were shown within a level below 500 m and had a pattern that rapidly increased up the peak and decreased after the peak to 1000 m. Even though the shapes of the vertical profile during Asian dust days were similar to non-Asian dust days, no rapid change vertically was observed. In particular, the vertical profile on 1200 LST and 1800 LST was noticeably shifted to the higher concentrations, which means PM10 in the atmosphere was changed into a vertically and horizontally heterogeneous form under the Asian dust event. Finally, it is confirmed that the simulation result from CALPUFF might schematically sketched atmospheric PM10 profiles and their change by Asian dust throughout the comparison with profiles of aerosol extinction coefficients, which were acquired from Lidar measurement at KGAWO.

The characteristics of meteorological conditions relevant to Asian dust (AD) outbreaks and their occurrence frequencies were analyzed in four source regions (R1 to R4) during spring months (March to May) of 1998-2002. Moreover, the concentration variations of AD (e.g., PM10) observed in Korea were investigated during the study period. In the relationship between AD outbreaks and three meteorological parameters (i.e., air temperature, wind speed, and aridity), the largest AD outbreaks in April (～250 observations) mostly occurred in R2 when air temperature ranging from 10.0 to 15.0℃ and surface wind speed from 7 to 9 m s-1 were recorded. Moreover, the aridity (≥ 4) in April was significantly high in R2 with the maximum frequency of AD outbreaks (i.e., 206 observations). On the other hand, the number (percentage) of days belonging to AD events observed in five Korean cities were found to be 116 (44%), 121 (46%), and 26 days (10%) in March, April, and May, respectively. The mean PM10 concentrations were found to range from 150 to 220, 150 to 200, and 95 to 120 ㎍ m-3 in March, April, and May, respectively. Consequently, this implied that the AD events in Korea were found to be gradually frequent in early spring and to be affected from the large AD outbreaks observed in the source regions.

The characteristics for the aerosol number distribution was studied during spring, 2004 in Incheon. Optical Particle Counter (OPC, HIAC/ROYCO 5230) was used in order to measure the number concentration of aerosol in the range of 0.3～25㎛. The obtained results were compared with PM2.5 and PM10 data during Asian dust events. The results show that the size resolved aerosol number concentration from OPC measurement has a similar tendency with PM10 and PM2.5 mass concentration. During Asian dust periods, the number concentrations in large particle (CH5～CH8) increase more than small particles which diameter is less than 2.23㎛(CH5) and the same results were shown when PM10 was compared with PM2.5 data compared with non-dust days, Consequently, this study shows that size resolved aerosol number concentration from OPC measurement can be used as a useful tool in comparison of mass concentration data.

Dust phenomenon is a critical thing in the East Asian countries. However, it is quite recent that Asian dust has drawn much attention and the scientific investigation of dust particles began. In this study, the recognition for Asian-dust in Northeast Asia region was analyzed. The survey results show that the people generally recognize the origins and seriousness of Asian dust and understand the difficulty in solving the dust related problems. However, approaches to figure out Asian dust have many difficulties and limits in scientific, economic and political points of view and more detailed road map is needed based on government policy.

최근 정확한 대기오염 및 황사이동예보를 위하여, 대기역학모형과 확산모형의 결합을 통한 수치실험이 실시되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 3차원 대기역학모형( RAMS)과, 확산모형(PDAS)에 사용되는 기상장의 시간분해능이 대기확산장에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 그리고 여러 가지 시간분해능의 기상자료를 확산모형에 적용하여 황사입자의 분포 특성과 차이를 수치실험을 통하여 비교분석하였다. 수치실험 결과 다음과 같은 결론을 얻을 수 있었다. 1) RAMS에 의한 바람장 예측결과, 지면과 상층의 바람장이 동조될 수도 있고, 그렇지 않을 수도 있다. 상하층의 바람장이 동조되지 않을 경우 황사의 예측은 황사의 상승고도예측과 밀접하게 관련된다. 2) 황사의 연직분포에서 초기에는 상층의 황사가 먼저 이동을 하게 되며, 시간이 지남에 따라 하층의 황사도 이동을 시작한다. 본 연구에서는 최고 고도 3.9km 까지 도달한다. 3) 수치실험에서 초기(24시)의 경우, 시간해상도에 따른 확산의 차이는 크지 않다. 그러나 시간이 경과함에 따라 입자확산분포의 차이가 크게 나타난다. 4) 3시간 이하의 높은 시간해상도의 경우, 입자분포의 차이가 크지 않다. 그러나 6시간보다 간격이 큰 자료를 이용할 경우, 황사입자분포의 양적측면에서 큰 차이를 나타내며, 밀도 분포의 차이에 일정한 경향성을 가진다 5) 입력 바람장의 시간분해능이 작은 경우 즉 입력시간 간격이 큰 경우, 황사입자는 지역의 주풍성분(동아시아의 경우 편서풍)을 따라 분포한다. 그러나 시간분해능이 큰 경우, 중규모적인 기상현상을 잘 재현되며, 여기에 의하여 주풍의 직각성분인 남북성분의 효과가 크게 나타난다. 이상의 결과에서 확산모형의 입력자료로 사용되어지는 바람장은 보고자하는 기상현상을 잘 표현할 수 있는 시간분해능 내의 자료를 이용하여야하며, 이를 무시할 경우 입자의 농도예측에 많은 오차를 발생시킬 수 있다. 그러므로 확산예보에 앞서 시간분해능에 관한 검증이 필요하다고 판단된다.