The characteristics of PM10, PM2.5 and Ratio(PM2.5/PM10) of 11 urban air monitoring stations in Gyeongnam were analyzed for the last 3 years(`15~`17). The average of the all stations was PM10 45 μg/㎥, PM2.5 24 μg/㎥ and Ratio 0.54, and annual reduction rates were PM10 -2.9%, PM2.5 –2.7% and Ratio –1.2%, respectively. The seasonal characteristics of PM10 were spring 54 μg/㎥ > winter 48 μg/㎥ > summer/autumn 40 μg/㎥, PM2.5 were spring/winter 26 μg/㎥ > summer 23 > autumn 22 μg/㎥ and Ratio were summer 0.56 > winter 0.55 > autumn 0.54 > spring 0.51, respectively. The hourly characteristics of PM10 were 11 μg/㎥ higher than 09:00~12:00 at 03:00~06:00, PM2.5 were 6 μg/㎥ higher than 09:00~12:00 at 17:00~18:00 and Ratio were 0.07 higher than 04:00~06:00 at 19:00. By site, the highest concentration of PM10 was YJ site 53 μg/㎥ and PM2.5 was HW site 28 μg/㎥. And Ratio at HD site showed the largest reduction from `15 0.62 to `17 0.52.

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.

Emission reduction program for in-use diesel vehicles(ERPDV) has been enacted since 2004 over the Seoul metropolitan area, and diesel emission reduction is forced to fulfill this regulation. This study was performed to evaluate the ERPDV using PM10 concentrations of both road-side monitoring and national background network during the period of 2004-2010. In order to assess the pure road emission, we first eliminated the long range transport effect by deducting the trend of annual national background concentrations from the road-side PM10 concentrations, and then analyzed the time series of the resultant PM10 concentrations over Seoul metropolitan area. The annual rates of variations of road-side PM10 with the deduction of trend of background level show -3.2, +0.4, and -2.4㎍/㎥/year, in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyonggi province, respectively. There are steadily decreasing trend in Seoul with all of statistic parameters such as mean, mediam, 5%ile, 10%ile, 25%ile, 75%ile, 90%ile, and 95%ile concentrations. Incheon shows some fluctuations with positive with no significant trend, and Gyonggi province shows overall decreasing but not consistent. Student-t test shows 95% significant level of ERPDV effect in Seoul, but there exists no significant level greater than 90% in both Incheon, and Kyonggi province. Total annual averaged trend over the whole Seoul metropolitan area is estimated to lie in approximately -2.9㎍/㎥/year in this study, implying the intimate involvement of ERPDV to a large extent. This is also suggesting that the further research cost-effectiveness of ERPDV with consideration of the long range transport process would be needed over the Seoul metropolitan area.