Source apportionment of the particulate PAHs at Seoul, Korea: impact of long range transport to a megacity

J. Y. Lee (1) , Y. P. Kim (1)

1 Department of Environmental Science and Engineering [Seoul]

Northeast Asia including China, Korea, and Japan is one of the world's largest fossil fuel consumption regions. Seoul is a megacity in Northeast Asia and its emissions of air pollutants can affect the region and is also affected by the regional emissions. To understand the degree of this relationship, major sources of ambient particulate PAHs at Seoul, Korea were identified and quantified based on the measurement data between August 2002 and December 2003. The chemical mass balance (CMB) model was applied. Seven major emission sources were identified based on the emission data in Seoul and Northeast Asia: Gasoline and diesel vehicles, coal residential, coke oven, coal power plant, biomass burning, natural gas (NG) combustion. The major source of particulate PAHs at Seoul on the whole measurement period was gasoline and diesel vehicles, accounted for 31% of the measured particulate PAHs levels. However, the source contributions showed distinct seasonal variations. High contributions of biomass burning and coal (residential and coke oven) were shown in fall and winter accounted for 63% and 82% of the total PAHs concentration, respectively. Since these sources were not strong in and around Seoul, these might be related to transport from outside of Seoul, from China and/or North Korea. It implies that the air quality in the large urban city such as Seoul can be influenced by the long range transport of air pollutants such as PAHs.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère

J. Y. Lee, Y. P. Kim. Source apportionment of the particulate PAHs at Seoul, Korea: impact of long range transport to a megacity. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, 2007, 7 (1), pp.1479-1506. ⟨hal-00302555⟩