The chemical and physical characteristics of Asian outflow aerosols

Description

Backrungdo site is the closest to the China among several air quality super-sites in South Korea. The intensive monitoring has been routinely conducted since 2008 to characterize the physical and chemical properties of Asian outflow. The species, automatically monitored, are SO2, NOx, CO, O3, 55 VOCs, EC/OC, size-resolved ionic components, particle size distribution, and metals. In 2009 Backrungdo was the place with the best air quality in Korea. The aerosols were normally organic-richm while Asian outflow aerosols were sulfate-rich with accompanying EC/OC and several metal components. Sulfate existed as ammonium sulfate below 1.8 micron in size, and the ratio of OC to EC ranged from 3 to 4. The source region of the Asian outflow was Beijing-Tianjin mega-cities based upon the backward trajectory analysis.