Monitoring of Atmospheric Mercury at a Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) Site on An-Myun Island, Korea

In order to investigate the regional background concentration levels of mercury (Hg), measurements were routinely recorded on An-Myun Island off the coast of Korea (December 2004 to April 2006). The mean concentration of Hg computed from the entire measurement period was 4.61?±?2.21 ng m^?3 with a range of 0.10–25.4 ng m^?3 (N?=?10,485). Using these data, we inspected various aspects of Hg behavior from the relatively remote island of An-Myun in Korea. Inspection of the seasonal patterns of Hg indicated that its concentration levels generally peaked in spring, while reached a minimum in summer. The summertime deficiency of Hg along with the lack of diurnal variation suggests that the environmental behavior of Hg at the study site was strongly suppressed by heavy precipitation during specific period. The diurnal variations of Hg, typically characterized by a relative daytime dominance, are distinguishable between seasons so that such patterns disappear during the summer. The results of our analysis, when inspected in terms of long-range transport of airborne pollutants, imply that Hg concentration levels can be affected intensively by trans-boundary input processes over certain period of time. Its springtime dominance hence suggests the combined effects of various local source processes and the meteorological conditions favorable for the massive air mass transport phenomenon (such as Asian Dust storms) during that time period.     

Measurement of Atmospheric Formaldehyde and Monoaromatic Hydrocarbons using Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy during Winter and Summer Intensive Periods in Seoul, Korea

Ozone effects on Mediterranean forests were studied for 10 years in southern France. The aim of these studies was to understand the impact of the pollutant on foliar damage among Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill) and Arolla pine (Pinus cembra L) populations. During the summers of 2001 and 2002, ozone concentrations were measured using UV absorption analysers (4) and passive samplers (29) at two forest monitoring sites: Site 1 in the Nice coastal area for Aleppo pine and Site 2 in the Mercantour mountains for Arolla pine, in the vicinity of tree observation sites. AOT 40 values were quite high (25–33 ppm.h), especially in the Mercantour mountains, for the 5 months of measurement. Foliar damage (defoliation and discoloration) and specific symptoms (chlorotic mottle) were observed on 8 Aleppo pine and 13 Arolla pine plots. For Arolla pines, there was a significant correlation between defoliation and chlorotic mottles. There was also a correlation between mean ozone concentrations measured by passive samplers and chlorotic mottles. These correlations were less significant for Aleppo pine.     

Evidence of Long-Range Transport of Pollutants from the Size-Fractionated Ionic Composition of Aerosols in the Jeju Island of Korea

The ionic composition of total suspended particulate (TSP) and fine (PM_2.5) fractions was investigated from an 1,100 site in the middle of Mt. Halla in Jeju Island, Korea from March to November 2006. The sum concentrations of cation and anion species in TSP fraction were 205 ± 170 and 183 ± 164 neq m^?3, respectively, while those for PM_2.5 as 118 ± 129 and 88.5 ± 89.3 neq m^?3, respectively. In TSP, the concentration of the major ions changed in the order of SO₄ ^2? > NH₄ ⁺ > Ca²⁺ > Na⁺ > NO₃ ^? > Mg²⁺ > K⁺ > Cl^?, while its PM_2.5 counterpart as NH₄ ⁺ > SO₄ ^2? > Ca²⁺ > NO₃ ^? > Na⁺ > Mg²⁺ > K⁺ > Cl^?. Inspection of the temporal variabilities of ionic components indicated that most ions peaked in spring or fall months. The back trajectory analysis showed that the atmospheric composition of the major ionic species was affected fairly sensitively by long-range transport from China under the favorable meteorological conditions. In contrast, the lowest ionic concentration levels were seen most abundantly, when air masses passed from South Sea. Hence, the analysis of ionic concentration data suggests that their distributions are controlled by the combined effects of various source processes including the most prominent Chinese origin and the meteorological condition favorable for such transport.     

Spatial and Temporal Variabilities in Nitrogen and Phosphorous in the Nakdong River System,Korea

The concentrations of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) species and relevant hydrographic parameters were determined in main stream and tributary waters of the Nakdong River system during the periods of May through October 1994. During the entire period, the total N (TN) and total P (TP) concentrations in surface waters were found within the ranges of 0.4–7.0 (N=241) and 0.02–1.536 mg L-¹ (N=241), respectively. To help derive meaningful interpretations of temporal and geographical variabilities in the nutrient bahavior, the entire data were evaluated for each individual parameter after employing several different grouping schemes. The results of this comparative analysis can be expressed in terms of: (1) high summer/fall ratios for most of nutrient species; and (2) low summer/fall ratios for most of nutrient-to-nutrient ratios and relevant hydrographic parameters. Interestingly, while the former case was found to be more significant in tributary waters than main stream waters, such geographical dependence was not strongly evident for the latter case. A z-statistic test, conducted to check the significance of temporal (between summer and fall) and spatial (between tributary and main stream regions) differences, confirm that the observed variabilities are in most cases strong enough for most of variables studied – nutrient species, their ratios, and relevant hydrographic parameters. In addition, comparison of nutrient species between dissolved and particulate phases reveals several interesting features. Unlike dissolved nutrient species, the concentrations of particulate N or P (PN or PP) exhibited quite extraoridanry behavior. While PN appears to be rather minor component of the total N budget for the Nakdong river, PP seems to make rather strong contributions to its total P budgets with its strong input from tributary waters during rainy summer season. Through an application of correlation analysis, relationships between different parameters were investigated for both before and after the grouping of data sets. The overall picture of this analysis showed that nutrient species were strongly correlated with each other, while the strongest correlations were among such hydrographic parameters as DO, BOD, COD, and conductivity. This analysis was further conducted to more deliberately divided data groups. The results of analyses on these sub-grouped data sets indicate that the occurrences of significant corelations were common from tributary waters relative to main streams for both (1) between different nutrient species and (2) between nutrient and hydrographic parameters. Using the line of evidence gathered from the statistical tests and from the correlation analysis, we conclude that the environmental health of the Nakdong river system is affected by the combined effects of various factors and processes.     

Heavy Metal Pollution of Agricultural Soils in Central Regions of Korea

In an effort to establish databases for the heavy metal pollution in agricultural soils in the central regions of Korea, we have measured the HCl-extractable concentrations of six metals (Cd, Pb, Hg, Cu, Zn, and As) from a total of 260 surface soil samples collected during the spring seasons of 1994 and 1995. All of our measurements were made from three different soil groups that were divided by the surrounding environmental characteristics such as: (1) soil group I – cultivated soils within the purely agricultural regions, (2) soil group II – both cultivated and uncultivated soils near various livelihood facilities, and (3) soil group III – mainly cultivated soils near major pollution sources. The mean concentrations for the three soil groups ranged as follows: 0.118–0.146 (Cd), 4.938–6.078 (Pb), 0.045–0.110 (Hg), 2.823–3.501 (Cu), 4.694–7.818 (Zn), and 0.355–0.782 (As) ppm (on dry-weight basis). Comparitive analysis of these data sets indicate many important aspects of metal distributions in agricultural environments. The metal contents for the relatively unpolluted soil environs (groups I and II) were comparable not only between each other but also with previously reported background concentrations. However slight, but systematic, differences were apparent between the data for the group III and the rest. Results of a regression analysis for inter-metal relationships exhibited somewhat contrary patterns wherein the patterns of soil group I were rather comparable to those of soil group III. Although the common occurrences of strong correlations between As and other metals were difficult to account for, the abundant similarities between group I and III suggest that homogeneities in soil composition may exert significant influences on metal-to-metal distribution characteristics.     

Studies of Spatial Variabilities of Airborne Metals Across Four Different Land-Use Types

The concentrations of seven metals (Fe, Pb, Mn, Ni, Cd, Cu, and Cr) associated with the total suspended particles (TSPs) were analyzed regularly from the four sampling sites of different land-use types within the boundary of Won Ju city, Korea during1991 through 1995. The mean concentration data for the four sitesselected to represent grassland, residential, commercial, and industrial areas fell in a relatively broad range of: 1440–2240 (Fe), 88–326 (Pb), 2–4 (Cd), 8–21 (Cr),194–469 (Cu), 32–95 (Mn), and 15–26 (Ni) ng m^-3. The data, when compared across the different study sites, generally exhibited systematic trends in accordance withthe site-selection scheme; most metals exhibited increase in their concentration levels across grassland through industrial site. Examinations of data also indicated the possibility that spatial factors play complicated roles on both long- and short-term distribution of metals. From all four sites studied, severalmetals (e.g., Fe, Pb, Mn, Ni, and Cd) consistently showed theirseasonal trends characteristic of high winter/spring values. In addition, the analysis of long-term distribution trendsindicated that the concentrations of many metals droppedsteadily at four sites (e.g., Fe, Pb, and Mn). When these metaldata were compared among different sites (land-use types), significant correlations were seen frequently for such metals asFe, Pb, Cd, and Cr. Investigations of inter-metal relationshipsindicated that strong correlations were more abundant from such metal pairs as Fe-Pb, Pb-Mn, and Mn-Fe. In addition, the cases for such strong correlations were seen more abundantly from grassland (and residential) than industrial (and commercial) site. Factor analysis was also conducted to distinguish sourceprocesses affecting metal distributions in the study area. Results of this analysis suggest that the metal distributions ofthe individual sites may be affected most significantly by distinctive source processes of their own.     

THE CONCENTRATIONS OF LEAD IN URBAN AND NONURBAN ATMOSPHERES OF WON JU CITY,KOREA

Water, Air, &; Soil Pollution - The geographical and temporal distribution patterns of atmospheric lead (Pb) were investigated using the data acquired from four sampling locations in Won Ju...