Aerosol Physical Characteristics over the Yellow Sea During the KORUS-AQ Field Campaign: Observations and Air Quality Model Simulations

• Published in: Asia-Pacific journal of atmospheric sciences Vol. 55; no. 4; pp. 629 - 640
• Main Authors: Lim, Yun-Kyu, Kim, Jinwon, Lee, Hee Choon, Lee, Sang-Sam, Cha, Joo-Wan, Ryoo, Sang Boom
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul Korean Meteorological Society 01.11.2019; Springer Nature B.V; 한국기상학회
• Subjects: Aerosol concentrations; Aerosol size distribution; Aerosols; Air; Air flow; Air parcel trajectories; Air parcels; Air quality; Air quality models; Air sampling; Anthropogenic factors; Atmospheric particulates; Atmospheric Sciences; Climatology; Dust; Dust particles; Dust storms; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Geophysics/Geodesy; Original Article; Outdoor air quality; Particulate matter; Particulates; Satellite observation; Size distribution; Spatial distribution; Suspended particulate matter; Upstream; 대기과학; Inner Mongolia China; East China Sea; Yellow Sea; China; Japan; Aerosol physical characteristics; Aerosol size distribution; Yellow Sea; KORUS-AQ; ADAM3
• ISSN: 1976-7633; 1976-7951
• DOI: 10.1007/s13143-018-00100-x

For understanding the aerosol characteristics over the Yellow Sea according to the air flow patterns in East Asia, the aerosol volume concentration distribution by particle size (size distribution) of the shipborne samples collected in the KORUS-AQ campaign is examined in conjunction with air quality (AQ) model simulations and air parcel trajectory analyses. Cluster analyses of the air parcel trajectories show that 42% of the collected air samples originated in Korea and Japan, 30% in inland/east-coast China, 16% in the highlands of Inner Mongolia, and 11% in the East China Sea. The aerosol size distribution varies characteristically according to the upstream path of individual trajectory clusters; particles of diameters <1 μm dominate when the upstream pathways include China, Korea, and/or Japan, that are significant sources of anthropogenic aerosols. Air flows from the East China Sea, a region virtually free of anthropogenic aerosol sources, show aerosol concentrations peaks at larger sizes of 1–5 μm. The flows from the Inner Mongolia are characterized by a bimodal distribution with a peak at 0.7 μm and another peak of a similar magnitude at diameters >2 μm, indicating a mixed industrial-dust aerosol type in which the dust particles from the Inner Mongolia is mixed with fine particles in the industrialized northeast China. Model studies for cases of typical air flow trajectory groups show that the model simulates the spatial distribution of the satellite-observed particulate matter reasonably, but underestimates the observed volume concentration of fine particles <1 μm.