Seasonal changes in surface ozone over South Korea

Recently, the surface ozone concentration in the Korean peninsula has been increasing more rapidly than in the past, and seasonal changes are appearing such as increases in the number of ozone alerts in springtime. We examined changes in the timing of annual maximum South Korean O3 levels by fitting...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hyun-Chae Jung, Byung-Kwon Moon, Jieun Wie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2018-01-01
Series:Heliyon
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844017319813
_version_ 1818692074832134144
author Hyun-Chae Jung
Byung-Kwon Moon
Jieun Wie
author_facet Hyun-Chae Jung
Byung-Kwon Moon
Jieun Wie
author_sort Hyun-Chae Jung
collection DOAJ
description Recently, the surface ozone concentration in the Korean peninsula has been increasing more rapidly than in the past, and seasonal changes are appearing such as increases in the number of ozone alerts in springtime. We examined changes in the timing of annual maximum South Korean O3 levels by fitting a sine function to data from 54 air-quality monitoring sites over a 10-year period (2005–2014). The analytical results show that the date of maximum ozone concentration at 23 points in the last 10 years has been advanced by about 2.1 days per year (E-sites), while the remaining 31 points have been delayed by about 2.5 days per year (L-sites). We attribute these differences to seasonal O3 changes: E-sites show a larger increase in O3 level in March–April (MA) than in June–July (JJ), while L-sites show a larger increase in JJ than in MA. Furthermore, these shifts are significantly larger in magnitude than those reported for Europe and North America. We also examined one possible reason for these seasonal differences: the relationship between O3 and precursors such as NO2 and CO. E-sites showed a rapid decrease in NO2 (NO) concentration in MA over the last decade. As a result, the ozone concentration at E-sites seems to have increased due to the absence of ozone destruction by NOx titration in early spring. In L-Sites, the concentrations of ozone precursors such as NO2 and CO in JJ showed a smaller decrease than those at other sites. Therefore, in L-sites, relatively large amounts of ozone precursors were distributed in JJ, implying that more ozone was generated. We suggest that shifts in the South Korean O3 seasonal cycle are due to changes in early spring and summer NO2 (NO) and CO levels; this should be tested further by modeling studies.
first_indexed 2024-12-17T12:52:01Z
format Article
id doaj.art-1d213e2ce9e4478b82a5873d393c8581
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2405-8440
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-17T12:52:01Z
publishDate 2018-01-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Heliyon
spelling doaj.art-1d213e2ce9e4478b82a5873d393c85812022-12-21T21:47:35ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402018-01-014110.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00515Seasonal changes in surface ozone over South KoreaHyun-Chae JungByung-Kwon MoonJieun WieRecently, the surface ozone concentration in the Korean peninsula has been increasing more rapidly than in the past, and seasonal changes are appearing such as increases in the number of ozone alerts in springtime. We examined changes in the timing of annual maximum South Korean O3 levels by fitting a sine function to data from 54 air-quality monitoring sites over a 10-year period (2005–2014). The analytical results show that the date of maximum ozone concentration at 23 points in the last 10 years has been advanced by about 2.1 days per year (E-sites), while the remaining 31 points have been delayed by about 2.5 days per year (L-sites). We attribute these differences to seasonal O3 changes: E-sites show a larger increase in O3 level in March–April (MA) than in June–July (JJ), while L-sites show a larger increase in JJ than in MA. Furthermore, these shifts are significantly larger in magnitude than those reported for Europe and North America. We also examined one possible reason for these seasonal differences: the relationship between O3 and precursors such as NO2 and CO. E-sites showed a rapid decrease in NO2 (NO) concentration in MA over the last decade. As a result, the ozone concentration at E-sites seems to have increased due to the absence of ozone destruction by NOx titration in early spring. In L-Sites, the concentrations of ozone precursors such as NO2 and CO in JJ showed a smaller decrease than those at other sites. Therefore, in L-sites, relatively large amounts of ozone precursors were distributed in JJ, implying that more ozone was generated. We suggest that shifts in the South Korean O3 seasonal cycle are due to changes in early spring and summer NO2 (NO) and CO levels; this should be tested further by modeling studies.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844017319813Earth sciencesAtmospheric scienceEnvironmental science
spellingShingle Hyun-Chae Jung
Byung-Kwon Moon
Jieun Wie
Seasonal changes in surface ozone over South Korea
Heliyon
Earth sciences
Atmospheric science
Environmental science
title Seasonal changes in surface ozone over South Korea
title_full Seasonal changes in surface ozone over South Korea
title_fullStr Seasonal changes in surface ozone over South Korea
title_full_unstemmed Seasonal changes in surface ozone over South Korea
title_short Seasonal changes in surface ozone over South Korea
title_sort seasonal changes in surface ozone over south korea
topic Earth sciences
Atmospheric science
Environmental science
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844017319813
work_keys_str_mv AT hyunchaejung seasonalchangesinsurfaceozoneoversouthkorea
AT byungkwonmoon seasonalchangesinsurfaceozoneoversouthkorea
AT jieunwie seasonalchangesinsurfaceozoneoversouthkorea