Abstract

Status of photochemical air pollution in the Greater Seoul Area (GSA) between 1990 and 1995 was assessed in terms of frequency distributions, number of days exceeding standards, average concentration and meteorological effects. In Seoul compared with other areas in Korea, daily maximum concentration was higher but average concentration was not so high due to lower daily minimum from April to October. The top 5th percentile was high especially in summer season. Average number of days exceeding 100 ppb at monitoring stations in GSA was highest in 1994, the hottest year, but it was only 4 days a year. Mean meteorological pattern of high ozone days could be summarized as low wind speeds, high temperatures, strong solar radiation, and low precipitation. Westerlies were more frequent on high ozone days and at Pangi station located in the eastside of GSA, both number of high ozone days and average concentration were high. Effect of precursor transport on the rise of ozone concentration was, however, not consistently important on the whole in GSA.

Keywords

• photochemical air pollution;
• the Greater Seoul area;
• ozone standard exceedances;
• ozone average concentration;
• meteorological effects