Abstract
Backward trajectories were calculated from five urban areas in Korea in 1999 in order to assess the effects of long-range transport on the air quality variations on an annual basis. The five areas selected were Seoul, Mokpo, Cheju, Pohang, and Kangnung, which are evenly distributed along the shoreline in Korea. Meteorological fields used in the work were prepared by the Korea Meteorological Administration using the RDAPS(Regional Data Assimilation and Prediction System) with grid spacing of 40 km and 12-h intervals(0000 and 1200 UTC). Upwind regions around the Korean Peninsula were divided into five sectors including the region to the northeast(I), northern China (II), southern China(III), the northwestern Pacific(IV), and Japan(V). The influence of air flow from these sectors on the variations of carbon monoxide concentrations in the selected areas was investigated. The results showed that the influences of Sectors II and III were persistent although some influences of adjacent sectors were observed according to the location of the areas. In general, the concentration of carbon monoxide tended to go up under the influence of Sectors II and III but tended to go down under the influence of Sector I. However, the influences of other sectors were rather mixed. The importance of the long-range transport was examined when the whole country was uniformly influenced by Sectors II and III with strong synoptic winds. The effects of long-range transport were large in Mokpo and Cheju, close to Sectors II and III, where the local emissions were considered small. The effects of local emissions were significant in Pohang and Seoul; such effect was more distinct in Pohang located farther from Sectors II and III.
