Tracking Local and Regional Influences of Potassium at the Korean Peninsula under Asian Continental Outflows during Spring

Abstract The atmospheric stability of biomass-burning tracers such as K+ and levoglucosan is important in their application in assessing the impact of biomass-burning emissions in areas downwind of Asian continental outflows. It was found that levoglucosan in tested aerosol samples degraded ~48% at...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jinsang Jung, Jihwan Kang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2022-11-01
Series:Aerosol and Air Quality Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.220241
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1823862902685171712
author Jinsang Jung
Jihwan Kang
author_facet Jinsang Jung
Jihwan Kang
author_sort Jinsang Jung
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The atmospheric stability of biomass-burning tracers such as K+ and levoglucosan is important in their application in assessing the impact of biomass-burning emissions in areas downwind of Asian continental outflows. It was found that levoglucosan in tested aerosol samples degraded ~48% at a suburban site in Daejeon, Republic of Korea within 31 h of exposure to ambient atmospheric conditions during spring, while K+ was stable under the same conditions. Analysis of aerosol samples collected at the same site during spring 2013 revealed that SO42- concentrations were moderately correlated with K+ concentrations, but not with levoglucosan concentrations. Air-mass backward-trajectory analysis showed that high SO42− concentrations at the sampling site were attributable mainly to long-range transported aerosols from the Asian continent. The poor correlation between levoglucosan and SO42− suggests that negligible amounts of levoglucosan might be transported from the Asian continent to downwind area of the Korean Peninsula during spring mainly due to the rapid degradation of levoglucosan during the long-range atmospheric transport. This result implies that levoglucosan is not a suitable tracer of biomass burning in area downwind of the Asian continental outflows during spring season. Levoglucosan/K+ ratios on the Asian continent and downwind on the Korean Peninsula indicate that ~39% of atmospheric K+ in Daejeon during spring 2013 was attributable to long-range transported aerosols from the Asian continent.
format Article
id doaj-art-80e86a50cf8f47a0bb2ba11df89d93b7
institution Kabale University
issn 1680-8584
2071-1409
language English
publishDate 2022-11-01
publisher Springer
record_format Article
series Aerosol and Air Quality Research
spelling doaj-art-80e86a50cf8f47a0bb2ba11df89d93b72025-02-09T12:18:18ZengSpringerAerosol and Air Quality Research1680-85842071-14092022-11-01221211110.4209/aaqr.220241Tracking Local and Regional Influences of Potassium at the Korean Peninsula under Asian Continental Outflows during SpringJinsang Jung0Jihwan Kang1Gas Metrology Group, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS)Gas Metrology Group, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS)Abstract The atmospheric stability of biomass-burning tracers such as K+ and levoglucosan is important in their application in assessing the impact of biomass-burning emissions in areas downwind of Asian continental outflows. It was found that levoglucosan in tested aerosol samples degraded ~48% at a suburban site in Daejeon, Republic of Korea within 31 h of exposure to ambient atmospheric conditions during spring, while K+ was stable under the same conditions. Analysis of aerosol samples collected at the same site during spring 2013 revealed that SO42- concentrations were moderately correlated with K+ concentrations, but not with levoglucosan concentrations. Air-mass backward-trajectory analysis showed that high SO42− concentrations at the sampling site were attributable mainly to long-range transported aerosols from the Asian continent. The poor correlation between levoglucosan and SO42− suggests that negligible amounts of levoglucosan might be transported from the Asian continent to downwind area of the Korean Peninsula during spring mainly due to the rapid degradation of levoglucosan during the long-range atmospheric transport. This result implies that levoglucosan is not a suitable tracer of biomass burning in area downwind of the Asian continental outflows during spring season. Levoglucosan/K+ ratios on the Asian continent and downwind on the Korean Peninsula indicate that ~39% of atmospheric K+ in Daejeon during spring 2013 was attributable to long-range transported aerosols from the Asian continent.https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.220241Biomass-burning tracerLevoglucosanPotassiumLong-range transport
spellingShingle Jinsang Jung
Jihwan Kang
Tracking Local and Regional Influences of Potassium at the Korean Peninsula under Asian Continental Outflows during Spring
Aerosol and Air Quality Research
Biomass-burning tracer
Levoglucosan
Potassium
Long-range transport
title Tracking Local and Regional Influences of Potassium at the Korean Peninsula under Asian Continental Outflows during Spring
title_full Tracking Local and Regional Influences of Potassium at the Korean Peninsula under Asian Continental Outflows during Spring
title_fullStr Tracking Local and Regional Influences of Potassium at the Korean Peninsula under Asian Continental Outflows during Spring
title_full_unstemmed Tracking Local and Regional Influences of Potassium at the Korean Peninsula under Asian Continental Outflows during Spring
title_short Tracking Local and Regional Influences of Potassium at the Korean Peninsula under Asian Continental Outflows during Spring
title_sort tracking local and regional influences of potassium at the korean peninsula under asian continental outflows during spring
topic Biomass-burning tracer
Levoglucosan
Potassium
Long-range transport
url https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.220241
work_keys_str_mv AT jinsangjung trackinglocalandregionalinfluencesofpotassiumatthekoreanpeninsulaunderasiancontinentaloutflowsduringspring
AT jihwankang trackinglocalandregionalinfluencesofpotassiumatthekoreanpeninsulaunderasiancontinentaloutflowsduringspring