Possible link between Arctic Sea ice and January PM₁₀ concentrations in South Korea

In this study, we investigated the possible teleconnection between PM₁₀ concentrations in South Korea and Arctic Sea ice concentrations at inter-annual time scales using observed PM₁₀ data from South Korea, NCEP R2 data, and NOAA Sea Ice Concentration (SIC) data from 2001 to 2018. From the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, we found that the first mode (TC1) was a large-scale mode for PM₁₀ in South Korea and explained about 27.4% of the total variability. Interestingly, the TC1 is more dominantly influenced by the horizontal ventilation effect than the vertical atmospheric stability effect. The pollution potential index (PPI), which is defined by the weighted average of the two ventilation effects, is highly correlated with the TC1 of PM₁₀ at a correlation coefficient of 0.75, indicating that the PPI is a good measure for PM₁₀ in South Korea at inter-annual time scales. Regression maps show that the decrease of SIC over the Barents Sea is significantly correlated with weakening of high pressure over the Ural mountain range region, the anomalous high pressure at 500 hPa over the Korean peninsula, and the weakening of the Siberian High and Aleutian low. Moreover, these patterns are similar to the correlation pattern with the PPI, suggesting that the variability of SIC over the Barents Sea may play an important role in modulating the variability of PM₁₀ in South Korea through teleconnection from the Barents Sea to the Korean peninsula via Eurasia.