Abstract
The concentrations of particulate Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured at Gosan, a background site in Korea for 1 year between November 2001 and November 2002. The total concentrations of 14 PAH compounds at Gosan were between 0.52 and 14.76 ng m- 3 and about 3-15 times higher than those at other rural or remote sites in the world. Seasonal trend was observed for particulate PAHs concentrations at Gosan with higher levels during heating season due to increased fossil fuel usage and the movement of air parcels from Asian continent. Principal component factor analysis (PCF) for PAHs showed three factors; combination of coal combustion and vehicular emission, natural gas combustion, and unidentified one. However, PCF for the combined data of PAHs, inorganic ions, and elements revealed that the unidentified factor consists of crustal species, sea salts, and four PAH compounds. Thus, this factor is thought to be transport of crustal species with organics from combustion sources. The major variables which determine the sources of PAHs are the heating season and the movement of air parcels from Asian continent.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 680-687 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Atmospheric Research |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue number | 3-4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2006 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was carried out with the supports from the Climate Environment System Research Center, an SRC program funded by Korea Science and Engineering Foundation and the Ministry of Environment, Korea. The authors thank NOAA, USA for the backward trajectory service.
Keywords
- Backward trajectory analysis
- Emission sources
- Factor analysis
- Particulate PAHs