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This study aims to analyze the sensitivity of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to ambient concentrations of fine particles (PM2.5) in the representative industrial city of Ulsan, Korea. For the calculation of sensitivity coefficients between VOCs and PM2.5 (SVOCs-PM2.5), PM2.5 data were obtained from an air quality monitoring station, and their corresponding 6-h average concentrations of VOCs (alkanes, alkenes, aromatics, and total VOCs) were measured at the Yeongnam intensive air monitoring station. The air monitoring period was divided into the warm-hot season (May–October 2020) and the cold season (November 2020–January 2021). The sensitivity coefficients in the low pollution period of PM2.5 (5 2.5 ≤ 15 μg/m3) were higher and much higher than those in the medium pollution period (15 2.5 ≤ 35 μg/m3) and high pollution period (35 2.5 ≤ 50 μg/m3), respectively. This result indicates that the change ratios of PM2.5 concentrations to the background (PM2.5 ≤ 5 μg/m3) per unit concentration change of VOCs (particularly alkenes) in the high PM2.5 pollution period were much higher than those in the low pollution period. This also indicates that PM2.5 concentrations above 35 μg/m3 were more easily affected by the unit concentration change of VOCs (particularly alkenes) than those below 15 μg/m3. The average sensitivity coefficients during the cold season increased in a range of 23–125% as compared to those during the warm-hot season, except the alkenes-PM2.5 sensitivity with a decrease of 7%. It means that the impact of VOCs (except alkenes) on PM2.5 concentrations was relatively low in the cold season. However, in the cold season, the alkenes might contribute more to PM2.5 formation, particularly over the high pollution period, having PM2.5 > 35 μg/m3, than other VOC groups. The result of this study can be a basis for establishing PM2.5 management plans in industrial cities with large VOC emissions.

In Seoul, South Korea, particulate matters (PMs) significantly decreased for the period 2005–2015 in concert with the implementation of air pollution reduction policies. This study reveals that PM with a diameter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) has a slower decreasing tendency than PM in the 2.5–10-μm range (PM2.5-10) during summer and that this discrepancy is attributable to the large increase in the summer surface air temperature for the analysis period (0.13°C year–1). During the daytime, especially in the afternoon when the hourly surface air temperature and its increasing rate are high, the difference between the decreasing rates of PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 is pronounced. The slower decrease in PM2.5 compared to PM2.5-10 likely results from the secondary PM2.5 formation being accelerated by the increase in the surface air temperature. Other atmospheric variables that can affect concentrations of PMs, such as insolation, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed, and sea-level pressure, do not show a meaningful relationship with the discrepancy in the decreasing tendency between the two PMs. Our finding emphasizes the necessity of continuous monitoring and analysis of long-term variability in concentrations of PMs and related meteorological conditions, and the independent establishment of reduction policies for PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 to prepare for anthropogenic climate change and the subsequent air quality change.

This study examined meteorological effects on airborne concentrations of particulate matter (PM) of 25% of PM2.5 variability can be explained by Random Forest regression with only atmospheric variables, compared to little accountability for PM2.5–10. The two most important variables that affect PM2.5 variability are surface air temperature and wind. Transboundary transport controlled by atmospheric factors causes fine PM from northeast and east China to affect PM2.5 variations a day after emissions in the northern-central and southern regions of Korea, respectively; and coarse PM from east China affects PM2.5–10 variations in Korea on the same day. The present results suggest that local governments of regions with high PM concentrations should strengthen regulation policies with a long-term perspective, considering future changes in atmospheric conditions that may cause increases in PM levels.

Aircrafts enable the direct measurement of chemical components in the free troposphere (FT). This study employed airborne measurements to examine the occurrences of high concentrations of SO2 and NOx in the FT over the coastal region west of the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea. The data from a long-term (1997–2011) airborne measurement campaign were used to determine the meteorological conditions favorable for carrying these pollutants into the Seoul area. The back trajectory analyses of 21 instances of high FT pollutant concentration events showed ascending patterns from the major pollutant sources, mainly the industrial complexes in eastern China, in 9 instances and passing patterns in 12 instances. In the ascending instances, developing low-pressure systems over the source regions provide favorable conditions to uplift air pollutants from the surface into the FT. In the passing instances, an anomalous low-pressure system near the surface prevented airflows from descending into the boundary layer and upper-level anticyclonic systems helped to keep the ascending airflows in the FT. This study proposes the basic mechanisms for predicting air quality in the Seoul area, considering that air pollutants in the FT often entrain into the boundary layer to increase local concentrations.

Concentrations of wintertime particulate matters of diameters below 10 μm (PM10) in South Korea and China have decreased since the 2000s largely owing to the emissions reduction policies of the two countries; however, this decreasing tendency has been notably weakened, or even been reversed, in recent years. This study examines the influence of large-scale atmospheric circulations on this PM10 change over East Asia for the winters (December–February) of the 2004/05–2015/16 period using an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The first EOF mode, which accounts for 32.7% of the total variance, indicates decreases in PM10 concentrations until 2012 and thereafter increases in them particularly at most stations in eastern and northeastern China. Regression patterns of meteorological variables with respect to the first EOF time series indicate that the wintertime PM10 variations over East Asia are greatly influenced by the Ural blocking; the weakening of the Ural blocking after 2014 led to the weakening of cold air flows from the north and provided atmospheric conditions favorable for bad air quality events over East Asia. The second EOF mode, which accounts for 20.1% of the total variance, shows a similar spatial distribution as the linear trend of PM10 concentrations during the analysis period and would be related to the long-term changes in emissions. Our findings emphasize that the long-term variations in air quality over East Asia are affected primarily by the variations in large-scale atmospheric circulations with secondary contributions from the changes in emissions.