The long term trends of tropospheric ozone in major regions in Korea

Abstract

This study was conducted for analyzing the contribution factors on ozone concentrations and its long term trends in each major city and province in Korea through several statistical methods such as simple linear regression, generalized linear model, KZ-filer, correlation matrix, Kringing method, and cluster analysis. The overall ozone levels in South Korea have been consistently increasing over the past 10 years. The ozone concentrations in Seoul, the biggest city in Korea, are the lowest in all areas with the highest increasing ratio for 95th% ozone. It is thought that the active photochemical reaction could affect the higher ozone concentration increase. On the other hand, the ozone concentrations in Jeju are the highest in Korea with the highest increasing ratio for 5th%, 33th%, and 50th% ozone. It is also thought that the weak NOx titration could be the reason of higher ozone concentrations in Jeju. In case of Jeju, transport related factors is the major factor affecting the ozone trend. Thus, it is assumed that the variation of ozone trend of Asian region affecting the ozone trend in Jeju, where domestic ozone photochemical reaction is less active than urban area. It is thought that the photochemical reaction plays the role of increasing of ozone concentrations in the urban area, even though the LRT affected on the increase of ozone concentrations in non-urban area.