Publications by authors named "Saewung Kim"

We investigated the biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emission rates and composition of Cupressaceae species and how the emissions change in response to moderate warming and more severe heat stress. A total of 8 species from 7 distinct Cupressaceae genera were targeted in this study and exposed to laboratory-simulated heatwaves. Each plant was enclosed in a temperature-controlled glass chamber and allowed to equilibrate at 30 °C for 24 h.

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Accurate estimation of emissions from industrial point sources is crucial in understanding the effectiveness of reduction efforts and establishing reliable emission inventories. In this study, we employ an airborne Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry (CIMS) instrument to quantify sulfur dioxide (SO) emissions from prominent industrial facilities in South Korea, including power plants, a steel mill, and a petrochemical facility. Our analysis utilizes the box mass balance technique to derive SO emissions and associated uncertainty.

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Article Synopsis
  • The WRF-CMAQ model was evaluated during the KORUS-AQ 2016 campaign, focusing on anthropogenic chlorine (Cl) emissions and their effects on air quality in the Korean Peninsula.
  • High gas-particle partitioning ratios at aircraft measurement altitudes led to significant underestimations of Cl concentrations, though the model’s predictions for nitryl chloride (ClNO) chemistry were more accurate.
  • The introduction of Cl emissions improved model performance for nitrate formation, showcasing that activated ClNO chemistry was key in enhancing oxidation processes, particularly in the early morning when hydroperoxyl and hydroxyl radicals dominated.
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In this study, two top-down methods-mass balance and Gaussian footprint-were used to determine SO emissions rates via three airborne sampling studies over Korea's largest coal power plant in October 2019 and 2020. During the first two flights in October 2019, mass balance approaches significantly underestimated the SO emissions rates by 75 % and 28 %, respectively, as obtained from the real-time stack monitoring system. Notably, this large discrepancy accounted for the insufficient number of transects altitudes and high levels of background SO along the upwind side.

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The Korea-United States Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) field study was conducted during May-June 2016. The effort was jointly sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Research of South Korea and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States. KORUS-AQ offered an unprecedented, multi-perspective view of air quality conditions in South Korea by employing observations from three aircraft, an extensive ground-based network, and three ships along with an array of air quality forecast models.

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We present trace gas vertical profiles observed by instruments on the NASA DC-8 and at a ground site during the Korea-US air quality study (KORUS) field campaign in May to June 2016. We focus on the region near the Seoul metropolitan area and its surroundings where both anthropogenic and natural emission sources play an important role in local photochemistry. Integrating ground and airborne observations is the major research goal of many atmospheric chemistry field campaigns.

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A new method for the concurrent treatment of Cr(VI)-contaminated wastewater and production of the useful I chemical was developed. The method is based on the redox reaction between Cr(VI) and I that occurs when an aqueous wastewater solution containing Cr(VI) and I is frozen, producing I and allowing for the effective removal of Cr. The redox reaction occurs primarily because of the accumulation of Cr(VI), I, and protons in the ice grain boundaries formed during freezing (i.

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The Arctic is rapidly transforming due to sea ice loss, increasing shipping activity, and oil and gas development. Associated marine and combustion emissions influence atmospheric aerosol composition, impacting complex aerosol-cloud-climate feedbacks. To improve understanding of the sources and processes determining Arctic aerosol composition, atmospheric particles were collected aboard the Korean icebreaker R/V Araon cruising within the Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea during August 2016.

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During the May-June 2016 International Cooperative Air Quality Field Study in Korea (KORUS-AQ), light synoptic meteorological forcing facilitated Seoul metropolitan pollution outflow to reach the remote Taehwa Research Forest (TRF) site and cause regulatory exceedances of ozone on 24 days. Two of these severe pollution events are thoroughly examined. The first, occurring on 17 May 2016, tracks transboundary pollution transport exiting eastern China and the Yellow Sea, traversing the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA), and then reaching TRF in the afternoon hours with severely polluted conditions.

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One of the least understood aspects in atmospheric chemistry is how urban emissions influence the formation of natural organic aerosols, which affect Earth's energy budget. The Amazon rainforest, during its wet season, is one of the few remaining places on Earth where atmospheric chemistry transitions between preindustrial and urban-influenced conditions. Here, we integrate insights from several laboratory measurements and simulate the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) in the Amazon using a high-resolution chemical transport model.

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Isotopes are essential tools to apportion major sources of aerosols. We measured the radiocarbon, stable carbon, and stable nitrogen isotopic composition of PM at Taehwa Research Forest (TRF) near Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) during August-October 2014. PM, TC, and TN concentrations were 19.

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Biogenic isoprene emissions play a very important role in atmospheric chemistry. These emissions are strongly dependent on various environmental conditions, such as temperature, solar radiation, plant water stress, ambient ozone and CO concentrations, and soil moisture. Current biogenic emission models (i.

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Nitrogen oxides (NO ) emitted from human activities are believed to regulate the atmospheric oxidation capacity of the troposphere. However, observational evidence is limited for the low-to-median NO concentrations prevalent outside of polluted regions. Directly measuring oxidation capacity, represented primarily by hydroxyl radicals (OH), is challenging, and the span in NO concentrations at a single observation site is often not wide.

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Isoprene dominates global non-methane volatile organic compound emissions, and impacts tropospheric chemistry by influencing oxidants and aerosols. Isoprene emission rates vary over several orders of magnitude for different plants, and characterizing this immense biological chemodiversity is a challenge for estimating isoprene emission from tropical forests. Here we present the isoprene emission estimates from aircraft eddy covariance measurements over the Amazonian forest.

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Isoprene photooxidation is a major driver of atmospheric chemistry over forested regions. Isoprene reacts with hydroxyl radicals (OH) and molecular oxygen to produce isoprene peroxy radicals (ISOPOO). These radicals can react with hydroperoxyl radicals (HO2) to dominantly produce hydroxyhydroperoxides (ISOPOOH).

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South Korea has recently achieved developed country status with the second largest megacity in the world, the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA). This study provides insights into future changes in air quality for rapidly emerging megacities in the East Asian region. We present total OH reactivity observations in the SMA conducted at an urban Seoul site (May-June, 2015) and a suburban forest site (Sep, 2015).

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Speciated particle-phase organic nitrates (pONs) were quantified using online chemical ionization MS during June and July of 2013 in rural Alabama as part of the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study. A large fraction of pONs is highly functionalized, possessing between six and eight oxygen atoms within each carbon number group, and is not the common first generation alkyl nitrates previously reported. Using calibrations for isoprene hydroxynitrates and the measured molecular compositions, we estimate that pONs account for 3% and 8% of total submicrometer organic aerosol mass, on average, during the day and night, respectively.

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Considerable amounts and varieties of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) are exchanged between vegetation and the surrounding air. These BVOCs play key ecological and atmospheric roles that must be adequately represented for accurately modeling the coupled biosphere-atmosphere-climate earth system. One key uncertainty in existing models is the response of BVOC fluxes to an important global change process: drought.

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We present field observations made in June 2011 downwind of Dallas-Fort Worth, TX, and evaluate the role of stabilized Criegee radicals (sCIs) in gaseous sulfuric acid (H2SO4) production. Zero-dimensional model calculations show that sCI from biogenic volatile organic compounds composed the majority of the sCIs. The main uncertainty associated with an evaluation of H2SO4 production from the sCI reaction channel is the lack of experimentally determined reaction rates for sCIs formed from isoprene ozonolysis with SO2 along with systematic discrepancies in experimentally derived reaction rates between other sCIs and SO2 and water vapor.

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The physiological production mechanisms of some of the organics in plants, commonly known as biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), have been known for more than a century. Some BVOCs are emitted to the atmosphere and play a significant role in tropospheric photochemistry especially in ozone and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) productions as a result of interplays between BVOCs and atmospheric radicals such as hydroxyl radical (OH), ozone (O3) and NOX (NO + NO2). These findings have been drawn from comprehensive analysis of numerous field and laboratory studies that have characterized the ambient distribution of BVOCs and their oxidation products, and reaction kinetics between BVOCs and atmospheric oxidants.

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