Air pollution in Korea worse than Japan, US

By Kim Bo-eun

Korea has more air pollutants than Japan and the United States, according to a joint study by the National Institute of Environmental Korea and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States.

The report said the amount of aerosol in Korea is greater than those in the two countries. In context of air analysis, aerosol refers to the suspension of solid or liquid particles in the atmosphere. The amount of this can be used as a measure of air pollution.

The research was conducted from March to May this year, when yellow dust from China and Mongolia swept the country.

The report listed figures for Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), which records the extent light is scattered or absorbed by the amount of aerosol in the air. In Korean cities readings of this are higher than those in cities in the U.S. and Japan. The higher the amount of aerosol in the air, the greater the AOD figure is.

The average figure for Korea was 0.49, based on a measurement of 21 cities across the nation from March to May this year. The figure for Seoul was higher than the national average, at 0.53. For Kyoto, Japan the figure was 0.36 and for the U.S. capital 0.32 percent.

Domestically, Seoul had the highest figure among the measured cities at 0.53 and Baengnyeongdo _ an island off the coast of Incheon _ the lowest at 0.4.

Incheon and Yongin also had relatively high figures at 0.52, while Gangneung and Gongju were found to be less polluted, with figures of 0.42 and 0.45 respectively.

The study did not identify the particles that constituted aerosol. But the institute said the AOD figure rises to 3 to 5 when there is yellow dust or a fire.

Yellow dust which usually blows into Korea in the spring originates from the deserts of Mongolia and northern China.

The study on air pollution in Northeast Asia was the second major study conducted by NASA following an earlier one in the U.S. in 2011.

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