Gyeonggi-do Ultrafine Dust Pollution Level Hits Lowest Point for 2 Consecutive Years

Air Pollution Monitoring Station

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The concentration of fine particulate matter (PM-2.5) in Gyeonggi-do recorded the lowest level for two consecutive years.

The Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment published the "2021 Gyeonggi-do Air Quality Assessment Report" on the 19th, analyzing air pollution data collected from 127 air quality monitoring stations across 31 cities and counties in the province last year.

According to the report, the 2021 air pollution levels in Gyeonggi-do were analyzed as follows: ▲ fine particulate matter (PM-2.5) 21㎍/㎥ ▲ particulate matter (PM-10) 42㎍/㎥ ▲ ozone 0.029ppm ▲ carbon monoxide 0.4ppm ▲ sulfur dioxide 0.003ppm ▲ nitrogen dioxide 0.019ppm.

The levels of fine particulate matter and sulfur dioxide remained the same as in 2020, while carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide showed improvement compared to the previous year. On the other hand, particulate matter and ozone levels were slightly higher than in 2020 (39㎍/㎥ and 0.028ppm, respectively).

The institute analyzed that meteorological conditions such as yellow dust occurrence, rising temperatures, decreased wind speed, and reduced precipitation contributed to the increase in particulate matter and ozone pollution levels.

The number of days with "Good" air quality for particulate matter increased by 23 days to 160 days compared to 2020, and for fine particulate matter, it increased by 22 days to 163 days. For ozone, the number of "Good" days based on the daily maximum value was 3 days, showing a difference from 0 days in 2020.

The number of days with advisories and warnings issued for particulate matter and fine particulate matter increased by 15 days and 3 days, respectively, to 20 days and 28 days compared to 2020. Notably, warnings for particulate matter and fine particulate matter, which were not issued at all in 2020, were issued last year.

The institute explained that this was due to the influence of high-concentration yellow dust originating from China.

Although no ozone warnings were issued, advisories were issued for 30 days, which is 3 days more than in 2020. The first issuance date of the ozone advisory (April 20) was 35 days earlier than in 2020, and the last issuance date (September 11) was 22 days later, extending the advisory period by nearly two months.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.