Analysis of Aerosol Optical Properties in Seoul Using Skyradiometer Observation

Optical characteristics of aerosols in Seoul are investigated from the measurements of sky radiance by Skyradiometer at Yonsei University from December 2005 to November 2006. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) shows a maximum in June due to weak ventilation and particle growth by aging process and hygroscopic effect. Single scattering albedo (SSA) and Angstrom Exponent (AE) show the lowest value in spring due to the Asian dust. It is clear that coarse mode is dominant in spring and fine mode is dominant in summer from the volume size distribution measured in this study. The explanations on the changes of aerosol loadings are provided through the correlation between AOD and AE, while the pattern of wavelength dependency related to particle size is shown through the correlation between SSA and AE. Backward trajectory analysis by HYSPLIT provides information about origin of aerosol, which allows us to classify the case according to the source region and the path distance. Although the direction of backward trajectory traces back mostly to west, coarse mode particle is dominant in the case of long pathway and fine mode particle is dominant in the case of short pathway. This discrepancy is caused by the regional difference of emitted particles.