Aerosol Physical Characteristics over the Yellow Sea Using Optical Particle Counter Measurement Data Onboard Gisang1 Vessel during the YES-AQ Campaign

In order to identify the source of pollutants flowing into the Korean Peninsula and predict their impact, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of aerosols over the Yellow Sea. The Korea Meteorological Administration(KMA) has been conducting aerosol observations over the Yellow Sea in spring through the annual YEllow Sea Air-Quality(YES-AQ) joint observation campaign since 2018. In this study, aerosols in the Yellow Sea in spring were classified into the Background Particle Group(BPG), Fine particle Dominant Group(FDG), and Coarse particle Dominant Group(CDG) based on the particulate matter less than 10 mu m(PM2.5) and the particulate matter less than 10 mu m(PM10) mass concentrations obtained from the ship-based Optical Particle Counter(OPC) measurements. Statistical tools, such as the Gaussian mixture model and Gaussian kernel analysis, were utilized to classify the groups effectively. In company with, we presented various threshold values for the ratio of fine and coarse particles that can be easily distinguishing the FDG from the CDG. The BPG accounted for approximately 50% of the total data, and showed mean mass concentrations of 24.0 mu g/m(3); and 15.1 mu g/m(3); for PM10 and PM2.5, respectively. In the case of the CDG, PM10 and PM2.5 indicated the highest frequencies around 50 mu g/m(3); and 15 mu g/m(3);, whereas they showed the highest frequencies around 45 mu g/m(3); and 35 mu g/m(3);, respectively, for the case of the FDG. Our study provides criteria for easily discriminating natural and anthropogenic aerosols from OPC data in the Yellow Sea. In addition, it contributes to enhancing the reliability of aerosol analysis through mutual complementation with other instrument or analysis methods in unstable ship observation environment.