Articles | Volume 23, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4031-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4031-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
05 Apr 2023
Research article |
| 05 Apr 2023
| 05 Apr 2023
Why is ozone in South Korea and the Seoul metropolitan area so high and increasing?
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Daniel J. Jacob
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Laura Hyesung Yang
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Shixian Zhai
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Viral Shah
Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, Goddard Space Flight
Center, NASA, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Lanham, MD 20706, USA
Stuart K. Grange
Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology,
Überlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Robert M. Yantosca
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Soontae Kim
Department of Environmental and Safety Engineering, Ajou University,
Suwon, Gyeonggi 16499, South Korea
Hong Liao
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and
Pollution Control, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric
Environment and Equipment Technology, School of Environmental Science &
Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology,
Nanjing 210044, China
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Latest update: 31 Oct 2025
Short summary
Surface ozone, detrimental to human and ecosystem health, is very high and increasing in South Korea. Using a global model of the atmosphere, we found that emissions from South Korea and China contribute equally to the high ozone observed. We found that in the absence of all anthropogenic emissions over East Asia, ozone is still very high, implying that the air quality standard in South Korea is not practically achievable unless this background external to East Asia can be decreased.
Surface ozone, detrimental to human and ecosystem health, is very high and increasing in South...
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