Articles | Volume 23, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4031-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4031-2023
Research article
 | 
05 Apr 2023
Research article |  | 05 Apr 2023

Why is ozone in South Korea and the Seoul metropolitan area so high and increasing?

Nadia K. Colombi, Daniel J. Jacob, Laura Hyesung Yang, Shixian Zhai, Viral Shah, Stuart K. Grange, Robert M. Yantosca, Soontae Kim, and Hong Liao

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Cited articles

Anenberg, S. C., Mohegh, A., Goldberg, D. L., Kerr, G. H., Brauer, M., Burkart, K., Hystad, P., Larkin, A., Wozniak, S., and Lamsal, L.: Long-term trends in urban NO2 concentrations and associated paediatric asthma incidence: estimates from global datasets, The Lancet Planetary Health, 6, e49–e58, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00255-2, 2022. 
Anwar, M. N., Shabbir, M., Tahir, E., Iftikhar, M., Saif, H., Tahir, A., Murtaza, M. A., Khokhar, M. F., Rehan, M., Aghbashlo, M., Tabatabaei, M., and Nizami, A.-S.: Emerging challenges of air pollution and particulate matter in China, India, and Pakistan and mitigating solutions, J. Hazard. Mater., 416, 125851, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125851, 2021. 
Bae, M., Kim, B.-U., Kim, H. C., Kim, J., and Kim, S.: Role of emissions and meteorology in the recent PM2.5 changes in China and South Korea from 2015 to 2018, Environ. Pollut., 270, 116233, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.116233, 2021. 
Bates, K. H., Jacob, D. J., Li, K., Ivatt, P. D., Evans, M. J., Yan, Y., and Lin, J.: Development and evaluation of a new compact mechanism for aromatic oxidation in atmospheric models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18351–18374, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18351-2021, 2021. 
Bauwens, M., Verreyken, B., Stavrakou, T., Müller, J.-F., and Smedt, I. D.: Spaceborne evidence for significant anthropogenic VOC trends in Asian cities over 2005–2019, Environ. Res. Lett., 17, 015008, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac46eb, 2022. 
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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.
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