Articles | Volume 25, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1023-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1023-2025
Research article
 | 
27 Jan 2025
Research article |  | 27 Jan 2025

Increased number concentrations of small particles explain perceived stagnation in air quality over Korea

Sohee Joo, Juseon Shin, Matthias Tesche, Naghmeh Dehkhoda, Taegyeong Kim, and Youngmin Noh

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Cited articles

Allabakash, S., Lim, S., Chong, K. S., and Yamada, T. J.: Particulate matter concentrations over South Korea: Impact of meteorology and other pollutants, Remote Sens., 14, 4849, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14194849, 2022. 
An, Z., Huang, R. J., Zhang, R., Tie, X., Li, G., Cao, J., Zhou, W., Shi, Z., Han, Y., Gu, Z., and Ji, Y.: Severe haze in northern China: A synergy of anthropogenic emissions and atmospheric processes, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 116, 8657–8666, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900125116, 2019. 
Ångström, A.: On the atmospheric transmission of sun radiation and on dust in the air, Geogr. Ann., 11, 156–166, https://doi.org/10.1080/20014422.1929.11880498, 1929. 
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. 
Baek, S. H.: Energy-efficient monitoring of fine particulate matter with tiny aerosol conditioner, Sensors (Basel), 22, 1950, https://doi.org/10.3390/s22051950, 2022. 
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In our study, we investigated why, in northeast Asia, visibility has not improved even though air pollution levels have decreased. By examining trends in Seoul and Ulsan, we found that the particles in the air are getting smaller, which scatters light more effectively and reduces how far we can see. Our findings suggest that changes in particle properties adversely affected public perception of air quality improvement even though the PM2.5 mass concentration is continuously decreasing.
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