Air quality trends and regimes in South Korea inferred from 2015–2023 surface and satellite observations

Oak, Yujin J.; Jacob, Daniel J.; Pendergrass, Drew C.; Dang, Ruijun; Colombi, Nadia K.; Chong, Heesung; Lee, Seoyoung; Kuk, Su Keun; Kim, Jhoon

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3233-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3233-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3233-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 5

Research article

|

17 Mar 2025

Research article |

| 17 Mar 2025

Air quality trends and regimes in South Korea inferred from 2015–2023 surface and satellite observations

Yujin J. Oak, Daniel J. Jacob, Drew C. Pendergrass, Ruijun Dang, Nadia K. Colombi, Heesung Chong, Seoyoung Lee, Su Keun Kuk, and Jhoon Kim

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3233-2025-supplement

Data sets

OMI/Aura Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Total Column L3 1 day Best Pixel in 0.25 degree x 0.25 degree V3 C. Li et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/Aura/OMI/DATA3008

OMI/Aura NO2 Cloud-Screened Total and Tropospheric Column L3 Global Gridded 0.25 degree x 0.25 degree V3 N. A. Krotkov et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/Aura/OMI/DATA3007

OMI/Aura Formaldehyde (HCHO) Total Column Daily L3 Weighted Mean Global 0.1deg Lat/Lon Grid V003 K. Chance https://doi.org/10.5067/Aura/OMI/DATA3010

Monthly averaged glyoxal vertical column density H.-A. Kwon https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/Q1O2UE

A bias-corrected GEMS geostationary satellite product for nitrogen dioxide using machine learning to enforce consistency with the TROPOMI satellite instrument Y. Oak https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/ZQQJRO

Annual CAPSS Emissions National Air Emission Inventory and Resesarch Center https://www.air.go.kr/eng/capss/emission/year.do?menuId=190

Grid-independent offline biogenic emissions J. Lin https://geos-chem.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html#HEMCO/OFFLINE_BIOVOC/v2021-12/0.25x0.3125/2021/

KORUS-AQ data archive NASA et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/Suborbital/KORUSAQ/DATA01

TROPOMI Level 2 (L2) Carbon Monoxide (CO) total column European Space Agency (ESA) and Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON) https://doi.org/10.5270/S5P-bj3nry0

TROPOMI Level 2 (L2) Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), total and tropospheric columns European Space Agency (ESA) and Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) https://doi.org/10.5270/S5P-9bnp8q8

TROPOMI Level 2 (L2) Formaldehyde (HCHO) total column European Space Agency (ESA) and Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) https://doi.org/10.5270/S5P-vg1i7t0

IASI Level 3 (L3) Ammonia (NH3) total column EUMSAT and ULB-LATMOS https://iasi.aeris-data.fr/nh3/

GEMS Level 2 (L2) data NIER et al. https://nesc.nier.go.kr/en/html/index.do

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Short summary

We analyze 2015–2023 air quality trends in South Korea using surface and satellite observations. Primary pollutants have decreased, consistent with emissions reductions. Surface O₃ continues to increase and PM_2.5 has decreased overall, but the nitrate component has not. O₃ and PM_2.5 nitrate depend on nonlinear responses from precursor emissions. Satellite data indicate a recent shift to NO_x-sensitive O₃ and nitrate formation, where further NO_x reductions will benefit both O₃ and PM_2.5 pollution.