Tag: yellow dust

Its that time of the year again in Korea:

An extraordinarily strong yellow dust storm originating from the inland deserts in northern China and Mongolia blanketed all of South Korea on Monday, prompting authorities to issue a yellow dust warning for Seoul and almost all parts of the country for the first time in a decade.

The density of fine dust particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter, known as PM 10, soared to 1,174 micrograms per cubic meter in Daegu on Monday morning, the worst level since Nov. 12, 2010, when the corresponding figure reached 1,047 micrograms in the southeastern city.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

You know it is spring time when the major yellow dust storms start rolling in:

Local air quality may further worsen later this week, as high levels of yellow dust originating from the inland deserts in northern China are forecast to blow into the Korean Peninsula, which has been hit by heavy concentrations of ultrafine dust particles for nearly a week, the state weather agency said Monday.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), yellow dust originating from the extensive inland areas of China and Mongolia and the Gobi Desert is expected to arrive over South Korea beginning early Tuesday morning.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Despite the drop in Beijing’s pollution levels, it is still far worse than Seoul’s:

Ultrafine dust in the capitals of Korea and China are composed of similar elements, though some of the elements’ ratios differ greatly, a joint research team of Korean and Chinese researchers announced Wednesday.

The Chinese government’s restrictions on fossil fuel emissions seem to be causing the difference, as Beijing’s air quality improves – and Seoul’s does not. 

At this point, however, further analysis is needed to pin down the exact reasons why. 

Korea’s joint research with China was the latest effort by the two neighboring countries to battle ultrafine dust, which Korea often blames China for, even as the latter adamantly denies responsibility for Korea’s air pollution.

Jeon Kwon-ho, a researcher from the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) in Incheon, said the fundamental purpose of the recent research was to find out the sources of ultrafine dust in Seoul and Beijing. 

So far, the research team can say that the pollutants causing ultrafine dust seem to be derived from industrial plants and vehicle exhaust emissions.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Does anyone think these measures are actually going to work to reduce fine dust in Seoul?:

A newly established presidential committee on fine dust relayed Monday plans to reduce Korea’s fine dust level by at least 20 percent this winter compared to last year by banning old diesel cars on the streets, raising their acquisition taxes and halting more coal power plants.

The National Council on Climate and Air Quality (NCCA), which launched in April at the helm of former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said during a press conference at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul that it submitted its proposals to the Blue House after passing them in an internal meeting last Friday. 

In the following weeks, the government is expected to change relevant policies to put those ideas into action starting this November, the council said.

On ways to deal with emissions coming from China, the NCCA said it would share fine dust forecasts and warning alerts with the neighboring country and form a so-called Korea-China Blue Sky Partnership with Beijing to work closely together on the environmental hazard. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but I will be surprised if Beijing does anything to help reduce fine dust levels over Korea.

If you have wondered if the masks that many Koreans wear to protect themselves from fine dust work, well this study indicates that they do:

Most face masks tested recently by a consumer group work as advertised, with only one failing.

The Daejeon and South Chungcheong branch of the Voice for Consumers tested 20 masks for their ability to protect wearers against particulate pollutants, and 19 provided the level of protection equal to or better than that claimed on the packaging. 

All 20 products passed purity tests, which checked for chemicals such as formaldehyde.

YJ Corporation’s large-sized YJCM3 product, sold as a Korea Filter (KF) 94 mask, filtered only 87 percent of particulate matter compared to its advertised amount – 94 percent. 

The KF mark indicates the percentage of particulate matter filtered.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has ordered the YJ Corporation mask that failed the test to be recalled and discarded. Production may also be stopped for violating pharmaceutical laws. The organization also checked 50 mask products for the level of information on the packaging, and it found that six did not provide sufficient information. It also reported that some 3M Nexcare mask products, past their expiration period of 36 months, were being sold.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

I doubt this news is surprising to anyone:

NIER’s report said the days with high fine dust levels were caused by four factors: stagnant air, international pollution, local pollution and a combination of stagnant air and international pollution.

“Of these, we found the combination of stagnant air and long-range transport [of pollutants] made up the majority of cases for the 303 days we analyzed,” the report said. 

“As far as our findings go, it appears that there are three things combined that produce high levels of fine dust in Korea,” said Huh Kuk-young, a researcher at NIER. “High concentration of fine dust particles from China, an air current traveling long distances into South Korea and the mix of domestic and international air pollutants.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It is going to be interesting to learn in the future if all this yellow dust is going to have adverse health affects on Koreans:

Seoul was hit by a record-high level of ultrafine dust, known as a class one carcinogen, on Monday, as most of South Korea was blanketed by extraordinarily heavy levels of choking dust particles for the fourth consecutive day.
The Ministry of Environment has decided to extend a set of emergency measures aimed at reducing fine dust in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province through Tuesday. It would be the first time for the government to implement the system in the metropolitan area, which has around 20 million residents, for three consecutive days.
Under the step, vehicles with license plates ending in even numbers and used by public offices, will be restricted from operating on Tuesday. And the operation of 2.5-ton diesel cars or bigger ones, registered with metropolitan governments before 2005, will be limited.
The daily average level of ultrafine particles, smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, in Seoul surged to 118 micrograms per cubic meter as of 3 p.m., the highest figure since the government began taking such measurements in 2015, according to the state-run National Institute of Environmental Research.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is amazing how the fine dust particles from China has now become a year around problem for South Korea:

Anti-pollution masks are strongly advised as fine dust levels across the country are expected to hit “bad” levels Monday, induced by industrial particles blown from China’s east coast.

The National Institute of Environmental Research said the capital area of the peninsula, northeastern province of Gangwon, central province of Chungcheong, southwestern province of Jeolla, southeastern province of Gyeongsang will all suffer “bad” levels of PM 2.5 dust, which range at around 35 micrograms of fine dust particles per cubic meter.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.