Characteristics of Diurnal Variation of Volatile Organic Compounds in Seoul, Korea during the Summer Season

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Research article

Journal of the Korean Society for Environmental Analysis 2018;21(4):264-280.

서울지역 여름철 VOCs 일변동 특성에 관한 연구

박종성¹, 송인호¹, 김현웅¹, 임형배¹, 박승명¹, 신선아¹, 신혜정¹, 이상보¹, 김정수², 김정호³

¹국립환경과학원
²국립환경연구원
³㈜에이피엠엔지니어링

Abstract

In this study, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured using a proton transfer reaction-time of flight-mass spectrometer (PTR-ToF-MS) at the Seoul Metropolitan Area Intensive Monitoring Station (SIMS) in Korea during the summer season of 2018. The results revealed that oxygenated VOCs (OVOCs) contributed a large fraction (83.6%) of the total VOCs, with methanol being the most abundant constituent (38.6%). The VOCs measured at SIMS were strongly influenced by local conditions. Non-volatile organic compounds (NVOCs), such as pinene, increased due to northeasterly wind direction in the morning, and OVOCs and anthropogenic VOCS (AVOCs) increased with northwesterly wind direction during the daytime. This was the result of the eastward location of Bukhansan National Park and the westward location of urban area from the SIMS location. The VOCs included abundant oxidized forms of VOCs, which can affect the generation of fine dust through various response pathways in the atmosphere. The real-time measurement technique using PTRToF-MS suggested in this study is expected to contribute to an improved scientific understanding of high-concentration fine dust events because the high temporal resolution makes it possible to analyze the variations of VOCs reflected in dynamic events.

Key Words: VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), PTR-ToF-MS (Proton Transfer Reaction-Time of FlightMass Spectrometer), Diurnal variation, OVOCs, AVOCs, NVOCs