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Ineffective implementation of emergency reduction measures against high concentrations of particulate matter in Seoul, Republic of Korea

Since December 30, 2017, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Republic of Korea, has been implementing emergency reduction measures (ERMs) restricting the operation of industrial sites, thermal power plants, and vehicles when air quality is expected to deteriorate. ERMs are implemented when the presen...

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Autores principales: Ho, Chang-Hoi, Kim, Ka-Young
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10471636/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37650945
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11754-0
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author Ho, Chang-Hoi
Kim, Ka-Young
author_facet Ho, Chang-Hoi
Kim, Ka-Young
author_sort Ho, Chang-Hoi
collection PubMed
description Since December 30, 2017, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Republic of Korea, has been implementing emergency reduction measures (ERMs) restricting the operation of industrial sites, thermal power plants, and vehicles when air quality is expected to deteriorate. ERMs are implemented when the present observed concentration of particulate matter (PM) of aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM(2.5)) and/or the predicted values for the following day exceed a threshold value. In this study, the effectiveness of ERMs was evaluated for 33 days with and 6 days without ERM implementation but where the PM(2.5) concentration exceeded the threshold value, until March 15, 2021. Of the 33 days of ERM implementation, on 7 days it was executed despite the thresholds not being met. The ERM on these days might have been properly executed because the pre-notice and implementation of ERM might have reduced the local emissions of air pollutants. Our major findings are that even on days of ERM implementation, there were marginal reductions in vehicle traffic, thermal power generation, and industrial emissions. Second, the concentrations of PM(2.5) and related air pollutants in Seoul were almost unchanged for most ERM implementation episodes. Third, most of the 39 (= 33 + 6) days when the air quality worsened were caused by the transboundary transport of air pollutants from China. In conclusion, it was revealed that the currently executed ERM law is insufficient for effectively reducing PM(2.5). To achieve the required reductions, it is necessary to undertake stricter policies in Seoul and its neighboring regions.
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spelling pubmed-104716362023-09-02 Ineffective implementation of emergency reduction measures against high concentrations of particulate matter in Seoul, Republic of Korea Ho, Chang-Hoi Kim, Ka-Young Environ Monit Assess Research Since December 30, 2017, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Republic of Korea, has been implementing emergency reduction measures (ERMs) restricting the operation of industrial sites, thermal power plants, and vehicles when air quality is expected to deteriorate. ERMs are implemented when the present observed concentration of particulate matter (PM) of aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM(2.5)) and/or the predicted values for the following day exceed a threshold value. In this study, the effectiveness of ERMs was evaluated for 33 days with and 6 days without ERM implementation but where the PM(2.5) concentration exceeded the threshold value, until March 15, 2021. Of the 33 days of ERM implementation, on 7 days it was executed despite the thresholds not being met. The ERM on these days might have been properly executed because the pre-notice and implementation of ERM might have reduced the local emissions of air pollutants. Our major findings are that even on days of ERM implementation, there were marginal reductions in vehicle traffic, thermal power generation, and industrial emissions. Second, the concentrations of PM(2.5) and related air pollutants in Seoul were almost unchanged for most ERM implementation episodes. Third, most of the 39 (= 33 + 6) days when the air quality worsened were caused by the transboundary transport of air pollutants from China. In conclusion, it was revealed that the currently executed ERM law is insufficient for effectively reducing PM(2.5). To achieve the required reductions, it is necessary to undertake stricter policies in Seoul and its neighboring regions. Springer International Publishing 2023-08-31 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC10471636/ /pubmed/37650945 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11754-0 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Research
Ho, Chang-Hoi
Kim, Ka-Young
Ineffective implementation of emergency reduction measures against high concentrations of particulate matter in Seoul, Republic of Korea
title Ineffective implementation of emergency reduction measures against high concentrations of particulate matter in Seoul, Republic of Korea
title_full Ineffective implementation of emergency reduction measures against high concentrations of particulate matter in Seoul, Republic of Korea
title_fullStr Ineffective implementation of emergency reduction measures against high concentrations of particulate matter in Seoul, Republic of Korea
title_full_unstemmed Ineffective implementation of emergency reduction measures against high concentrations of particulate matter in Seoul, Republic of Korea
title_short Ineffective implementation of emergency reduction measures against high concentrations of particulate matter in Seoul, Republic of Korea
title_sort ineffective implementation of emergency reduction measures against high concentrations of particulate matter in seoul, republic of korea
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10471636/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37650945
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11754-0
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