The Seoul sky seen from a building in Gangnam, Seoul looks hazy on the morning of the 4th, when the concentration of fine dust was at a ‘normal’ level and ultrafine dust was at a ‘bad’ level./Yonhap News
It is expected that domestic fine dust concentration will be higher than usual until this winter and spring. After the coronavirus outbreak, fine dust from China became more toxic as China increased its chimney factory operation rate and used coal heating in the winter. The analysis is that the possibility of high-concentration fine dust accumulating on the Korean Peninsula has increased as strong winds to wash away fine dust domestically do not blow due to climate change.
According to the Ministry of Environment and the Korea Meteorological Administration on the 4th, fine dust from China is entering the Korean Peninsula on the westerly wind. On the 5th, the concentration of ultrafine dust (PM2.5) was expected to be ‘bad’ in most areas of the country. The reason why fine dust concentration has become thicker is because residual fine dust continues to accumulate domestically due to the lack of strong winds, and fine dust from China continues to flow in. It’s like dust piling up on top of dust.
The problem is that this pattern is expected to continue until this spring. In winter, strong northerly winds blow into Korea from cold continental high pressure and push fine dust out of the Korean Peninsula. The days are cold, but the air is clean. However, this winter is generally mild. Early last month, the temperature soared to 20 degrees Celsius and it was warm enough for flowers to bloom. Although we experienced an arctic cold wave, mild weather has continued since then. Warm winters mean that our country is often under the influence of high pressure and that the west wind blows rather than the north wind. The westerly wind brings fine dust from China. The west wind is calm, so it has little power to blow out the fine dust accumulating on the Korean Peninsula.
Fine dust from China is expected to be more toxic this winter. Last year, China’s air pollution worsened again for the first time in 10 years since it declared ‘war on air pollution’ in 2013. According to the Finnish Center for Energy and Clean Air Research (CREA), the average concentration of ultrafine dust across China from January to November last year increased by 3.6% compared to the same period the year before. It is analyzed that this is due to the increase in coal power generation. This means that the fine dust coming into our country will also be more cloudy. In spring, large-scale yellow dust originating from the Gobi Desert and the Inner Mongolia Plateau washes over our country. Until May, our country may continue to be hit by dust winds from China.
The Ministry of Environment decided to create a communication channel with China to share the high concentration of fine dust. In addition, they announced that they would designate and manage not only the kiln (a type of kiln) but also the preheater as a waste disposal facility at a cement factory, which is considered a domestic source of fine dust. Minister of Environment Han Hwa-jin said, “We plan to respond with all our might to the generation of fine dust, regardless of whether it is domestic or foreign.”
2024-01-04 12:19:00
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