Relationship of aerosol optical properties and particle types from SPARTAN and AERONET data in South Korea

Abstract

SPARTAN (Surface Particulate Matter Network) is a network of Particulate Matter (PM) samplers that analyze aerosol samples for PM mass concentration and chemical composition. Two aerosol samplers were installed at two sites in Korea: Yonsei University at Seoul and UNIST (Ulsan Institute of Science and Technology) at Ulsan. These SPARTAN filter samplers and additional nephelometers provide the PM2.5 mass concentration and reconstructed chemical speciation data (May, 2019~ Nov, 2021). In most SPARTAN PM2.5 cases, both sites showed time series patterns similar to data from the Korean regional observation network (Airkorea). In the case of high-loading fine dust, the daily value was relatively well matched with Airkorea data. The co-location of these SPARTAN samplers with AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) sun photometer presents the possibility of analyzing aerosol optical depth, aerosol surface mass concentration, and aerosol speciation data together. If the fraction of a particular component is high, the optical properties may vary. When the mass concentration of sulfate was relatively high, AERONET data displayed a large distribution of non-absorbing small particles. Similar to the previous analysis, we also show a detailed analysis of the relationship between other chemical components and optical properties.