The large amounts of air pollutants are emitted in East Asian nations due to a rapid industrial development as well as high population at the regions. Especially the northeast Asian countries including Korea, China, and Japan are characterized by emissions of both anthropogenic and natural air pollutants. Jeju Island is a suitable place to study the long-range transport of air pollutants in Northeast Asia and the impact of continental outflow.
In this study, the PM10 and PM2.5 fine particles have been collected at Gosan site in Jeju Island, and the elements as well as ionic species have been analyzed. The mass concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 fine particles were 38.0±19.8 and 20.4±12.6 μg/m3 respectively at Gosan Site. In the result of ion balance comparison, the correlation coefficients(r) between the sum of cationic equivalent concentrations and the sum of anionic equivalent concentrations were 0.984 and 0.989, respectively, for PM10 and PM2.5 fine particles, indicating a good correlation. The concentrations of PM10 ionic species were in the order of nss-SO42- > NO3- > NH4+ > Cl- > Na+ > nss-Ca2+ > K+ > Mg2+ and the elements showed the concentration in the order of S > Na > Fe > Al > Ca > K > Mg > Zn > Pb > Ni > Mn > Ti > Cr > Cu > Mo > Ba > V > Sr > Cd. Beside, the concentrations of PM2.5 ionic species have shown the order of nss-SO42- > NH4+ > NO3- > Na+ > K+ > Cl- > nss-Ca2+ > Mg2+. From the study of size distribution of aerosol components, the PM2.5/PM10 ratios of nss-SO42-, NO3-, and NH4+ concentrations were 0.85, 0.60, 0.88, respectively, showing that these species were mostly existed in PM2.5 fine particles. From the factor analyses for the examination of the source origins, the PM10 and PM2.5 ionic species at Gosan site are assumed to be originated anthropogenic secondary air pollutants, followed by marine and soil sources.