Composition and pollution characteristics of PM10 and PM2.5 particles at Gosan site of Jeju Island in 2008

The collection of atmospheric PM10 and PM2.5 particle samples was made at Gosan site of Jeju Island, which is one of the most representative background sites in Korea. Their chemical compositions have been analyzed to explore the pollution characteristics and emission sources. The mass concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 particles were 37.6 +/- 20.1 and 22.9 +/- 14.3 mu g/m(3), respectively, with the content of PM2.5 to PM10 as 61%. The PM2.5/PM10 ratios of nss-SO42-, NO3-, and NH4+ were 0.94, 0.56, 1.02, respectively, indicating that these components were distributed mostly in the fine fractions. Based on the factor analysis, it was found that the compositions of fine particles were mainly influenced by anthropogenic sources, followed by soil or marine sources. The results of the backward trajectory analysis indicate that the concentrations of nss-SO42-, NO3-, NH4+, nss-Ca-2(+), and Pb were high when the air parcels moved from the China continent, while relatively low with the air parcels coming from North Pacific Ocean and/or East Sea.