Visibility Degradation and Its Contributors at an Urban Site in Korea

In order to provide a better knowledge of visibility degradation during the PM2.5 event day (episodic high PM2.5 level, hereafter called as “event day”), the relationship between visibility and the chemical species of PM2.5 measured in Gwangju, Korea was estimated. Moreover, a visibility forecasting model was constructed by a statistical approach. The diurnal variation of visibility and PM2.5 concentration on the event day indicated that as the concentration of PM2.5 increased, more light was absorbed and scattered, resulting in visibility deterioration. The averaged visibility during the event day was 7.9 km, which was almost three times lower than that observed during a non-event day. Although the hygroscopic growth of aerosol was not considered in this study, it has been proved that NH4NO3 and organics dominantly contributed to the light scattering during the PM2.5 event day in Gwangju, Korea. The visibility determined in this study had also a negative correlation with PM10, nitrate, relative humidity, EC, OC, and sulfate. Meanwhile, visibility was positively linked with wind speed and temperature. The results of interrelationship and a multiple regression model suggest that among the meteorological variables, temperature was the main variable that influenced visibility.