[세미나] 박선영 교수님

Atmospheric observations trace mysterious emissions of banned ozone-destroying, greenhouse gases

Many man-made halogenated compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfurhexafluoride(SF6) are thousands of times more potent than CO2 in terms of their Global Warming Potentials (GWPs). CFCs and HCFCs are also targeted for emission regulations by the Montreal Protocol on ozone depletion substances (ODSs). While emissions of these industrial gases from the large economies of East Asia must be one of the most significant environmental concerns these days, identifying and quantifying their emission sources remain poorly studied due mainly to rapid evolution in industrial structure, resulting complicated emission patterns, and uncertainties in the reported emissions. Thus, there has been a consensus that atmospheric monitoring of these gases can validate the reported emissions, improve the emission estimations and eventually help establish effective regulation strategies. In this presentation, I introduce continuous, in-situ, high-precision atmospheric observations of a wide range of halogenated compounds obtained at a regional monitoring site in East Asia (Gosan station, Jeju Island, Korea; 33oN, 126oE) since 2008 as part of the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE). Gosan is ideally located with seasonally varying, distinctive wind patterns, which basically allow for monitoring both of polluted air masses from continental, regional sources and of clean Pacific and Siberian air masses reflecting global background levels. A recent study based on the Gosan observations for the regional emissions of banned ozone depleting CFC-11 (Rigby, Park et al., Nature, 2019) is also discussed to demonstrate how crucial long-term, precise regional atmospheric measurements are in order to timely detect unexpected emission increases of ODSs and to ensure that the Montreal Protocol and its amendments continue to be implemented effectively.