A simulation of long-range transport of Yellow Sand observed in April 1998 in Korea

A severe Yellow Sand event was observed in Korea for the period of 14–22 April in 1998. The case was reported as a very long lasted event and transported to the western part of USA across the Pacific Ocean. This event was simulated using a three-dimensional eulerian air quality model with MM5 output of meteorological fields. There were large dust rises on 15 and 19 April in the source regions of inland China. These emitted dusts had different transport pathways. The modeled spatial distribution of dust was similar to that of aerosol index obtained by total ozone mapping spectrometer. The simulated dust concentration was slightly underestimated the observed total suspended particulate concentration in South Korea. However, the arriving time of the dust storm to the Korean Peninsula was quite well simulated. The simulated particle sizes in Korea were found to be less than 6–7 μm in diameter with a uni-modal size distribution at a peak dust concentration in the range of 1.73–4.03 μm during the Yellow Sand event. These results suggest that the present model can be used to forecast the Yellow Sand event in South Korea.