Establishment of Aircraft Platform for Air Quality Measurement in Korea

The air quality measurement using aircraft is carried out three-dimensionally in large areas within the planetary boundary layer of inland and sea. Beechcraft 1900D (B1900D, 21 passengers) and KingAir-C90GT (C90GT, 8 passengers) were modified by installing an aircraft aerosol inlet, trace gas inlet, AIMMS-30, and AC power supply for air quality measurement, respectively. A pylon was installed under the fuselage of the B1900D, allowing additional measurement instruments to be installed. Because the B1900D is spatially larger than the G90GT, it can perform measurements of both aerosols and gases simultaneously, and the C90GT can be measured with instruments suitable for research purposes like an aerosol precursor. Instruments mounted on B1900D are HR-ToF-AMS, SP2, UHSAS, PCASP, PTR-ToF-MS, and CIMS with the support of NIER. C90GT is equipped with SO2 analyzer, Fast-NO2, O3 analyzer, NH3 analyzer, and CO/CO2/CH4 analyzer supported by FRIEND Project. The air quality scientist community in Korea is carrying out the airborne measurement on the West Sea, the East Sea, inland, metropolitan area, and large point (area) sources region using these aircrafts. Furthermore, these aircrafts can be used not only for air quality measurement, but also for research on climate change.

Acknowedgement

This study was supported by the FRIEND (Fine Particle Research Initiative in East Asia Considering National Differences) Project through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Grant No. 2021M3G1A1086487). And measurement research and instrument of B1900D were supported by NIER(NIER-2021-01-01-109).