Advisory issued as South Korea hit with yellow dust
An air quality advisory was issued across South Korea on Tuesday as the country was hit with yellow dust blowing from inner China, raising concerns over public health safety.
The Ministry of Environment raised the ultra-fine dust advisory level in Seoul and Gangwon province from “attention” to “caution” as at 12pm on Tuesday.
Incheon and Gyeonggi province already received a “caution” level advisory from 7am the same day. Except for South Gyeongsang province, all regions outside the metropolitan area received the “attention” level advisory.
The “caution” level is issued when the hourly average concentration of PM10, ultra-fine dust smaller than 10 micrometres in diameter, surpasses 300 micrograms per cubic m for more than two hours.
The “attention” level advisory is issued when the average daily concentration of PM10 exceeds 150 mcg per cubic m.
The Institute of Health and Environment under the Seoul city government said that yellow dust coming from the Gobi Desert and the Inner Mongolia plateau region flowed along with the north-western wind, increasing the concentration of fine dust.
The institute urged citizens, especially the elderly, children and people with respiratory or cardiovascular diseases, to refrain from going out, and encouraged everyone to wear masks.
Fortunately, the flow of the atmosphere is smooth, so it is predicted that the yellow dust will not stay in the Korean Peninsula for long.
The National Institute of Environmental Research predicted that ultra-fine dust levels across the country will return to normal on Wednesday.