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Analysis of airborne particulate matter pollution characteristics based on tree distribution in urban forests
Journal of the Korean Data & Information Science Society 2025;36:101-13
Published online January 31, 2025;  https://doi.org/10.7465/jkdi.2025.36.1.101
© 2025 Korean Data and Information Science Society.

Kwon wook Eom1 · Sang gu Yeo2 · Jong In Dong3 · Su Young Woo4 · Myeong Ja Kwak5

13Korea Association of Energy Climate Change and Environment
2Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul
45Department of Environmental Horticulture, University of Seoul
Correspondence to: This study was carried out with the support of ’R&D Program for Forest Science Technology ’ (Project No. ”IRIS RS-2022-KF002141”)’ provided by Korea Forest Service (Korea Forestry Promotion Institute).
1 Researcher. Korea Association of Energy Climate Change and Environment, Seoul 02504, Korea.
2 Undergraduate student, Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea.
3 President, Korea Association of Energy Climate Change and Environment, Seoul 02504, Korea.
4 Corresponding author: Professor, Department of Environmental Horticulture, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea. E-mail: wsy@uos.ac.kr
5 Research professor, Department of Environmental Horticulture, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea.
Received November 20, 2024; Revised December 9, 2024; Accepted December 11, 2024.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The importance of urban forests has been emphasized for their role in reducing particulate matter (PM) levels and providing a pleasant environment for citizens. We examined the relationship between tree species distribution and PM levels in urban forests to evaluate their effectiveness in reducing PM pollution. The distribution of tree species in Seoul Forest and Hanbat Arboretum was surveyed, and seasonal PM level measurements were conducted alongside analyses of meteorological factors like wind direction and speed to evaluate the spatial distribution of PM pollution. Results showed that strobe Korean red pine, Ginkgo, and Metasequoia were predominantly planted in Seoul Forest. Oriental cork oak, Mountain hawthorn, and Korean red pine were mainly found in Hanbat Arboretum. These tree species demonstrated strong PM reduction potential, with PM10 inside Seoul Forest measured 17.2% lower than at external measurement points and 6.9% lower inside Hanbat Arboretum. This indicates that trees in urban forests can function as filters, absorbing or blocking some PM particles. The spatial distribution of PM was assessed using the inverse distance weighting interpolation method, revealing that areas within Seoul Forest and Hanbat Arboretum containing specific trees, such as Palmate maple, Eastern cottontree, and Korean red pine, had relatively lower PM levels.
Keywords : Hanbat arboretum, particulate matter, Seoul forest, urban forest, wind rose