Monitoring of the Fugitive and Suspended Dust Dispersion at the Saemangeum Reclaimed Land and Neighboring Farm areas

A study on fugitive dusts was conducted at Saemangeum reclaimed land and the neighboring farm located at the west coast of Korea. After the area was completely reclaimed in 2006, halophyte plants and several windbreak systems were installed. The distributions of suspended dust particle was regularly measured through field experiment. The size of dust source area was also analyzed periodically and then it was determined to be in the following order: Buan > Gimje > Gunsan. The suspended dust which were dispersed to the neighboring areas were significantly affected by the size of the soil particles, wind velocity and wind direction. The results of Big Spring Number Eight (BSNE) experiments also showed that the concentration of the fugitive dust generated from the reclaimed land was reduced remarkably by the presence of halophyte plants. Recently, in 2008, the measured dust concentration rate was decreased by an average of 30.6%. The average dust concentration is expected to decrease further as more areas are being covered by halophyte plants.