Atmospheric fingerprints of East Asia, 1986–1991. An urgent record of aerosol analysis by the jack network

In order to establish a record of air quality in the Asian region, a JACK (Japan-China-Korea) air monitoring network was privately established with five stations in China and one in Korea. The monitoring methods of atmospheric aerosol components followed those of the National Air Surveillance Network, Japan, with some modifications, in order that the data could be directly compared. The latest results of the network were described with data analysis and discussion. The annual change of pollution patterns at Seoul, Korea showed the gradual increase of anthropogenic emissions, especially those emissions contributed by automobiles with the indication of the La/Sm ratio. Comparison of the data at Chinese cities showed the characteristics of air quality of each city: high contribution of soil dust in the northern part of China, influence of coal combustion effluents at a large urban area, industrial effects of Sb, W and rare earth elements, etc. The importance of collection of air quality data in the east Asian area was emphasized in the text.