Osan air quality map

Are there lots of facts and figures about air quality on the air pollution map for Osan?

There are a lot of extremely interesting facts and figures about air quality on the air pollution map for Osan and they can be found using the link on the main city page. The live air pollution map acts as a link which will open a new set of pages filled with all the latest information.

When the new set of pages first opens, the viewer will see a solid block of colour which acts as the background of the map and is a direct indication of the current air quality. At the time of writing in May 2023, the colour was yellow which shows the air quality as being “Moderate”. The explanation of the various colours can be seen in the legend at the foot of the page. They are standard colours across the entire IQAir website and range from pale green to dark purple where the darker colours indicate poorer air quality.

The viewer will also notice a large number of coloured discs scattered across the map. These represent the locations of all the ground-level air monitoring stations in the area although they are not all under the jurisdiction of the city. If they are overlapping each other and are hard to see, the map can be slowly enlarged which will allow the discs to separate from each other. Each of the discs shows a number at its centre which is the United States Air Quality Index reading or US AQI for short. This figure is calculated by measuring up to six of the most prolific pollutants found in the city air. They are usually both sizes of Particulate Matter (PM2.5 and PM10), ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide.

Each station can be individually selected from the appropriate disc and explored further because they all contain a lot of information about their own specific areas. These figures are regularly updated and are extremely useful if travelling around the area.

Once established, the US AQI reading is used as a metric when making comparisons in air quality between different locations across the globe. The entire system is endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Looking back at the main city page, it can be seen in the coloured band at the top of it that the current air quality is “Moderate” with a US AQI reading of 88. The yellow colour of the banner also suggests this level of quality. Two of the main pollutants were measured but it is PM2.5 that is considered to be the main one. It had a recorded level of 30.0 µg/m³ (microns per cubic metre) which is six times higher than the suggested target figure of 5 µg/m³ as recommended by the WHO.

Looking below the air pollution map for Osan can be seen the number of contributors there are and the number of stations they operate. Currently, there are two contributors who collect and collate the information from five stations in and around the city. They are the Korea Environment Corporation which operates 308 stations across the whole country and Air Gyeonggi-Do which operates 117 stations in total.

Is there much more fascinating information about air quality on the air pollution map for Osan?

There are a lot more interesting facts and figures about air quality on the air pollution map for Osan. There is an icon at the top of the opening page which acts as a link to a full-screen section where all the information is available and easy to view.

Once viewed in this way a list of four options will be seen on the left-hand side of the screen. All of them can be turned on or off to get a better idea of the effects they each have on the map.

The first option reveals the sites of all the ground-level air monitoring stations there are, both in and around the city. They all contain a wealth of information about the state of the air in that specific location.

The second option shows the position of any wildfires there are that are ablaze in the area. At the time of writing in May 2023, there was a large fire burning near Gagok-ri to the south west of the city. After consulting option four which shows the speed and direction of the prevailing winds, it can be seen that the wind will probably blow the ensuing smoke away from the land and across the sea.

Option number three has the power to change the background colour of the map to reflect the current air quality. This can be quite distracting but it can be disabled to make the map revert to a more subdued set of colours which might be easier to comprehend.

On the right-hand side of the screen will be seen a table which shows the top seven most heavily polluted cities ranked in order of cleanliness. There are more statistics available in the full-ranking section where the remainder of the participating world cities will be recorded in descending order.

Directly below the air pollution map for Osan is a list of the most heavily-polluted areas of the city as ranked by their US AQI reading. Currently, the worst area of the city for air quality is around the Songbuk-dong station which recorded a US AQI of 132.

There is also a list of the most popular stations according to the number of loyal followers they have. Songbuk-dong station currently has the most followers with a figure of almost 188,000 people.

Is the source of the polluted air visible on the air quality map for Osan?

The source of polluted air is not directly shown, but it is well-known that road traffic is the main creator of fine dust particles.

As a major project to thoroughly manage road pollutants, subsidies are provided for over 500 eco-friendly vehicles, including 40 electric buses, to expand the supply of eco-friendly vehicles. Furthermore, to build an eco-friendly vehicle charging station infrastructure, 68 electric vehicle charging stations and hydrogen charging stations will be built at parking facilities owned by Osan City.

What are PM2.5 and PM10 which are often quoted on the air pollution map for Osan?

In addition to gases, the atmosphere contains suspended matter in liquid and solid phase (aerosols), representing a complex mixture of organic and inorganic chemical substances which are grouped under the general term of "suspended particles". These suspended particles are often designated by the abbreviation PM.

The designation "PM10" refers to particles whose diameter is less than 10 micrometres (denoted µm, or 1 millionth of a metre or 1 thousandth of a millimetre). The diameter of fine particles PM2.5 and PM1 are less than 2.5 and 1 µm respectively.