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A study found that when an air current blows into Korea from China, levels of sulfur found in the air jump as much as 28 times higher than normal.

The air is contaminated by factories in China, the study said.

The National Institute of Environmental Research, which conducted the study, said on March 1 that the maximum concentration of sulfur dioxide in the Korean peninsula’s air stood at 8.01 parts per billion (ppb) when the air was strongly affected by an air current from China’s middle and southern regions, the site of many manufacturing and industrial plants. The average concentration of sulfur in South Korea’s air when the air current is blowing into the peninsula is 2.25 ppb. In contrast, when the Korean peninsula is not affected by this air current, the concentration of sulfur in the air ranges from 0.29 ppb to 0.36 ppb.

The institute based its findings on 12 separate measurements of air contamination done via plane between 1.0-1.5 km above sea level between June and August last year.

The study also found that most sulfur dust from China comes to the Korean peninsula in the form of either rain or snow, and some of it flows out of Korea toward Japan and the Pacific.

The institute’s simulation showed that when it rains or snows, the air current from China accounted for between 51 and 94 percent of the sulfur deposits on the Korean peninsula, and 24-44 percent of the total sulfur deposits on the peninsula, including dry deposits, are attributable to China.

Sulfur is one of main causes of acid rain, which is harmful to trees, vegetation, and aquatic life.

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