A study has found that in areas where dwelling prices and insurance premiums per capita are high, air quality tends to be poor. The researchers explained that this reflects a characteristic unique to Korea, where large roads and housing complexes are developed together, and populations are concentrated around industrial complexes.
Professors Lee Hyung-joo from Pohang University of Science and Technology POSTECH and Kim Na-rae, along with a research team, announced the analysis of nitrogen dioxide concentrations across the country using satellite data on the 9th. The research results were recently published in the international journal "Environmental Science & Technology."
Nitrogen dioxide is an air pollutant primarily emitted from vehicle exhaust and power plants. It is more reactive than other air pollutants and has a shorter atmospheric residence time, leading to significant concentration differences by region. However, due to the limited and uneven distribution of ground measurement stations, only average values over broad areas of several kilometers have been estimated until now.
The research team combined nitrogen dioxide data collected from the European Space Agency's TROPOMI satellite with traffic-related land use information to precisely estimate nitrogen dioxide concentrations throughout the country from 2018 to 2022 at 500-meter intervals.
Using this data, the team analyzed how accurately the nitrogen dioxide ground measurement networks in the 17 provinces reflect actual population exposure levels, finding that in some regions, the measurement station data underestimated actual nitrogen dioxide exposure levels by up to 11% or overestimated them by as much as 61%.
The research team also analyzed differences in nitrogen dioxide exposure based on socioeconomic levels. Contrary to common expectations, higher nitrogen dioxide concentrations were found in areas with higher socioeconomic status in Korea. The team subdivided regions based on dwelling prices and insurance premiums per capita and analyzed nitrogen dioxide concentrations in each region. As a result, it was confirmed that the higher the dwelling prices and insurance premiums per capita, the higher the nitrogen dioxide concentrations.
The research team noted that in Korea, dwelling prices are higher in densely populated urban areas, which generally have high population densities, and these areas usually have relatively high income levels but also accompany high levels of air pollution.
Prof. Lee Hyung-joo stated that he plans to conduct research on various air pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide, fine dust, and ozone in the future.
References
Environmental Science & Technology (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c10996