Abstract
In the last few years, the achievement ratio of Environmental Quality Standard remains in 50% level and is still in extremely lower level than those of gaseous pollutants. In order to get the better atmospheric environment, it is required first to know the characteristics and behavior of particulate matters in the atmosphere. Characteristics of particulate pollutants are expressed by a number of physical and chemical factors such as particle size, concentration, chemical composition, shape and so on. The release sources of particulate pollutants are diverse and have different peculiarity from gaseous pollutants. Particle formation from gaseous pollutants by gas-to-particle conversion is an important mechanism in the atmosphere. Source apportionment of particulate matters in urban atmosphere is essential to devise a plan for improving the atmospheric environment.
In this paper, the following topics are reviewed and discussed;(1) Source of particulate pollutants, (2) Physical and chemical characteristics of particulate pollutants, (3) Source apportionment analysis, (4) Gas-to-particle conversion in the atmosphere, (5) Importance of informations with high time-resolution, (6) Appropriate evaluation method of particulate pollution level.
