Estimation of ammonia emission in South Korea

The importance of ammonia (NH3) in the atmosphere andits role in acidification is increasingly recognized. Adetailed emission inventory of NH3 for South Korea iscarried out for different sources using emission factors.Results indicate that the emission of ammonia has increasedby 21% over the last 11 yr from 143 000 t yr-1 in1988 to 181 000 t yr-1 in 1998. The major contributorsto the NH3 emission in South Korea are livestock andfertilizer application that account for 70 and 26% oftotal NH3 emission, respectively. The 11 × 14 km (0.125° long. × 0.125° lat.) grid distribution of emission of ammonia shows an maximum in the Yochon area due to the largest fertilizer factory and relatively wide regions of high NH3 emission in thenorthwestern part of South Korea due to a great number of livestock. It is found that the nitrogen ratio of wet deposition of NH4+ to emission of NH3 in SouthKorea is averaged to be 0.45.