Variation of Hydro-Meteorological Variables in Korea

The variability and temporal trends of the annual and seasonal minimum and maximum temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, wind speed, sunshine hours, and runoff were analyzed for 5 major rivers in Korea from 1960 to 2010. A simple regression and non-parametric methods (Mann-Kendall test and Sen's estimator) were used in this study. The analysis results show that the minimum temperature ($T_{min}$) had a higher increasing trend than the maximum temperature ($T_{max}$), and the average temperature increased by about $0.03^{\circ}C\;yr.^{-1}$. The relative humidity and wind speed decreased by $0.02%\;yr^{-1}$ and $0.01m\;s^{-1}yr^{-1}$, respectively. With the exception of the Han River basin, the regression analysis and Mann-Kendall and Sen results failed to detect trends for the runoff and rainfall over the study period. Rapid land use changes were linked to the increase in the runoff in the Han River basin. The sensitivity of the evapotranspiration and ultimately the runoff to the meteorological variables was in the order of relative humidity > sunshine duration > wind speed > $T_{max}$ > $T_{min}$. Future studies should investigate the interaction of the variables analyzed herein, and their relative contributions to the runoff trends.