• Atmosphere
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.283-291
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• 2013

This study investigates the changes in the atmosphere-ocean interactions over the South China Sea (SCS) by analyzing their variables in the period of 1979~2011 during the boreal summer (June-July-August). It is found that a simultaneous correlation coefficient between sea surface temperature (SST) and precipitation over SCS during summer is significantly changed before and after the late-1990s. That is, the variation of precipitation over SCS is negatively (positively) correlated with the SST variations before (after) the late-1990s. Our further correlation analysis indicates that the atmospheric forcing of the SST is dominant before the late-1990s accompanying with wind-evaporation feedback and cloud-radiation feedback. After the late-1990s, in contrast, the SST forcing of the atmosphere through the latent heat flux from the ocean to the atmosphere is dominant. It is found that the change in the relationship of atmosphere-ocean interactions over SCS are associated with the changes in the relationship with Northeast Asian summer precipitation. In particular, a simultaneous correlation coefficient between the precipitation over SCS and Northeast Asia becomes stronger during after the late-1990s than before the late-1990s. We argue that the increase of the SST forcing of the atmosphere over SCS may lead a direct relationship of precipitation variations between SCS and Northeast Asia after the late-1990s.

• Atmosphere
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.305-315
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• 2018

This study investigates the characteristic spatial patterns and dynamic processes associated with the summertime extreme temperature events in South Korea during the last 20 years (1995~2014) using Self-Organizing Map (SOM). The classified SOM patterns commonly have high temperature and anticyclonic circulation anomalies over South Korea. The two major teleconnection patterns are identified: one is from the subtropical western North Pacific (WNP) affecting to the north and the other is from the North Atlantic (NA) affecting downstream region. The meridional teleconnection pattern is related to the forcing of positive sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly over the WNP. The northward propagating Rossby wave generates the East Asia-Pacific (EAP) pattern to form an anticyclonic circulation anomaly over South Korea. On the other hand, NA SST anomalies generate an eastward Rossby wave train across the Eurasian continent, leading to the development of an anticyclonic circulation anomaly over South Korea. The EAP pattern occurs more frequently in July and August, whereas the midlatitude teleconnection pattern associated with NA SST anomalies develops more frequently in early summer (June).

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.35 no.3 s.99
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• pp.160-171
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• 2002

The impact of summer monsoon on water quality of the lower Nakdong River was evaluated during the summer (June-August) in 1997. Several limnological variables were measured in the interval of $1{\sim}3$ day using an automatic monitoring system (Hydrolab $Recorder^{TM}$) to detect water quality changes caused by rainfall on onehour basis. During the monsoon period (from late June to mid July), 5 times of major rainfall events of >50 mm were recorded in the river basin. Dynamic changes of water quality were observed during the monsoon, and the first rainfall event (June$25{\sim}27$) had a significant influence on the water quality at the lower part of the river. All Parameters were largely changed due to the first rain event, and the changed level was maintained until the end of monsoon period. Nutrient concentrations and turbidity increased and values of the other parameters were declined as a result of water dilution. This rainfall event, Changma, is a meteorological phenomenon caused by the East-Asian monsoon climate. The magnitude and frequency of the rainfall during the early monsoon play an important role in change of water quality and ecosystem characteristics of large river systems.

• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.295-308
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• 2015

Based on the CMIP5 historical simulation datasets, we assessed the performance of state-of-the-art climate models in respect to the relationship between interannual variabilities of the North Pacific synoptic eddy (NPSE) and East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM). Observation (ERA-Interim) shows a high negative correlation (-0.73) between the interannual variabilities of East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) intensity and North Pacific synoptic eddy (NPSE) activity during the period of 1979~2005. Namely, a stronger (weaker) EAWM is related to a weaker (stronger) synoptic eddy activities over the North Pacific. This strong reverse relationship can be well explained by latitudinal distributions of the surface temperature anomalies over East Asian continent, which leads the variation of local baroclinicity and significantly weakens the baroclinic wave activities over the northern latitudes of $40^{\circ}N$. This feature is supported by the distribution of the meridional heat flux (${\overline{{\nu}^{\prime}{\theta}^{\prime}}}$) anomalies, which have negative (positive) values along the latitudes $40{\sim}50^{\circ}N$ for strong(weak) EAWM years. In this study, the historical simulations by 11 CMIP5 climate models (BCC-CSM1.1, CanESM2, GFDL-ESM2G, GFDL-ESM2M, HadGEM2-AO, HadGEM2-CC, IPSL-CM5A-LR, MPI-ESM-LR, MPI-ESM-MR, MRI-CGCM3, and NorESM1-M) are analyzed for DJF of 1979~2005. Correlation coefficient between the two phenomena is -0.59, which is comparable to that of observation. Model-to-model variation in this relationship is relatively large as the range of correlation coefficient is between -0.76 (HadGEM2-CC and HadGEM2-AO) and -0.33 (MRI-CGCM3). But, these reverse relationships are shown in all models without any exception. We found that the multi-model ensemble is qualitatively similar to the observation in reasoning (that is, latitudinal distribution of surface temperature anomalies, variation of local baroclinicity and meridional heat flux by synoptic eddies) of the reverse relationship. However, the uncertainty for weak EAWM is much larger than strong EAWM. In conclusion, we suggest that CMIP5 models as an ensemble have a good performance in the simulation of EAWM, NPSE, and their relationship.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2005

An important theme of this paper is to search for more genelalities of diversity and distribution pattern on the trampled plant communities in Daegu area. A total of 50 phytosociological releves were analyzed by the Zurich-Montpellier School's method and generalized habitat characteristics by using Euclidean coefficient and PCoA (Principal Coordinates Analysis). Five plant communities were classified and matched into largely two physiognomic types: grass-types such as Eragrostis ferruginea community, Eleusine indica community, Setaria viridis community, Digitaria ciliaris community, and forb-type of Plantage asiatica community only. These plant communities correspond to quite distinctive four habitat types, with both soil stability and moisture in microhabitat conditions: stable-moderate, unstable-moderate, stable-dry, and unstable-dry. Top-ten species showing the highest relative net contribution degree(r-NCD) were Digitaria ciliaris, Eleusine indica, Eragrostis ferruginea, Plantago asiatica, Echinochloa crus-galli, Trifolium repens, Polygonum aviculare, Setaria viridis, Setaria glauca and Artemisia princeps. The front three species showing more than 50% in percent r-NCD possess florescence after monsoon season. It is critically pointed out that the regional ecological differentiations i.e. the Daegu bioclimatic division, the $C_4$-plant dominant season(post-monsoon) of Korean peninsula, and species composition different from Japan's Plantaginetalia asiaticae, are the basis for deriving characteristics of the roadbed trampled plant communities of Daegu.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2023

Oceanic wind waves have been recognized as one of the important indicators of global warming and climate change. It is necessary to study the spatial and temporal variability of significant wave height (SWH) and wave direction in the Yellow Sea and a part of the East China Sea, which is directly affected by the East Asian monsoon and climate change. In this study, the spatial and temporal variability including seasonal and interannual variability of SWH and wave direction in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea were analyzed using European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Reanalysis 5 (ERA5) data. Prior to analyzing the variability of SWH and wave direction using the model reanalysis, the accuracy was verified through comparison with SWH and wave direction measurements from Ieodo Ocean Science Station (I-ORS). The mean SWH ranged from 0.3 to 1.6 m, and was higher in the south than in the north and higher in the center of the Yellow Sea than in the coast. The standard deviation of the SWH also showed a pattern similar to the mean. In the Yellow Sea, SWH and wave direction showed clear seasonal variability. SWH was generally highest in winter and lowest in late spring or early summer. Due to the influence of the monsoon, the wave direction propagated mainly to the south in winter and to the north in summer. The seasonal variability of SWH showed predominant interannual variability with strong variability of annual amplitudes due to the influence of typhoons in summer.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.35 no.3 s.99
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• pp.152-159
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• 2002

The seasonal variations of nitrifying bacterial population sampled from 3 sites in Moon-Chon reservoir were analyzed by in situ hybridization with fluorescently labeled rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes from August 2000 until July 2001. In addition, physico-chemical parameters such as temperature, pH, chi-a and DOC were measured to determine correlations between those factors and the size of nitrifying bacterial populations. Total bacterial numbers varied in the range of $0.8{\sim}1.5{\times}10^6\;cells/ml$ independent of sites and had the maximal values in March at all 3 stations. The ratio of eubacteria to total bacteria ranged from 44.9% to 79.5%, and the ratio of each nitrifying bacteria to eubacterial numbers reached only $1.0{\sim}7.4%$. The variations of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria ranged from $1.1{\times}10^4$ to $3.0{\times}10^4\;cells/ml$ without noticeable peak values whereas those of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria varied in $1.3{\sim}5.7{\times}10^4\;cells/ml$ with the increasing tendency in winter regardless of the sites. Moreover it was observed that the numbers of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria were higher than those of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Total bacterial numbers correlated with water temperature (r = 0.355, p<0.05) and DOC (r = 0.58G, p<0.01) positively whereas nitrite-oxidizing bacteria correlated with temperature (r = -0.416, p<0.05) and pH (r = -0.568, p = 0.001) negatively. In addition, DOC represented good correlations with eubacterial numbers (r = 0.448, p<0.01). These results indicate that temperature, DOC and pH might be one of the main factors affecting variations of bacterial populations in the aquatic ecosystem. It was also suggested that FISH method is a useful tool for detection of slow growing nitrifying bacteria.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.549-556
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• 2017

Rivers continuously transport terrestrial organic carbon matter to the estuary and the ocean, and they play a critical role in productivity and biodiversity in the marine ecosystem as well as the global carbon cycle. The amount of terrestrial organic carbon transporting from the rivers to ocean is an essential piece of information, not only for the marine ecosystem management but also the carbon budget within catchment. However, this phenomenon is still not well understood. Most large rivers in Korea have a well-established national monitoring system of the river flow and the TOC (Total Organic Carbon) concentration from the mountain to the river mouth, which are fundamental for estimating the amount of the TOC flux. We estimated the flux of the total terrestrial organic carbon of five large rivers which flow out to the Yellow Sea, using the data of the national monitoring system (the monthly mean TOC concentration and the monthly runoff of river flow). We quantified the annual TOC flux of the five rivers, showing their results in the following order: the Han River ($18.0{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>>Geum River ($5.9{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>Yeongsan River ($2.6{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>Sumjin River ($2.0{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>>Tamjin River ($0.2{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$). The amount of the Han River, which is the highest in the Korean rivers, corresponds to be 4% of the annual total TOC flux of in the Yellow River, and moreover, to be 0.6% of Yangtze River.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.237-251
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• 2011

This study presents a review on the recent climate change over the Korean peninsula, which has experienced a significant change due to the human-induced global warming more strongly than other regions. The recent measurement of carbon dioxide concentrations over the Korean peninsula shows a faster rise than the global average, and the increasing trend in surface temperature over this region is much larger than the global mean trend. Recent observational studies reporting the weakened cold extremes and intensified warm extremes over the region support consistently the increase of mean temperature. Surface vegetation greenness in spring has also progressed relatively more quickly. Summer precipitation over the Korean peninsula has increased by about 15% since 1990 compared to the previous period. This was mainly due to an increase in August. On the other hand, a slight decrease in the precipitation (about 5%) during Changma period (rainy season of the East Asian summer monsoon), was observed. The heavy rainfall amounts exhibit an increasing trend particularly since the late 1970s, and a consecutive dry-day has also increased primarily over the southern area. This indicates that the duration of precipitation events has shortened, while their intensity became stronger. During the past decades, there have been more stronger typhoons affecting the Korean peninsula with landing more preferentially over the southeastern area. Meanwhile, the urbanization effect is likely to contribute to the rapid warming, explaining about 28% of total temperature increase during the past 55 years. The impact of El Nino on seasonal climate over the Korean peninsula has been well established - winter [summer] temperatures was generally higher [lower] than normal, and summer rainfall tends to increase during El-Nino years. It is suggested that more frequent occurrence of the 'central-Pacific El-Nino' during recent decades may have induced warmer summer and fall over the Korean peninsula. In short, detection and attribution studies provided fundamental information that needed to construct more reliable projections of future climate changes, and therefore more comprehensive researches are required for better understanding of past climate variations.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.133-145
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• 2010

This study examined the characteristics of tropical cyclone(TC) activity over the western North Pacific(WNP) in 2009. Twenty-two TCs formed in 2009, which is slightly below normal(1979~2009 average: 25.8) and most of these occurred during the months of July to October. Most TCs in 2009 was formed over the northern Philippines and the eastern part of the WNP and they moved towards the South China Sea and the east of Japan, resulting in less TC affecting the East China Sea and Korea. The TC activity in 2009 is modulated by the large-scale circulations induced by the El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ and vigorous convection activity over the WNP. As the general characteristics of El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ year, the difference in sea surface temperature between the central Pacific and the eastern Pacific causes an anomalous westerly winds, expanding the WNP monsoon trough farther eastward. Accordingly, TC formation has relatively increased in the east part of the WNP. Active convection activities over the subtropical western Pacific excite a Rossby wave propagating from the South China Sea to mid-latitudes, resulting in an anomalous easterly steering flow in the South China, anomalous northwesterly over the East China Sea and Korea, and anomalous southwesterly over the east of Japan. Summing up, the TCs cannot enter the East China Sea and Korean region and instead they move towards the South China Sea or south-east of Japan. There were no effects of TCs in Korea in 2009. It is anticipated that this study which analyzed unusual TC activity and large-scale circulations in 2009 would help the predictability of TC effects to increase according to climate change in the East Asia.