• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.211-224
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• 2023

In this study, a soil moisture estimation was performed using the Water Cloud Model (WCM), a backscatter model that considers vegetation based on SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar). Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 MSI (Multi-Spectral Instrument) images of a 40 × 50 km² area including the Yongdam Dam watershed of the Geum River were collected for this study. As vegetation descriptor of WCM, Sentinel-1 based vegetation index RVI (Radar Vegetation Index), depolarization ratio (DR), and Sentinel-2 based NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) were used, respectively. Forward modeling of WCM was performed by 3 groups, which were divided by the characteristics between backscattering coefficient and soil moisture. The clearer the linear relationship between soil moisture and the backscattering coefficient, the higher the simulation performance. To estimate the soil moisture, the simulated backscattering coefficient was inverted. The simulation performance was proportional to the forward modeling result. The WCM simulation error showed an increasing pattern from about -12dB based on the observed backscattering coefficient.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.41-54
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• 2021

It is very essential to estimate the water body area using remote exploration for water resource management, analysis and prediction of water disaster damage. Hydrophysical detection using satellites has been mainly performed on large satellites equipped with optical and SAR sensors. However, due to the long repeat cycle, there is a limitation that timely utilization is impossible in the event of a disaster/disaster. With the recent active development of Micro satellites, it has served as an opportunity to overcome the limitations of time resolution centered on existing large satellites. The Micro satellites currently in active operation are ICEYE in Finland and Capella satellites in the United States, and are operated in the form of clusters for earth observation purposes. Due to clustering operation, it has a short revisit cycle and high resolution and has the advantage of being able to observe regardless of weather or day and night with the SAR sensor mounted. In this study, the operation status and characteristics of micro satellites were described, and the water area estimation technology optimized for micro SAR satellite images was applied to the Daecheong Dam basin on the Korean Peninsula. In addition, accuracy verification was performed based on the reference value of the water generated from the optical satellite Sentinel-2 satellite as a reference. In the case of the Capella satellite, the smallest difference in area was shown, and it was confirmed that all three images showed high correlation. Through the results of this study, it was confirmed that despite the low NESZ of Micro satellites, it is possible to estimate the water area, and it is believed that the limitations of water resource/water disaster monitoring using existing large SAR satellites can be overcome.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.327-336
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• 2019

The caldera lake "Chun-ji" is located at the summit of Baekdu volcano, which is in the border of China and North Korea. Chun-ji Lake has altitude 2,189 m above sea level. The Chun-ji is freezing in the winter when the water temperature goes down to zero for a year, and it melts in the season when the water temperature goes up again. However,since it is located at a high altitude, there are many cloudy days, and it is difficult to observe with optical images. For this reason, radar images, which are less influenced by weather than optical images, are more effective for observing the ice of heaven and earth. In this study, 75 TerraSAR-X images from chun-ji area were used for analysis from 2015 to 2017, and the calculated ice area and temperature changes were analyzed. As a result, the ice of the caldera lake formed was formed in early December and slowly melted until mid-April. During this period, temperatures in the Samjiyeon area were about $-10^{\circ}C$ when ice was produced, and the temperature was about $0^{\circ}C$ in mid-April when it was thawing. Correlation coefficients between ice surface area and temperature in winter 2015 and 2016, where global ice is produced,show a high correlation of -0.82 and -0.75. In addition to the results of this study, it can be used as an indicator to monitor the volcanic activity by comparing the result of the recent volcanic activity with the result of the increase in water temperature using various imagery.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.5_3
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• pp.901-912
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• 2022

The frequency of disasters is increasing due to global climate change, and unusual heavy rains and rainy seasons are occurring in Korea. Periodic monitoring and rapid detection are important because these weather conditions can lead to drought and flooding, causing secondary damage. Although research using optical images is continuously being conducted to determine the waterbody, there is a limitation in that it is difficult to detect due to the influence of clouds in order to detect floods that accompany heavy rain. Therefore, there is a need for research using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that can be observed regardless of day or night in all weather. In this study, using Sentinel-1 SAR images that can be collected in near-real time as open data, the UNet model among deep learning algorithms that have recently been used in various fields was applied. In previous studies, waterbody detection studies using SAR images and deep learning algorithms are being conducted, but only a small number of studies have been conducted in Korea. In this study, to determine the applicability of deep learning of SAR images, UNet and the existing algorithm thresholding method were compared, and five indices and Sentinel-2 normalized difference water index (NDWI) were evaluated. As a result of evaluating the accuracy with intersect of union (IoU), it was confirmed that UNet has high accuracy with 0.894 for UNet and 0.699 for threshold method. Through this study, the applicability of deep learning-based SAR images was confirmed, and if high-resolution SAR images and deep learning algorithms are applied, it is expected that periodic and accurate waterbody change detection will be possible in Korea.

• Journal of Satellite, Information and Communications
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.117-127
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• 2015

Recently, research and development on satellite payloads are being developed such as the optical sensor, SAR etc. Satellite image for earth observation is being utilized both domestically and abroad. Advanced satellite payload technology has led to the collection and analysis of satellite images relying on the optical sensor. Currently, related organizations such as RDA(the Rural Development Administration) are collectively collaborating to plan a national project to develop a medium-sized satellite based on Korea's domestic technology independently. This paper investigated the cases of the past research on application of satellite images for agriculture and analyzed the technical specifications for satellite payload in each area of such application. Based on the results of the past surveys and consultation studies among local experts in satellite image application, we analyzed the current trends, plans and applications of domestic and overseas R&D in satellite payloads for earth observation in agriculture, and proposed the appropriate technical specifications for developing a future medium-sized satellite for agriculture. The proposed specifications were then incorporated into a simulated satellite to examine its performance to observe the Korean farming areas. The authors anticipate that the findings of this paper will form a useful technical basis for providing the appropriate specifications for developing future medium-sized satellite payloads to be used in agriculture and forestry, and enabling the end users to efficiently utilize the satellite.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.423-441
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• 2013

On 21 September 2010, one of Chuseok holidays in Korea, localized heavy rainfalls occurred over the midwestern region of the Korean peninsula. In this study MTSAT-2 infrared and water vapor channel imagery are examined to find out some features which are obvious in each stage of the life cycle of convective cell for this heavy rain event. Also the kinematic and thermodynamic features probably associated with them are investigated. The first clouds related with the Chuseok heavy rain are detected as low-level multicell cloud (brightness temperature: $-15{\sim}0^{\circ}C$) in the middle of the Yellow sea at 1630~1900 UTC on 20 Sept., which are probably associated with the convergence at 1000 hPa. Convective cells are initiated in the vicinity of Shantung peninsula at 1933 UTC 20, which have developed around the edge of the dark region in water vapor images. At two times of 0033 and 0433 UTC 21 the merging of two convective cells happens near midwestern coast of the peninsula and then they have developed rapidly. From 0430 to 1000 UTC 21, key features of convective cell include repeated formation of secondary cell, slow horizontal cloud motion, persistence of lower brightness temperature ($-75{\sim}-65^{\circ}C$), and relatively small cloud size (${\leq}-50^{\circ}C$) of about $30,000km^2$. Radar analysis showed that this heavy rain is featured by a narrow line-shaped rainband with locally heavy rainrate (${\geq}50$ mm/hr), which is located in the south-western edge of the convective cell. However there are no distinct features in the associated synoptic-scale dynamic forcing. After 1000 UTC 21 the convective cell grows up quickly in cloud size and then is dissipated. These satellite features may be employed for very short range forecast and nowcasting of mesoscale heavy rain system.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.285-293
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• 2020

In this paper, to improve Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image quality, the effect of time synchronization error in the EGI/IMU (Embedded GPS/INS, Inertial Measurement Unit) integrated system is analyzed and state augmentation is applied to compensate it. EGI/IMU integrated system is widely used as a SAR motion measurement algorithm, which consists of EGI mounted to obtain the trajectory and IMU mounted on the SAR antenna. In an EGI/IMU integrated system, a time synchronization error occurs when the clocks of the sensors are not synchronized. Analysis of the effect of time synchronization error on navigation solutions and SAR images confirmed that the time synchronization error deteriorates SAR image quality. The state augmentation is applied to compensate for this and as a result, the SAR image quality does not decrease. In addition, by analyzing the performance and the observability of the time synchronization error according to the maneuver, it was confirmed that the time-variant maneuver such as rotational motion is necessary to estimate the time synchronization error adequately. In order to reduce the influence of the time synchronization error on the SAR image, the time synchronization error must be compensated by performing maneuver changing over time such as a rotation before SAR operation.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.55-67
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• 2022

In this paper, fundamentals and recent development of the interferometric synthetic aperture radar, known as InSAR, technique for measuring ground deformation through satellite image analysis are presented together with case histories illustrating its applicability to urban ground deformation monitoring. A study area in Korea was selected and processed based on the muti-temporal time series InSAR analysis, namely SBAS (Small Baseline Subset)-InSAR and PS (Persistent Scatterers)-InSAR using Sentinel-1A SAR images acquired from the year 2014 onward available from European Space Agency Copernicus Program. The ground settlement of the study area for the temporal window of 2014-2022 was evaluated from the viewpoint of the applicability of the InSAR technique for urban infrastructure settlement monitoring. The results indicated that the InSAR technique can reasonably monitor long-term settlement of the study area in millimetric scale, and that the time series InSAR technique can effectively measure ground settlement that occurs over a long period of time as the SAR satellite provides images of the Korean Peninsula at regular time intervals while orbiting the earth. It is expected that the InSAR technique based on higher resolution SAR images with small temporal baseline can be a viable alternative to the traditional ground borne monitoring method for ground deformation monitoring in the 4^th industrial era.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.139-151
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• 2022

SAGD (Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage) method is widely used for oil recovery in oil sands regions. The SAGD operation causes surface displacement, which can affect the stability of oil recovery plants and trigger various geological disasters. Therefore, it isimportant to monitor the surface displacement due to SAGD in the oil sands region. In this study, the surface displacement due to SAGD operations of the Athabasca oil sands region in Alberta, Canada, was observed by applying Permanent Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PSInSAR) technique to the Sentinel-1 time series SAR data acquired from 2016 to 2021. We also investigated the construction and expansion of SAGD facilitiesfrom Landsat-7/8 time seriesimages, from which the characteristics of the surface displacement according to the oil production activity of SAGD were analyzed. Uplift rates of 0.3-2.5 cm/yr in the direction of line of sight were observed over the SAGDs and their vicinity, whereas subsidence rates of -0.3--0.6 cm/yr were observed in areas more than several kilometers away from the SAGDs and not affected by oil recovery activities. Through the analysis of Landsat-7/8 images, we could confirm that the SAGDs operating after 2012 and showing high oil production activity caused uplift rates greater than 1.6 cm/yr due to the subsurface steam injection. Meanwhile, very small uplift rates of several mm per year occurred over SAGDs which have been operated for a longer period of time and show relatively low oil production activity. This was probably due to the compression of reservoir sandstone due to continuous oil recovery. The subsidence observed in areas except for the SAGDs and their vicinity estimated to be a gradual land subsidence caused by melting of the permafrost. Considering the subsidence, it was expected that the uplift due to SAGD operation would be greater than that observed by the PSInSAR. The results of this study confirm that the PSInSAR can be used as an effective means for evaluating productivity and stability of SAGD in the extreme cold regions.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.229-241
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• 2024

With the advancement of big data processing technology using cloud platforms, access, processing, and analysis of large-volume data such as satellite imagery have recently been significantly improved. In this study, the Change Detection Method, a relatively simple technique for retrieving soil moisture, was applied to the backscattering coefficient values of pre-processed Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery product based on Google Earth Engine (GEE), one of those platforms, to estimate the surface soil moisture for six observatories within the Yongdam Dam watershed in South Korea for the period of 2015 to 2023, as well as the watershed average. Subsequently, a correlation analysis was conducted between the estimated values and actual measurements, along with an examination of the applicability of GEE. The results revealed that the surface soil moisture estimated for small areas within the soil moisture observatories of the watershed exhibited low correlations ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 for both VH and VV polarizations, likely due to the inherent measurement accuracy of the SAR satellite imagery and variations in data characteristics. However, the surface soil moisture average, which was derived by extracting the average SAR backscattering coefficient values for the entire watershed area and applying moving averages to mitigate data uncertainties and variability, exhibited significantly improved results at the level of 0.5. The results obtained from estimating soil moisture using GEE demonstrate its utility despite limitations in directly conducting desired analyses due to preprocessed SAR data. However, the efficient processing of extensive satellite imagery data allows for the estimation and evaluation of soil moisture over broad ranges, such as long-term watershed averages. This highlights the effectiveness of GEE in handling vast satellite imagery datasets to assess soil moisture. Based on this, it is anticipated that GEE can be effectively utilized to assess long-term variations of soil moisture average in major dam watersheds, in conjunction with soil moisture observation data from various locations across the country in the future.