• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.45 no.3
• /
• pp.319-341
• /
• 2010

The purposes of this study are to classify heavy snowfall types in the Republic of Korea based on fresh snowfall data and atmospheric circulation data during the last 36(1973/74-2008/09) snow seasons and to identify typical surface synoptic climate patterns that characterize each heavy snowfall type. Four synoptic climate categories and seventeen regional heavy snowfall types are classified based on sea level pressure/surface wind vector patterns in East Asia and frequent spatial clustering patterns of heavy snowfall in the Republic of Korea, respectively. Composite analyses of multiple surface synoptic weather charts demonstrate that the locations and intensity of pressure/wind vector mean and anomaly cores in East Asia differentiate each regional heavy snowfall type in Korea. These differences in synoptic climatic fields are primarily associated with the surge of the Siberian high pressure system and the appearance of low pressure systems over the Korean Peninsula. In terms of hemispheric atmospheric circulation, synoptic climatic patterns in the negative mode of winter Arctic Oscillation (AO) are also associated with frequent heavy snowfall in the Republic of Korea at seasonal scales. These results from long-term synoptic climatic data could contribute to improvement of short-range or seasonal prediction of regional heavy snowfall.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.128-137
• /
• 1996

한국의 기후학 연구성과는 1958년 발표된 이후 약간의 기복은 있었으나 꾸준히 발 전하여 왔다. 연구성과를 하부 분야별로 보면 기후학 일반(43.5%)이 가장 많았고, 종관기후 학(34.7%), 기후변화(13.0%) 그리고 응용기후학(8.8%)으로 구성되어 있으나 근래에는 응용 기후학 분야에 대한 연구가 서서히 증가하고 있다. 1970년대 이전에는 주로 지상 기후요소 간의 기상자료를 사용하여 상관관계 출현빈도.시계열분석 등으로 전국 규모의 기후특성을 규명한 데 반하여 최근에는 시계열분석과 더불어 군집.주성분.인자분석 등 다변량 분석기 법 등의 통계기법이 많이 활용되고 있다. 초기에는 지상기상자료를 주로 연구에 사용하였는 데 점차 고층기상자료와 인공위성자료를 활용하면서 국지기후 연구와 더불어 기후예측 모델 의 구축단계까지 발달하였다. 그러나 한국기후학이 당면한 문제는 인적자원의 절대적인 빈 곤과 더불어 인접분야에 비하여 연구환경이 열악한 것이다. 즉, 대학에서는 비전공자에 의한 기후학 교육이 빈번하고, 국지기후 연구의 경우는 실측을 요하기도 하는데 자료의 생성 및 분석에 필요한 장비가 절대적으로 부족하다. 따라서 한국의 기후학의 발전을 도모하려면 기 후학자의 배출이 급선무이고, 기후학자는 물론, 대학 및 연구소간의 연구 및 자료 교류 등의 상호협조가 요청된다.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.1-21
• /
• 2015

The present study aims to characterize the synoptic climatic patterns of winter extreme low temperature events occurred in different regions of Korea based on daily temperature data observed at 61 weather stations under the supervision of the Korea Meteorological Administation and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis I data for the recent 40 years (1973~2012) period. Analyses of daily maximum and minimum temperatures below 10th percentile thresholds show that high frequencies of winter extreme low temperature events appear across the entire regions of Korea or in either the western or eastern half region divided by major mountain ridges at the 2~7 dayintervals particularly in the first half of the winter period (before mid-January). Composite analyses of surface synoptic climatic data including sea level pressure and wind vector reveal that 13 regional types of winter extreme low temperature events in Korea are closely associated with the relative location and intensity of both the Siberian high pressure and the Aleutian low pressure systems as well as major mountain ridges. Investigations of mid-troposphere (500 hPa) synoptic climatic charts demonstrate that the blocking-like upper troposphere low pressure system advecting the cold air from the Arctic toward the Korean Peninsula may provide favorable synoptic conditions for the outbreaks of winter extreme low temperature events in Korea. These results indicate that the monitoring of synoptic scale climatic systems in East Asia including the Siberian high pressure system, the Aleutian low pressure system and upper level blocking system is critical to the improvement of the predictability of winter extreme low temperature events in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.93-102
• /
• 1996

The Korean Peninsula is located on the east coast of monsoon Asia of the midlatitude, where the Pacific polar front moves. As a result variations of spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation occur. A great variation of precipitation during the summer months created frequent droughts and floods. The purpose of this study is to identify distributional characteristics and to analyze synopic characteristics of summer droughts in Korea. The research methods used are ; (1) to identify droughts based on the anomaly of monthly precipitation during summer of 1994. (2) to analyze correlations between drought and weather systems by using the calender of rain days. (3) to compare a synoptic mechanism of summer droughts with that of typical normal summer. The characteristics of summer droughts of 1994 may be summarized as follows ; 1) While most regions were affected by the droughts some regions displayed specific characteristics. The southern part of the Korean Peninsula was severely affected during the month of June. August droughts severely affected east part of the Sobek Mountains, thus showing that the droughts of June and August are highly localized. 2) In the pressure anomaly of surface field. the positive anomaly appears in June around Korean Peninsula, but in July when all parts of the South Korea were under severe droughts, the anomaly changes and becomes negative. 3) Extracyclones occurred less frequently in the summer of 1994. Those that did occur were located in areas far off the Korean Peninsula having little consequences on the drought patterns. 4) The trough of westerly wave at 500hPa height patterns in June is located far from the eastern sea of Korean Peninsula, but in July and August Korean Peninsula belongs to ridge of westerly wave. 5) In June the positive height anomaly at 500hPa surface appears zonally from Siberia to the western Parts of North Pacific Ocean, and in July and August, the strong positive anomaly appears around Korean Peninsula. As a result the zonal index of westerlies at during each month of summer in Korean sector has a large value, which in turn implies that drought will prevails when zonal flow is strong.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.183-200
• /
• 2019

In this study, the characteristics of seasonal $PM_{2.5}$ behavior in South Korea and other Northeast Asian regions were analyzed by using the $PM_{2.5}$ ground measurement data, weather data, WRF and CMAQ models. Analysis of seasonal $PM_{2.5}$ behavior in Northeast Asia showed that $PM_{2.5}$ concentration at 6 IMS sites in South Korea was increased by long-distance transport and atmospheric congestion, or decreased by clean air inflow due to seasonal weather characteristics. As a result of analysis by applying BFM to air quality model, the contribution from foreign countries dominantly influenced the $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations of Baengnyeongdo due to the low self-emission and geographical location. In the case of urban areas with high self-emissions such as Seoul and Ulsan, the $PM_{2.5}$ contribution from overseas was relatively low compared to other regions, but the standard deviation of the season was relatively high. This study is expected to improve the understanding of the air pollutant phenomenon by analyzing the characteristics of $PM_{2.5}$ behavior in Northeast Asia according to the seasonal weather condition change. At the same time, this study can be used to establish the air quality policy in the future, knowing that the contribution of $PM_{2.5}$ concentration to the domestic and overseas can be different depending on the regional emission characteristics.