• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.469-477
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• 2020

Salinity is not only an important variable that determines the density of the ocean but also one of the main parameters representing the global water cycle. Ocean salinity observations have been mainly conducted using ships, Argo floats, and buoys. Since the first satellite salinity was launched in 2009, it is also possible to observe sea surface salinity in the global ocean using satellite salinity data. However, the satellite salinity data contain various errors, it is necessary to validate its accuracy before applying it as research data. In this study, the salinity accuracy between the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite salinity data and the in-situ salinity data provided by the Ieodo ocean research station was evaluated, and the error characteristics were analyzed from April 2015 to August 2020. As a result, a total of 314 match-up points were produced, and the root mean square error (RMSE) and mean bias of salinity were 1.79 and 0.91 psu, respectively. Overall, the satellite salinity was overestimated compare to the in-situ salinity. Satellite salinity is dependent on various marine environmental factors such as season, sea surface temperature (SST), and wind speed. In summer, the difference between the satellite salinity and the in-situ salinity was less than 0.18 psu. This means that the accuracy of satellite salinity increases at high SST rather than at low SST. This accuracy was affected by the sensitivity of the sensor. Likewise, the error was reduced at wind speeds greater than 5 m s^-1. This study suggests that satellite-derived salinity data should be used in coastal areas for limited use by checking if they are suitable for specific research purposes.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.721-732
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• 2016

The accuracy and error characteristics of microwave Sea Surface Temperature (SST) measurements in the Northwest Pacific were analyzed by utilizing 162,264 collocated matchup data between GCOM-W1/AMSR2 data and oceanic in-situ temperature measurements from July 2012 to August 2016. The AMSR2 SST measurements had a Root-Mean-Square (RMS) error of about $0.63^{\circ}C$ and a bias error of about $0.05^{\circ}C$. The SST differences between AMSR2 and in-situ measurements were caused by various factors, such as wind speed, SST, distance from the coast, and the thermal front. The AMSR2 SST data showed an error due to the diurnal effect, which was much higher than the in-situ temperature measurements at low wind speed (<6 m/s) during the daytime. In addition, the RMS error tended to be large in the winter because the emissivity of the sea surface was increased by high wind speeds and it could induce positive deviation in the SST retrieval. Low sensitivity at colder temperature and land contamination also affected an increase in the error of AMSR2 SST. An analysis of the effect of the thermal front on satellite SST error indicated that SST error increased as the magnitude of the spatial gradient of the SST increased and the distance from the front decreased. The purpose of this study was to provide a basis for further research applying microwave SST in the Northwest Pacific. In addition, the results suggested that analyzing the errors related to the environmental factors in the study area must precede any further analysis in order to obtain more accurate satellite SST measurements.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.447-463
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• 2019

Sea surface wind is a fundamental element for understanding the oceanic phenomena and for analyzing changes of the Earth environment caused by global warming. Global research institutes have developed and operated scatterometers to accurately and continuously observe the sea surface wind, with the accuracy of approximately ${\pm}20^{\circ}$ for wind direction and ${\pm}2m\;s^{-1}$ for wind speed. Given that the spatial resolution of the scatterometer is 12.5-25.0 km, the applicability of the data to the coastal area is limited due to complicated coastal lines and many islands around the Korean Peninsula. In contrast, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), one of microwave sensors, is an all-weather instrument, which enables us to retrieve sea surface wind with high resolution (<1 km) and compensate the sparse resolution of the scatterometer. In this study, we investigated the Geophysical Model Functions (GMF), which are the algorithms for retrieval of sea surface wind speed from the SAR data depending on each band such as C-, L-, or X-band radar. We reviewed in the simulation of the backscattering coefficients for relative wind direction, incidence angle, and wind speed by applying LMOD, CMOD, and XMOD model functions, and analyzed the characteristics of each GMF. We investigated previous studies about the validation of wind speed from the SAR data using these GMFs. The accuracy of sea surface wind from SAR data changed with respect to observation mode, GMF type, reference data for validation, preprocessing method, and the method for calculation of relative wind direction. It is expected that this study contributes to the potential users of SAR images who retrieve wind speeds from SAR data at the coastal region around the Korean Peninsula.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.247-263
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• 2021

Climate change has been accelerating in coastal waters recently; therefore, the importance of coastal environmental monitoring is also increasing. Chlorophyll-a concentration, an important marine variable, in the surface layer of the global ocean has been retrieved for decades through various ocean color satellites and utilized in various research fields. However, the commonly used chlorophyll-a concentration algorithm is only suitable for application in clear water and cannot be applied to turbid waters because significant errors are caused by differences in their distinct components and optical properties. In addition, designing a standard algorithm for coastal waters is difficult because of differences in various optical characteristics depending on the coastal area. To overcome this problem, various algorithms have been developed and used considering the components and the variations in the optical properties of coastal waters with high turbidity. Chlorophyll-a concentration retrieval algorithms can be categorized into empirical algorithms, semi-analytic algorithms, and machine learning algorithms. These algorithms mainly use the blue-green band ratio based on the reflective spectrum of sea water as the basic form. In constrast, algorithms developed for turbid water utilizes the green-red band ratio, the red-near-infrared band ratio, and the inherent optical properties to compensate for the effect of dissolved organisms and suspended sediments in coastal area. Reliable retrieval of satellite chlorophyll-a concentration from turbid waters is essential for monitoring the coastal environment and understanding changes in the marine ecosystem. Therefore, this study summarizes the pre-existing algorithms that have been utilized for monitoring turbid Case 2 water and presents the problems associated with the mornitoring and study of seas around the Korean Peninsula. We also summarize the prospective for future ocean color satellites, which can yield more accurate and diverse results regarding the ecological environment with the development of multi-spectral and hyperspectral sensors.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.617-629
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• 2020

Sea surface temperature (SST), which plays an important role in climate change and global environmental change, can be divided into skin sea surface temperature (SSST) observed by satellite infrared sensors and the bulk temperature of sea water (BSST) measured by instruments. As sea surface temperature products distributed by many overseas institutions represent temperatures at different depths, it is essential to understand the relationship between the SSST and the BSST. In this study, we constructed an observation system of infrared radiometer onboard a marine research vessel for the first time in Korea to measure the SSST. The calibration coefficients were prepared by performing the calibration procedure of the radiometer device in the laboratory prior to the shipborne observation. A series of processes were applied to calculate the temperature of the layer of radiance emitted from the sea surface as well as that from the sky. The differences in skin-bulk temperatures were investigated quantitatively and the characteristics of the vertical structure of temperatures in the upper ocean were understood through comparison with Himawari-8 geostationary satellite SSTs. Comparison of the skin-bulk temperature differences illustrated overall differences of about 0.76℃ at Jangmok port in the southern coast and the offshore region of the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula from 21 April to May 6, 2020. In addition, the root-mean-square error of the skin-bulk temperature differences showed daily variation from 0.6℃ to 0.9℃, with the largest difference of 0.83-0.89℃ at 1-3 KST during the daytime and the smallest difference of 0.59℃ at 15 KST. The bias also revealed clear diurnal variation at a range of 0.47-0.75℃. The difference between the observed skin sea surface temperature and the satellite sea surface temperature showed a mean square error of approximately 0.74℃ and a bias of 0.37℃. The analysis of this study confirmed the difference in the skin-bulk temperatures according to the observation depth. This suggests that further ocean shipborne infrared radiometer observations should be carried out continuously in the offshore regions to understand diurnal variation as well as seasonal variations of the skin-bulk SSTs and their relations to potential causes.