• Atmosphere
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.519-530
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• 2023

Deep convection can make adverse effects on safe and efficient aviation operations by causing various weather hazards such as convectively-induced turbulence, icing, lightning, and downburst. To prevent such damage, it is necessary to accurately predict spatiotemporal distribution of deep convective area near the airport and airspace. This study developed a new index, the Aviation Convective Index (ACI), for deep convection, using the operational global Unified Model of the Korea Meteorological Administration. The ACI was computed from combination of three different variables: 3-hour maximum of Convective Available Potential Energy, averaged Outgoing Longwave Radiation, and accumulative precipitation using the fuzzy logic algorithm. In this algorithm, the individual membership function was newly developed following the cumulative distribution function for each variable in Korean Peninsula. This index was validated and optimized by using the 1-yr period of radar mosaic data. According to the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve (AUC) and True Skill Score (TSS), the yearly optimized ACI (ACI_YrOpt) based on the optimal weighting coefficients for 1-yr period shows a better skill than the no optimized one (ACI_NoOpt) with the uniform weights. In all forecast time from 6-hour to 48-hour, the AUC and TSS value of ACI_YrOpt were higher than those of ACI_NoOpt, showing the improvement of averaged value of AUC and TSS by 1.67% and 4.20%, respectively.

• Atmosphere
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.531-548
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• 2023

We developed the Aviation Convective Index (ACI) for predicting deep convective area using the operational global Numerical Weather Prediction model of the Korea Meteorological Administration. Seasonally optimized ACI (ACI_SnOpt) was developed to consider seasonal variabilities on deep convections in Korea. Yearly optimized ACI (ACI_YrOpt) in Part 1 showed that seasonally averaged values of Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) and True Skill Statistics (TSS) were decreased by 0.420% and 5.797%, respectively, due to the significant degradation in winter season. In Part 2, we developed new membership function (MF) and weight combination of input variables in the ACI algorithm, which were optimized in each season. Finally, the seasonally optimized ACI (ACI_SnOpt) showed better performance skills with the significant improvements in AUC and TSS by 0.983% and 25.641% respectively, compared with those from the ACI_YrOpt. To confirm the improvements in new algorithm, we also conducted two case studies in winter and spring with observed Convectively-Induced Turbulence (CIT) events from the aircraft data. In these cases, the ACI_SnOpt predicted a better spatial distribution and intensity of deep convection. Enhancements in the forecast fields from the ACI_YrOpt to ACI_SnOpt in the selected cases explained well the changes in overall performance skills of the probability of detection for both "yes" and "no" occurrences of deep convection during 1-yr period of the data. These results imply that the ACI forecast should be optimized seasonally to take into account the variabilities in the background conditions for deep convections in Korea.