• Atmosphere
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.343-350
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• 2006

The rainfall amount measured by Chugugi at Gongju was found in "Gaksadeungnok". Gaksadeungnok is ancient documents from governmental offices in Joseon dynasty. Rainfall data at Gongju are restored for 18 years of 19th century. In 1871, total rainfall amount is 1,338 mm. It is different by about 11% in the amount compared with Seoul Chugugi rainfall in 1871 and Daejeon modern raingauge measurement result during the 30 years (1971-2000). Annual march of monthly rainfall data at Gongju is similar with that of Seoul. Based on the results, restored rainfall at Gongju is consistent with Seoul Chugugi rainfall data. The rainfall amount restored in this study is measured by Chugugi which was installed at Gongju, in Chung-Cheong province. Furthermore, Gaksadeungnok includes rainfall amount reports by agricultural tool measurement in addition to Chugugi measurement. These facts prove a network of rain gauge in Joseon dynasty.

• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.719-734
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• 2015

Korea is one of the country with the world's oldest meteorological observation records. Starting with first meteorological record of fog in Goguryeo in the year of 34 BC, Korea had left a great deal of quantitative observation records, from the Three Kingdoms Period to Goryeo to Joseon. During the Joseon Dynasty, with a great attention by kings, efforts were particularly made to measure rainfall in a systematic and scientific manner. In the 23rd year of King Sejong (1441), the world's first rain gauge called "Chugugi" was invented; in the following year (1442), a nationwide rainfall observation network was established. The King Sejong distributed Chugugi to 350 observation stations throughout the state, even to small towns and villages, for measuring and recording rainfall. The rainfall observation using Chugugi, initiated by King Sejong, had been in place for about 150 years, but halted during national disturbances such as Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. Since then, the observation had been forgotten for a long time until the rainfall observation by Chugugi was resumed in the 48th year of King Yeongjo (1770). King Yeongjo adopted most of the existing observation system established by King Sejong, including the size of Chugugi and observation rules. He, however, significantly reduced the number of Chugugi observation stations to 14, and commanded the 352 local authorities such as Bu, Gun, Hyeon to conduct "Wootaek", a method of measuring how far the moisture had absorbed into the soil when it rains. Later on, six more Chugugi stations were established. If the number of stations of Chugugi and Wootaek are combined together, the total number of rainfall observation station in the late period of Joseon Dynasty was 372. The rainfall observation with Chugugi during the Joseon Dynasty is of significance and excellence in three aspects: 1) the standard size of Chugugi was so scientifically designed that it is as great as today's modern rain gauge; 2) rainfall was precisely measured, even with unit of Bun (2 mm); and 3) the observation network was distributed on a nationwide basis.

• Atmosphere
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.455-469
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• 2011

The Chugudae is a pedestal for the Chugugi. While many Chugudae were made during the Joseon Dynasty period, seven remained in existence until the early 20th century. Only five of them remain to this day-Gwansanggam (Royal Office of Astronomy and Meteorology), the Seonhwadang in Daegu, the Changdeok Palace, Tongyeong, and Yeongyeongdang. The Changdeok Palace Chugudae is the only existing model made not only as a meteorological instrument but also as a memorial statue. It has been a challenge to decipher 41 of the 368 characters in 'Chugugi-myeong (The title of the inscriptions on the Changdeok Palace Chugudae)' as these had been eroded. However, the interpretation of the full text of 'Chugugi-myeong' became possible thanks to the "Cheoljae Jinjeok (澈齋眞蹟)" which was discovered through this study. The key sentences of the 'Chugugi-myeong' include the reason for creation, the size and functions of the Chugugi and a eulogy to the reigns of King Sejong, Youngjo and Jeongjo. Moreover, its splendid design is worthy of further study. To conclude its true meaning and value, the Changdeok Palace Chugudae requires a more extensive investigation from the viewpoint of an art history.

• Atmosphere
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.151-162
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• 2017

The rainfall amount data measured by 'Wootaek', a method of measuring how far the moisture had absorbed into the soil when it rains during the Joseon Dynasty, were estimated with the Chugugi data in the 12 sites where both the 'Wootaek' and 'Chugugi' data are available. Excluding the 5 sites (Ganghwa, Jinju, Jeonju, Chuncheon, Hamheung) poor in sample data, the 'Wootaek' data 1 'Ri' and 1 'Seo' in 'Chugugi' unit (Bun) in the 7 sites; Suwon, Gwangju (Gyeonggi-do), Gongju, Daegu, Wonju, Haeju and Pyeongyang, were 11.1/5.6 Bun, 9.4/3.2 Bun, 14.0/5.7 Bun, 9.3/3.9 Bun, 13.6/4.3 Bun, 11.3/4.8 Bun and 16.8/7.4 Bun, respectively. The Chugugi unit 1 'Bun' is equall to approximately 2 'mm'. The average of the 7 sites is 13.1/5.7 Bun, however it becomes small to 11.7/4.5 Bun when the Pyeongyang of which data is considerably distributed over wide range is excluded, showing that the 'Wootaek' data 1 'Ri' is approximately the 2.3~2.6 times of 1 'Seo'. It is recommended to use the individual estimates of the sites in utilizing the 'Wootaek' rainfall data of 352 stations across the country restored from the "Gaksa-deungnok".

• Atmosphere
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.389-400
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• 2013

Chugugi and Wootaeck rainfall data of Gyeonggi Province from 1830 to 1893 were restored from the "Gaksadeungnok" that is the government records between the central government and the local during the Joseon Dynasty. The restored data periods were 27, 10, 9 and 14 years for Kwangju, Suwon, Ganghwa and Gaeseong, and the total number of restored data was 655 for the Chugugi and 427 for the Wootaek, respectively. The variation pattern of monthly rainfall by Chugugi was investigated and it showed that the monthly rainfall more than 300 mm was recorded 25 times with 18 times in July, 5 times in August and 3 times in June. The cases of more than 500 mm were also recorded 8 times with the maximum 787 mm at the Kwangju in July 1862, showing the similar pattern to Seoul. The monthly mean rainfall for the Gyeonggi Province were 259 mm in July, 204 mm in August and 121 mm in June, which were about one third of that of Seoul. The correlation analysis between the Chugugi and Wootaek data was carried out to derive the quantitative values of Wootaek observations. It revealed that 1 'Ri' of Wootaek observation was equal to approximately 1 'Chon (Chugugi unit)' or 20 mm, while 1 'Seo' was very variable between 2 and 6 'Boon (Chugugi unit)' with the median value approximately 3 'Boon' or 6 mm. Recalculated Wootaek data showed that the monthly rainfall in July, August, and June were 289 mm, 154 mm, and 124 mm, respectively. Through this study, some features of the rainfall variation pattern during 1830~1893 were figured out, and quantitative interpretation of Wootaek data became possible based on the restored rainfall data from the "Gaksadeungnok". Though many pages of the book have been lost during the last hundreds years, "Gaksadeungnok" is still very meaningful and of practical use, for it contains plenty of the local data throughout the whole country during the latter part of Joseon Dynasty. Therefore, further studies are strongly recommended on the restoration of climate related data and on the climatic tendency of 19th century of Korean peninsular.

• Atmosphere
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.481-489
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• 2014

The Chugugi and Wootaek data of Gyeongsang-do (Dagu, Jinju, Goseong) were restored from "Gaksadeungnok", the governmental documents reported by the local government to the central during the Joseon Dynasty, and analyzed. The duration of the restored data represents 6 years for Daegu (1863, 1872, 1890, 1897, 1898, and 1902), 3 years for Jinju (1897, 1898, and 1900), and 2 years for Goseong (1871 and 1873). Total number of the restored data was 134, including 83 in Daegu, 25 in Jinju, and 26 in Goseong with the period ranging from March to September. The summer data from June to August accounts for approximately 50% (73 data), while the April data also shows relatively high number of 22, followed by September and March. Most data was collected from March to October, while this time winter data was not found even in October. The rainfall patterns using Chugugi data were investigated. First, the number of days with rainfall by annual mean showed 41 days in Daegu, 39 in Jinju, 33 in Goseong, respectively. In terms of the time series distribution of daily rainfall, the ratio between the number of occurrences with over 40 mm of heavy rainfall and the number of rainy days showed 14 times (8%) in Daegu, 24 (39%) in Jinju, and 4 (6%) in Goseong, respectively. The maximum daily rainfall during the period was recorded with 80mm in Jinju on August 24, 1900. The result of analyzing monthly amount of rainfall clearly indicated more precipitation in summer (June, July and August) with the relatively high records of 284 mm and 422 mm in April, 1872 and July, 1902, respectively, in Daegu, while Jinju recorded the highest value of 506 mm in June, 1898. When comparing the data with those observed by Chugugi in Seoul during the same period from "Seungjeongwonilgi", the monthly rainfall patterns in Daegu and Seoul were quite similar except for the year of 1890 and 1897 in which many data were missing. In particular, in June 1898 the rainfall amount of Jinju recorded as much as 506 mm, almost 4 times of that of Seoul (134 mm). Based on this, it is possible to presume that there was a large amount of the precipitation in the southern region during 1898. According to the calculated result of Wootaek data based on Chugugi observations, the unit of 1 'Ri' and 1 'Seo' in Daegu can be interpreted into 18.6 mm and 7.8 mm. When taking into consideration with the previous result found in Gyeonggi-do (Cho et al., 2013), 1 'Ri' and 1 'Seo' may be close to 20.5 mm and 8.1 mm, however, more future investigations and studies will be essential to verify the exact values.

• Atmosphere
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.129-135
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• 2012

This study restores rainfall measurements taken with the Chugugi (rain gauge) at Wonju, Hamheung, and Haeju from the Deungnok (government records from the Joseon Dynasty). We restored rainfall data corresponding to a total of 9, 13, and 18 years for Wonju, Hamheung, and Haeju, respectively. Based on the restored data, we reconstructed monthly rainfall data. Restoration was most successful for the rainy season months of June, July and August. The restored rainfall data were compared with the summer rainfall data for Seoul as recorded by the Seungjeongwon (Royal Secretariat). In June, the variation in the restored rainfall data was similar to that of the Seungjeongwon data for Seoul. In July and August, however, the variations in the reconstructed data were markedly different from those in the Seoul data (Seungjeongwon). In the case of the worst drought in the summer of 1888, a substantial shortage of rainfall was found in both the Seungjeongwon data for Seoul and the restored data for the three regional locations.

• Atmosphere
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.47-61
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• 2013

The Punggi (風旗) is one of the meteorological instruments made in the Joseon Dynasty (朝鮮王朝). Its purpose was to observe the direction of the wind. It is estimated that it started its operation in the $16^{th}$ century at least. But it does not remain in a perfect form, like the Chugugi (測雨器) and the Supyo (水標). The Punggi (風旗) can only be found at old document data, while the stone used to build the Punggi still remains. Since the stone had been named as the Punggi-dae (風旗臺) by 和田雄治 (1917), the name has not been changed until now. The Punggi is currently located in the Gyeongbok-gung (景福宮) and the Changgyeong-gung (昌慶宮). Meantime, there have been several transfers of its position. However, 和田雄治 (1917)'s paper and the "每日新報" (Maeil-Sinbo, 1929) articles have provided new clues. Also, the word 'Hupungso (候風所)' was found in the "朝鮮王朝實錄" (The annals of the Joseon Dynasty) and the "承政院日記" (Daily records of royal secretariat of Joseon dynasty). A designed harbor where the ship was staying was usually considered a special section for wind observations. It is assumed that the Hupungso was in most of the harbors at that time. This paper assumes the Punggi and the Hupungso had a lot of interest in wind observations in the Joseon Dynasty. In this study, we'll look for contained information about the Punggi and the viewpoints about wind during the Joseon Dynasty.