• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.287-298
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• 2020

It is predicted that future climate warming will occur, and the subtropical climate zone currently confined to the south coast of Korea will gradually rise north. The shift of climate zone implies a change in area for cultivating crops. This study aimed to evaluate the current and future status of climate zones based on the high-resolution climate data of South Korea to prepare adaptation measures for cultivating crops under changing agricultural climate conditions. First, the climatic maps of South and North Korea were produced by using the high-resolution monthly maximum and minimum daily temperature and monthly cumulative precipitation produced during the past 30 years (1981-2010) covering South and North Korea. Then the climate zones of the Korean Peninsula were classified based on the Köppen climate classification. Second, the changes in climate zones were predicted by using the corrected monthly climate data of the Korean Peninsula (grid resolution 30-270m) based on the RCP8.5 scenario of the Korea Meteorological Administration. Köppen climate classification was applied based on the RCP8.5 scenario, the temperature and precipitation of the Korean Peninsula would continue to increase and the climate would become simpler. It was predicted that the temperate climate, appearing in the southern region of Korea, would be gradually expanded and the most of the Korean Peninsula, excluding some areas of Hamgkyeong and Pyeongan provinces in North Korea, would be classified as a temperate climate zone between 2071 and 2100. The subarctic climate would retreat to the north and the Korean Peninsula would become warmer and wetter in general.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.161-181
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• 2012

The Enlightenment period (1876~1910) of Joseon was the age of turbulence in terms of introduction of the Western science and technology. The interaction of modern and oriental science in the enlightenment period can be got insights from the records of Westerners. This study especially focuses to the viewpoints of Western visitors toward the weather and climate of the Korean peninsula. As a result, there are three characteristics in Westerners' awareness of Korean climate: quantitative records using numeric; interpretation of weather in the system of the modern science; and the distinct records about rainfall. In conclusion, from these result, it can be suggested that the Western visitors systematically grasped the climate of Korean peninsula.

• Atmosphere
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.387-395
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• 2008

The impact of horizontal resolution on a regional climate model was investigated by simulating precipitation over the Korean Peninsula. As a regional climate model, the SNURCM(Seoul National University Regional Climate Model) has 21 sigma layers and includes the NCAR CLM(National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Land Model) for land-surface model, the Grell scheme for cumulus convection, the Simple Ice scheme for explicit moisture, and the MRF(Medium-Range Forecast) scheme for PBL(Planetary Boundary Layer) processing. The SNURCM was performed with 20 km resolution for Korea and 60 km resolution for East Asia during a 20-year period (1980-1999). Although the SNURCM systematically underestimated precipitation over the Korean Peninsula, the increase of model resolution simulated more precipitation in the southern region of the Korean Peninsula, and a more accurate distribution of precipitation by reflecting the effect of topography. The increase of precipitation was produced by more detailed terrain data which has a 10 minute terrain in the 20 km resolution model compared to the 30 minute terrain in the 60 km resolution model. The increase in model resolution and more detailed terrain data played an important role in generating more precipitation over the Korean Peninsula. While the high resolution model with the same terrain data resulted in increasing of precipitation over the Korean Peninsula including the adjoining sea, the difference of the terrain data resolution only influenced the precipitation distribution of the mountainous area by increasing the amount of non-convective rain. In conclusion, the regional climate model (SNURCM) with higher resolution simulated more precipitation over the Korean Peninsula by reducing the systematic underestimation of precipitation over the Korean Peninsula.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.281-290
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• 2011

This study examined the change in sea surface temperature (SST) around the Korean peninsula since industrialization at year 1880, and its possible causes using observation based data from the Hadley Center, the Goddard Institute of Space Studies, and National Climate Data Center. Since year 1880, There have been multi-decadal fluctuations with a gradual reduction from 1880 to around 1940, and from 1950-1980. There has then been a marked increase from 1940-1950, and from 1980 to the present. The ocean surface warming is larger during the boreal winter than summer, and greater in the south. The multi-decadal SST fluctuations around the Korean Peninsula are largely consistent with the negative phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), which fluctuates with periods of about 20-50 years. Secondly, the El Ni$\tilde{n}$o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), whose long period component moves along with the PDO, appears to influence the SST near the Korean Peninsula, especially in recent decades. Overall, the SST around the Korean Peninsula has warmed since year 1880 by about $1^{\circ}C$, which is about twice the global-mean ocean surface warming. This long-term warming is aligned with an increase in greenhouse gas concentration, as well as local factors such as the PDO.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.177-185
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• 2024

We developed a regional ocean climate model using dynamic downscaling in the Northwest Pacific Ocean to build a climate model for the Korean Peninsula. The past marine environment was reproduced through historical simulations, and the future marine environment in 2100 was predicted according to the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP) climate change scenario. The future sea surface temperature of the Korean seas is predicted to rise about 1-4℃, and the increase in water temperature in the East Sea is expected to be the largest. The National Institute of Fisheries Science has monitored abnormal seawater temperatures such as high and low seawater temperatures in coastal and inland waters, and predicted that the number of high seawater temperature days in the East, West, South Sea, and the coast of Jeju Island will increase in the future. In addition, the occurrence of Ciguatera fish poison plankton around Jeju Island was projected to increase. This study is expected to provide accurate forecasting information for fishery issues. The aim of this study was to analyze future ocean environment changes around the Korean Peninsula using climate change SSP scenarios and predict fisheries issues through future projections of the regional ocean climate model.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2016

In the present study, the time series of the number of days on which temperatures were not higher than $-5^{\circ}C$ in winter in Seoul was analyzed. The results showed a decreasing tendency until recently. Statistical change-point analysis was conducted to examine whether climate regime shifts existed in this time series. According to the results, the number of days on which temperatures were not higher than $-5^{\circ}C$ in winter in Seoul drastically decreased since 1988. Therefore, to find out the reason for the recent decrease in the number of days, differences between the means of large-scale environments in winder during 1988~2010 and those during 1974~1987 were analyzed. In all layers of the troposphere, anomalous anticyclones developed in regions around the Korean Peninsula and thus the Korean Peninsula was affected by westerlies or south-westerlies. This was associated with the recent a little further northward development of western North Pacific subtropical high. Therefore, environments good for warm and humid air to flow into the Korean Peninsula were formed. To examine whether relatively warm and humid air actually flowed into the Korean Peninsula recently, temperatures and specific humidity in all layers in the troposphere were analyzed and according to the results the Korean Peninsula showed warm and humid anomalies. In the analyses of sensible heat net flux and maximum temperatures at a height of 2 m that can be felt by humans, the East Asia Continent including the Korean Peninsula showed positive anomalies.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.259-272
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• 2022

Background: The Korean Peninsula exhibits a characteristic graded floral distribution, with northern (Manchurian flora) and southern (China-Japan-Korea flora) lineage species coexisting according to climatic and topographical characteristics. However, this distribution has been altered by climate change. To identify ecosystem changes caused by climate change and develop appropriate measures, the current ecological status of the entire Korean Peninsula should first be determined; however, analysis of the current floral distribution in North Korea has been hampered for political reasons. To overcome these limitations, this study constructed a database of floral distributions in both South and North Korea by integrating spatial information from the previously established National Ecological Survey in South Korea and geocoding data from the literature on biological distributions published in North Korea. It was then applied to analyze the current status and distribution characteristics of Manchurian and China-Japan-Korea plant species on the Korean Peninsula. Results: In total, 45,877 cases were included in the Manchurian and China-Japan-Korea floral distribution database. China-Japan-Korea species were densely distributed on Jeju-do and along the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. The distribution density decreased as the latitude increased, and the distributions reached higher-latitude regions in the coastal areas compared with the inland regions. Manchurian species were distributed throughout North Korea, while they were densely distributed in the refugia formed in the high-elevation mountain regions and the Baekdudaegan in South Korea. In the current distribution of biomes classified according to the Whittaker method, subtropical and endemic species were densely distributed in temperate seasonal forest and woodland/shrubland biomes, whereas boreal species were densely distributed in the boreal forest biome Korean Peninsula, with a characteristic gradation of certain species distributed in the temperate seasonal forest biome. Factor analysis showed that temperature and latitude were the main factors influencing the distribution of flora on the Korean Peninsula. Conclusions: The findings reported herein on the current floral distribution trends across the entire Korean Peninsula will prove valuable got mitigating the ecological disturbances caused by ongoing climate change. Additionally, the gathered flora data will serve as a basis for various follow-up studies on climate change.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.269-281
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• 2011

In this review, numerical model results from global and regional climate models are introduced to regional detailed climate changes over East Asia and Korea. In particular, regional climate change scenarios in this region, which are created by several research groups in Korea based on Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) of IPCC 4th assessment report are introduced and characteristics of the scenarios are investigated. Despite slight differences in intensity, all scenarios reveal prominent warming over the Korean peninsula in future climate. Changes in precipitation amount vary with given scenarios and periods, but the frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation generally tend to increase in all scenarios. South Korea except for mountainous regions is expected to change into subtropical climate in future, which accompanies distinct changes in ecosystems and seasons.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.35-41
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• 2012

The paddy rice consumptive use in the six plains of the Korean peninsula was projected with changing climate under the representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios. High resolution climate data for the baseline (1961-1990) was obtained from the International water management institute (IWMI) and future high resolution climate projection was obtained from the Korea Meteorological Administration. Reference evapotranspiration (ET) was calculated by using Hargreaves equation. The results of this study showed that the average annual mean temperature would increase persistently in the future. Temperatures were projected to increase more in RCP8.5 than those in RCP4.5 scenario. The rice consumptive use during the growing period was projected to increase slightly in the 2020s and then more significantly in the 2050s and 2080s. It showed higher values for RCP8.5 than for RCP4.5. The rice consumptive use after transplanting in the study areas would increase by 2.2 %, 5.1 % and 7.2 % for RCP4.5 and 3.0 %, 7.6 %, and 13.3 % for RCP8.5, in the 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s, respectively, from the baseline value of 534 mm. The results demonstrated the effects of climate change on rice consumptive use quite well, and can be used in the future agricultural water planning in the Korean peninsula.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.110-119
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• 2007

This study's objects are to predict distribution and to assess vulnerability of sub-alpine vegetations in the Korean peninsula for climate change using various climate models. This study validates relationship between sub-alpine vegetations and environmental factors using Pearson correlation analysis. Then, the future distribution of sub-alpine vegetations are predicted by a logistic regression. The major findings in this study are; First, spring mean temperature (March-May), total precipitation, elevation and warmth index are highly influencing factors to the distribution of sub-alpine vegetations. Second, the sub-alpine vegetations will be disappeared in South Korea and concentrated around Baekdu Mountain in North Korea. North Korea is predicted to have serious impact of climate change because temperature will be increased higher than in South Korea. The study findings concluded that the assessment of the future vulnerability of sub-alpine vegetations to climate change are significant.