• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.891-905
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• 2011

Climate vulnerability index is usually defined as a function of the climate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, which requires adequate selection of proxy variables of each variable. We selected and used 9 proxy variables related to climate exposure in the literature, and diagnosed the adequacy of them for application in Korean peninsula. The selected proxy variables are: four variables from temperature, three from precipitation, one from wind speed, and one from relative humidity. We collected climate data over both previous year (1981~2010) and future climate scenario (A1B scenario of IPCC SERES) for 2020, 2050, and 2100. We introduced the spatial and temporal diagnostic statistical parameters, and evaluated both spatial and time variabilities in the relative scale. Of 9 proxy variables, effective humidity indicated the most sensitive to climate change temporally with the biggest spatial variability, implying a good proxy variable in diagnostics of climate change vulnerability in Korea. The second most sensitive variable is the frequency of strong wind speed with a decreasing trend, suggesting that it should be used carefully or may not be of broad utility as a proxy variable in Korea. The A1B scenario of future climate in 2020, 2050 and 2100 matches well with the extension of linear trend of observed variables during 1981~2010, indicating that, except for strong wind speed, the selected proxy variables can be effectively used in calculating the vulnerability index for both past and future climate over Korea. Other local variabilities for the past and future climate in association with climate exposure variables are also discussed here.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2016

In this study, the time series of the number of days with $25^{\circ}C$ or higher temperatures in the Jeju region were analyzed and they showed a strong trend of increase until recently. To determine the existence of a climate regime shift in this time series, the statistical change-point analysis was applied and it was found that the number of days with $25^{\circ}C$ or higher temperatures in the Jeju region increased sharply since 1993. Therefore, in order to examine the cause of the sharp increase of the days with $25^{\circ}C$ or higher temperatures in the Jeju region, the differences between the averages of 1994~2013 and the averages of 1974~1993 were analyzed for the large-scale environment. In the Korean Peninsula including the Jeju region, precipitable water and total cloud cover decreased recently due to the intensification of strong anomalous anticyclones near the Korean Peninsula in the top, middle and bottom layers of the troposphere. As a result of this, the number of days with $25^{\circ}C$ or higher temperatures in the Jeju region could increase sharply in recent years. Furthermore, in the analysis of sensible heat net flux and daily maximum temperatures at 2 m, which is the height that can be felt by people, the Korean Peninsula was included in the positive anomaly region. In addition, the frequency of typhoons affecting the Korean Peninsula decreased recently, which reduced the opportunities for air temperature drops in the Jeju region.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.34-47
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• 2010

Long-range transport of air pollutants was simulated using Comprehensive Acid Deposition Model (CADM) and Yonsei University-Sulfuric Acid Deposition Model (YU-SADM). For the simulation, weather patterns that represent the four seasons were derived through a clustering analysis with 5-years of meteorological data. The simulation result showed that in spring, influenced by strong low pressure from China, air pollutants of moved to the Korean Peninsula. In summer, humid air moved into the Korean Peninsula across the Yellow Sea while the north pacific high pressure extended, making the concentration of air pollutants lower than that in the other seasons. In autumn, air pollutants were transported by the northwest wind caused by the movement of high pressure over the Yellow Sea, while in winter air pollutants were influenced by northwest winds from continental highs. The amount of air pollutants in each season showed that high amount of pollutants were transported in winter due to the strong northwest wind. The in-flows were 3 to 8 times higher than those of the other seasons, and out-flows were about as twice as high. The amount of wet deposition in summer and autumn increased significantly compared to the amount in the other seasons due to the increase of rainfall. Source-receptor relationship analysis for sulfur showed that 70 to 91 precent of the total deposition came from the self-contribution by the Korean Peninsula. In winter, contribution from China was about 25 percent of the total deposition which was higher amount than any other season.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.223-231
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• 2015

Although a considerable part of climate change can be explained by temperature change, hydrological change such as precipitation, evapotranspiration, and runoff impact more on society. For the ascertain a hydrological change in agriculture sector, this study estimate evapotranspiration of cropland in the Korean peninsula, and then to assess the drought severity in the past 30 years through the estimated potential evapotranspiration and observed precipitation. The potential evapotranspiration is estimated by EPIC model and Penman-Monteith method and the drought severity in cropland of the Korean peninsula is assessed using Normalized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (NPEI) based on the difference in precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. In North Korea, the estimated evapotranspiration tends to increase even though a significant change is not found due to the change of climate. Although a time series change in drought severity in the past 30 years is not pronounced, a deviation by year and difference between South and North Korea is certain. One reason of this is difference in precipitation and evapotranspiration change according to the latitude. The result including expansion of facilities for water management in North Korea can be used for agricultural decision making, as well as base data of climate change adaptation.

• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.249-260
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• 2015

The changes in thermodynamic and dynamic aspects on near (2025~2049) and long-term (2075~2099) future climate changes between the historical run (1979~2005) and the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 run with 20 coupled models which employed in the phase five of Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP5) over East Asia (EA) and the Korean Peninsula are investigated as an extended study for Moon et al. (2014) study noted that the 20 models' multi-model ensemble (MME) and best five models' multi-model ensemble (B5MME) have a different increasing trend of precipitation during the boreal winter and summer, in spite of a similar increasing trend of surface air temperature, especially over the Korean Peninsula. Comparing the MME and B5MME, the dynamic factor (the convergence of mean moisture by anomalous wind) and the thermodynamic factor (the convergence of anomalous moisture by mean wind) in terms of moisture flux convergence are analyzed. As a result, the dynamic factor causes the lower increasing trend of precipitation in B5MME than the MME during the boreal winter and summer over EA. However, over the Korean Peninsula, the dynamic factor causes the lower increasing trend of precipitation in B5MME than the MME during the boreal winter, whereas the thermodynamic factor causes the higher increasing trend of precipitation in B5MME than the MME during the boreal summer. Therefore, it can be noted that the difference between MME and B5MME on the change in precipitation is affected by dynamic (thermodynamic) factor during the boreal winter (summer) over the Korean Peninsula.

• Atmosphere
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.123-138
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• 2024

Using 18 multi-model-based a Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) and Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) climate change scenarios, future changes in temperature and warmth index on the Korean Peninsula in the 21st century (2011~2100) were analyzed. In the analysis of the current climate (1981~2010), the ensemble averaged model results were found to reproduce the observed average values and spatial patterns of temperature and warmth index similarly well. In the future climate projections, temperature and warmth index are expected to rise in the 21st century compared to the current climate. They go further into the future and the higher carbon scenario (SSP5-8.5), the larger the increase. In the 21st century, in the low-carbon scenario (SSP1-2.6), temperature and warmth index are expected to rise by about 2.5℃ and 24.6%, respectively, compared to the present, while in the high-carbon scenario, they are expected to rise by about 6.2℃ and 63.9%, respectively. It was analyzed that reducing carbon emissions could contribute to reducing the increase in temperature and warmth index. The increase in the warmth index due to climate change can be positively analyzed to indicate that the effective heat required for plant growth on the Korean Peninsula will be stably secured. However, it is necessary to comprehensively consider negative aspects such as changes in growth conditions during the plant growth period, increase in extreme weather such as abnormally high temperatures, and decrease in plant diversity. This study can be used as basic scientific information for adapting to climate change and preparing response measures.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.117-125
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• 2010

Korea's researchers have recently studied the prediction of forest change, but they have not considered landuse/cover change compared to distribution of forest vegetation. The purpose of our study is to predict forest vegetation based on landuse/cover change on the Korean Peninsula in the 2090's. The methods of this study were Multi-layer perceptrom neural network for Landuse/cover (water, urban, barren, wetland, grass, forest, agriculture) change and Multinomial Logit Model for distribution prediction for forest vegetation (Pinus densiflora, Quercus Spp., Alpine Plants, Evergreen Broad-Leaved Plants). The classification accuracy of landuse/cover change on the Korean Peninsula was 71.3%. Urban areas expanded with large cities as the central, but forest and agriculture area contracted by 6%. The distribution model of forest vegetation has 63.6% prediction accuracy. Pinus densiflora and evergreen broad-leaved plants increased but Quercus Spp. and alpine plants decreased from the model. Finally, the results of forest vegetation based on landuse/cover change increased Pinus densiflora to 38.9% and evergreen broad-leaved plants to 70% when it is compared to the current climate. But Quercus Spp. decreased 10.2% and alpine plants disappeared almost completely for most of the Korean Peninsula. These results were difficult to make a distinction between the increase of Pinus densiflora and the decrease of Quercus Spp. because of they both inhabit a similar environment on the Korean Peninsula.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.404-414
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• 2023

In this study, digital climate maps with high-resolution (1km, daily) for the period of 1981 to 2020 were produced for the use as reference data within the procedures for statistical downscaling of climate change scenarios. Grid data for the six climate variables including maximum temperature, minimum temperature, precipitation, wind speed, relative humidity, solar radiation was created over Korean Peninsula using statistical downscaling model, so-called IGISRM (Improved GIS-based Regression Model), using global reanalysis data and in-situ observation. The digital climate data reflects topographical effects well in terms of representing general behaviors of observation. In terms of Correlation Coefficient, Slope of scatter plot, and Normalized Root Mean Square Error, temperature-related variables showed satisfactory performance while the other variables showed relatively lower reproducibility performance. These digital climate maps based on observation will be used to downscale future climate change scenario data as well as to get the information of gridded agricultural weather data over the whole Korean Peninsula including North Korea.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.327-341
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• 2018

Extreme temperatures and precipitations are expected to be more frequently occurring due to the ongoing global warming over the Korean Peninsula. However, few studies have analyzed the synoptic weather patterns associated with extreme events in a warming world. Here, the atmospheric patterns related to future extreme events are first analyzed using the HadGEM3-RA regional climate model. Simulations showed that the variability of temperature and precipitation will increase in the future (2051-2100) compared to the present (1981-2005), accompanying the more frequent occurrence of extreme events. Warm advection from East China and lower latitudes, a stagnant anticyclone, and local foehn wind are responsible for the extreme temperature (daily T>$38^{\circ}C$) episodes in Korea. The extreme precipitation cases (>$500mm\;day^{-1}$) were mainly caused by mid-latitude cyclones approaching the Korean Peninsula, along with the enhanced Changma front by supplying water vapor into the East China Sea. These future synoptic-scale features are similar to those of present extreme events. Therefore, our results suggest that, in order to accurately understand future extreme events, we should consider not only the effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gases or aerosol increases, but also small-scale topographic conditions and the internal variations of climate systems.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.29-43
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• 2021

This study analyzed the status of climate-change indicator plants native to the main islands of the Korean peninsula, while elucidating their distribution characteristics. Information on flora from over 129 island locations, comprising more than 100 species of native plants, was collected, compiled into a database, and utilized as raw data. The distribution of 193 climate-change indicator plants was confirmed. The distribution area of broadleaf evergreen trees and ferns, including Mallotus japonicus and Cyrtomium falcatum, was relatively wide. In contrast, the distribution of common northern plants such as Corydalis turtschaninovii and Malus baccata was limited. If global warming persists, northern plant distribution is expected to decrease rapidly in the Korean Peninsula island region, while the northern limit line of the southern plants is expected to migrate further northward. During this process, it is likely that the plant congregation structure and species diversity within the island region will change dynamically. In this study, comparative analyses between species and regions were conducted by assessing the relative frequency of their occurrence, and six types of botanical geographic distribution patterns were noted.