• Water Engineering Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.113-122
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• 2002

Accurate quantitative forecasting of rainfall for basins with a short response time is essential to predict flash floods. In this study, a Quantitative Flood Forecasting (QFF) model was developed by incorporating the evolving structure and frequency of intense weather systems and by using neural network approach. Besides using radiosonde and rainfall data, the model also used the satellite-derived characteristics of storm systems such as tropical cyclones, mesoscale convective complex systems and convective cloud clusters as input. The convective classification and tracking system (CCATS) was used to identify and quantify storm properties such as lifetime, area, eccentricity, and track. As in standard expert prediction systems, the fundamental structure of the neural network model was learned from the hydroclimatology of the relationships between weather system, rainfall production and streamflow response in the study area. All these processes stretched leadtime up to 18 hours. The QFF model will be applied to the mid-Atlantic region of United States in a forthcoming paper.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.36 no.3 s.134
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• pp.495-505
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• 2003

Convective weather systems such as organized mesoscale convective systems (Mesoscale Convective Complex, MCC and Convective Cloud Clusters, CCC) and much weaker Disorganized Short-lived Convection (DSC) in the region of India and Nepal were analyzed using the Meteosat-5 IR imagery. The diurnal march and propagation of patterns of convective activity in the Himalayas and Northern Indian subcontinent were examined. Results indicate that infrared satellite images of Northern India and along the southern flank of the Himalayas reveal a strong presence of convective weather systems during the 1999 and 2000 monsoons, especially in the afternoon and during the night. The typical MCCs have life-times of about 11 hours, and areal extent about $300,000km^2$. Although the core of MCC activity remains generally away from the Middle Himalayan range, the occurrence of heavy precipitation events in this region can be directly linked to MCCs that venture into the Lesser Himalayan region and remain within the region bounded by $25^{\circ}-30^{\circ}N$. One principal feature in the spatial organization of convection is the dichotomy between the Tibetan Plateau and the Northern Indian Plains: CCCs and DSCs begin in the Tibetan Plateau in the mid-afternoon into the evening; while they are most active in the mid-night and early morning in the Gangetic Plains and along the southern facing flanks of the Himalayas. Furthermore, these data are consistent with the daily cycle of rainfall documented for a network of 20 hydrometeorological stations in Central Nepal, which show strong nocturnal peaks of intense rainfall consistent with the close presence of Convective Weather Systems (CWSs) in the Gangetic Plains (Barros et al. 2000).

• Water Engineering Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2002

A developed Quantitative Flood Forecasting (QFF) model was applied to the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The model incorporated the evolving structure and frequency of intense weather systems of the study area for improved flood forecasting. Besides using radiosonde and rainfall data, the model also used the satellite-derived characteristics of storm systems such as tropical cyclones, mesoscale convective complex systems and convective cloud clusters associated with synoptic atmospheric conditions as Input. Here, we present results from the application of the Quantitative Flood Forecasting (QFF) model in 2 small watersheds along the leeward side of the Appalachian Mountains in the mid-Atlantic region. Threat scores consistently above 0.6 and close to 0.8 ∼ 0.9 were obtained fur 18 hour lead-time forecasts, and skill scores of at least 40% and up to 55 % were obtained.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.43-50
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• 2002

Accurate quantitative forecasting of rainfall for basins with a short response time is essential to predict streamflow and flash floods. Previously, neural networks were used to develop a Quantitative Precipitation Forecasting (QPF) model that highly improved forecasting skill at specific locations in Pennsylvania, using both Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) output and rainfall and radiosonde data. The objective of this study was to improve an existing artificial neural network model and incorporate the evolving structure and frequency of intense weather systems in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States for improved flood forecasting. Besides using radiosonde and rainfall data, the model also used the satellite-derived characteristics of storm systems such as tropical cyclones, mesoscale convective complex systems and convective cloud clusters as input. The convective classification and tracking system (CCATS) was used to identify and quantify storm properties such as life time, area, eccentricity, and track. As in standard expert prediction systems, the fundamental structure of the neural network model was learned from the hydroclimatology of the relationships between weather system, rainfall production and streamflow response in the study area. The new Quantitative Flood Forecasting (QFF) model was applied to predict streamflow peaks with lead-times of 18 and 24 hours over a five year period in 4 watersheds on the leeward side of the Appalachian mountains in the mid-Atlantic region. Threat scores consistently above .6 and close to 0.8 ∼ 0.9 were obtained fur 18 hour lead-time forecasts, and skill scores of at least 4％ and up to 6％ were attained for the 24 hour lead-time forecasts. This work demonstrates that multisensor data cast into an expert information system such as neural networks, if built upon scientific understanding of regional hydrometeorology, can lead to significant gains in the forecast skill of extreme rainfall and associated floods. In particular, this study validates our hypothesis that accurate and extended flood forecast lead-times can be attained by taking into consideration the synoptic evolution of atmospheric conditions extracted from the analysis of large-area remotely sensed imagery While physically-based numerical weather prediction and river routing models cannot accurately depict complex natural non-linear processes, and thus have difficulty in simulating extreme events such as heavy rainfall and floods, data-driven approaches should be viewed as a strong alternative in operational hydrology. This is especially more pertinent at a time when the diversity of sensors in satellites and ground-based operational weather monitoring systems provide large volumes of data on a real-time basis.

• Atmosphere
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.155-165
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• 2005

The characteristics of six precipitation systems occurred around Cheongju in 2002 are analyzed after the convective/stratiform radar echo classification using radar reflectivity from the Meteorological Research Institute"s X-band Doppler weather radar. The Biggerstaff and Listemaa (2000) algorithm is applied for the classification and reveals a physical characteristics of the convective and stratiform rain diagnosed from the three-dimensional structure of the radar reflectivity. The area satisfying the vertical profile of radar reflectivity is well classified, while the area near the radar site and the topography-shielded area show a mis-classification. The seasonal characteristics of the precipitation system are also analyzed using the contoured frequency by altitude diagrams (CFADs). The heights of maximum reflectivity are 4 km and 5.5 km in spring and summer, respectively, and the vertical gradient of radar reflectivity from 1.5 km to the melting layer in spring is larger than in summer.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.377-394
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• 2012

To elucidate the mechanism associated with the development of heavy precipitation system, a field experiment was carried out in Jejudo (or Jeju Island) and Marado, Korea from 22 June to 12 July 2006. The synoptic atmospheric conditions were analyzed using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Research's (NCEP/NCAR) reanalyzed data, weather maps, and sounding data. The kinematic characteristics of each precipitation system were investigated by dual Doppler radar analysis. During the field experiment, data of four precipitation events with more than 20 mm rainfall were collected. In F case (frontal precipitation), a typical Changma front was dominant and the observation field was fully saturated. However there was no convective instability near the surface. LF case (low pressure accompanied with Changma front) showed strong convective instability near the surface, while a strong convergence corresponded to the low pressure from China accompanied with Changma front. In FT case (Changma front indirectly influenced by typhoon), the presence of a convective instability indicated the transport of near surface, strong additional moisture from the typhoon 'EWINIAR'. The convergence wind field was ground to be located at a low level. The convective instability was not significant in T case (precipitation of the typhoon 'EWINIAR'), since the typhoon passed through Jejudo and the Changma front was disappeared toward the northeastern region of the Korean peninsula. The kinematic (convergence and divergence) characteristics of wind fields, convective instability, and additional moisture inflow played important roles in the formation and development of heavy precipitation.

• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.97-109
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• 2016

Heavy rainfall (over $80mm\;hr^{-1}$) system associated with unstable atmospheric conditions occurred over the Seoul metropolitan area on 27 July 2011. To investigate the heavy rainfall system, we used three-dimensional data from Korea Local Analysis and Prediction System (KLAPS) reanalysis data and analysed the structure of the precipitation system, kinematic characteristics, thermodynamic properties, and Meteorological condition. The existence of Upper-Level Jet (ULJ) and Low-Level Jet (LLJ) are accelerated the heavy rainfall. Convective cloud developed when a strong southwesterly LLJ and strong moisture convergence occurring around the time of the heavy rainfall is consistent with the results of previous studies on such continuous production. Environmental conditions included high equivalent potential temperature of over 355 K at low levels, and low equivalent potential temperature of under 330 K at middle levels, causing vertical instability. The tip of the band shaped precipitation system was made up of line-shaped convective systems (LSCSs) that caused flooding and landslides, and the LSCSs were continuously enhanced by merging between new cells and the pre-existing cell. Difference of wind direction between low and middle levels has also been considered an important factor favouring the occurrence of precipitation systems similar to LSCSs. Development of LSCs from the wind direction difference at heights of the severe precipitation occurrence area was also identified. This study can contribute to the identification of production and development mechanisms of heavy rainfall and can be used in applied research for prediction of severe weather.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.553-566
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• 2015

The effects of vertical resolutions and planetary boundary layer (PBL) physics schemes in a numerical simulation with a very high resolution over the metropolitan area were investigated. The numerical experiments using the Weather Research and Forecast model were conducted from 0000 UTC 25 October to 0000 UTC 26 October 2013. We verified the numerical results against with six hourly observation data from the radiosonde at Seolleung, which was located in southern part of Seoul, and forty three auto weather systems in Seoul. In the experiments of vertical resolutions in low level atmosphere with 44, 50, and 60 layers, which are set to be subdivided particularly under 2 km height. The experiment in 60 layers, which has the highest vertical resolution in this study, showed relatively a clear diurnal variation of PBL heights. Especially, the difference of PBL heights and 10-meter wind fields were mainly seen in the area of high altitude lands for the experiments of vertical resolution. In the sensitivity experiment of PBL schemes such as asymmetric convective model-version 2 (ACM2), Yonsei University (YSU), and Mellow-Yamada-Janjic (MYJ) to the temperature, all three PBL schemes revealed lower temperature than observed profile from the radiosonde in the entire period. The experiments with YSU PBL and ACM2 PBL schemes show relatively less biased in comparison with the experiment of the MYJ PBL scheme.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.496-503
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• 2021

By analyzing the characteristics of atmospheric stability in the southern coastal region of the Korean Peninsula in the summer of 2019, a quantitative threshold of atmospheric instability indices was derived for predicting rainfall events in the Korean Peninsula. For this analysis, we used data from all of the 243 radiosonde intensive observations recorded at the Boseong Standard Weather Observatory (BSWO) in the summer of 2019. To analyze the atmospheric stability of rain events and mesoscale atmospheric phenomena, convective available potential energy (CAPE) and storm relative helicity (SRH) were calculated and compared. In particular, SRH analysis was divided into four levels based on the depth of the atmosphere (0-1, 0-3, 0-6, and 0-10 km). The rain events were categorized into three cases: that of no rain, that of 12 h before the rain, and that of rain. The results showed that SRH was more suitable than CAPE for the prediction of the rainfall events in Boseong during the summer of 2019, and that the rainfall events occurred when the 0-6 km SRH was 150 m² s^-2 or more, which is the same standard as that for a possible weak tornado. In addition, the results of the atmospheric stability analysis during the Changma, which is the rainy period in the Korean Peninsula during the summer and typhoon seasons, showed that the 0-6 km SRH was larger than the mean value of the 0-10 km SRH, whereas SRH generally increased as the depth of the atmosphere increased. Therefore, it can be said that the 0-6 km SRH was more effective in determining the rainfall events caused by typhoons in Boseong in the summer of 2019.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.569-582
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• 2012

The heavy rainfalls caused large property damages and human casualties. For example, Changma caused 0.25 billion dollars in damages and 57 deaths and 112 missing by accompanying the torrentially convective heavy rainfall in Seoul, 2011. In addition, TY15 (Bolaven) caused a small damage by bringing a relatively small amount of rainfall and strong wind in Gwanju, 2012. The investigation and analyses of these mesoscale processes of rainfall events for different physical properties using KLAPS for weather environments of the above cases were performed. These typical and ideal meoscale systems by better and more favorable cloud systems were chosen to retrieve rain intensity from Radar and Chullian data. The quantitative rain intensities of Radar and Chullian differ greatly from the ground-based gauge values with underestimating over 50 mm/hr at the peak time of hourly maximum rain intensity about over than 85 mm/hr. However, the Radar rain intensity demonstrated approximately lower than 35 mm/hr, and the Chullian rain intensity less than 60 mm/hr for Changma in Seoul, 2011. For typhoon (TY15, Bolaven) in Gwangju, similarly, the quantitative rain intensities of Radar and Chullian differ from the ground-based gauge values. At the peak time, the hourly maximum rain intensity of ground-based gauge was more than 15 mm/hr. However, the Radar rain intensity showed lower than 5 mm/hr, and the Chullian rain intensity lower than 10 mm/hr. Regarding the above two cases of typhoon and Changma, even though Radar and Chullian rain intensities have been underestimated when compared to the ground-based rain intensity, the distributions of time scale features of both Radar and Chullian rain intensities still delineated a similar tendency of rain intensity distribution of the ground-based gauge data.