• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.37 no.7
• /
• pp.553-567
• /
• 2004

This study proposes a modified standardized precipitation index (MSPI) which was developed to make up for the weakness of the SPI. Both MSPI and SPI are applied to the monthly rainfall at the Seoul station for the drought analysis. The MSPI proposed is nothing but the SPI for the normalized monthly rainfall, that is, an extra step for normalizing the monthly rainfall is included before driving the SPI. Thus, the MSPI has a structure to transfer the relative amount of rainfall to the next months, but the SPI the absolute amount of rainfall. The monthly rainfall data at the Seoul station used in this study are those collected from 1777 to 1996. The rainfall data collected before and after the long dry period around 1900 were also analyzed separately for the comparison. The results derived are as follows. (1) The MSPI was found to be more practical compared to the SPI. This was assured by comparing the analysis results of the data including and excluding the long dry period around 1900. (2) The MSPI is found to be less sensitive than the SPI to the extreme rainfall events. For the MSPI, the occurrence probabilities of moderate drought before and after the long dry period are similar, but those for the extreme drought becomes slightly decreased after the long dry period (from about 18 years of return period before the long dry period to the 16 years after the long dry period). However, the duration becomes longer after the long dry period (the duration for the extreme drought has been increased from 2 to 2.5 months after the long dry period). This results can also be compared with a rather unreasonable result derived by applying the SPI (for the extreme drought the return period has been decreased to be from 25 to 10 years after the long dry period, on the other hand the duration has been increased from 1.5 months to 3.5 months). So, we man conclude that the MSPI is more practical for the drought analysis that the SPI.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.249-255
• /
• 2019

This study is intended to clarify the main microstructural factors that contribute to an increase of hardness during isothermal aging in Mg-Al alloy. For this work, Mg-9.3%Al alloy specimens were solution-treated at 688 K for 24 h followed by water quenching, and then aged at 473 K for up to 24 h. The aging at 473 K yielded nodular discontinuous precipitates (DPs) with (${\alpha}+{\beta}$) lamellar morphology at the grain boundaries, and the volume fraction of DPs increased from 0% to ~30% with increasing aging time up to 12 h. For the aging times longer than 12 h, further formation of DPs was substantially inhibited owing to the occurrence of significant continuous precipitation within the ${\alpha}-(Mg)$ matrix, and the density of continuous precipitates (CPs) becomes greater with increasing aging time. Hardness of the specimen was steadily increased with aging time up to 24 h. Microstructural examination on the aged specimens revealed that the increased overall hardness at the early stage of aging is associated with the increased volume fraction of DPs, but at the later stage of aging, where the amount of DPs was hardly changed, the increased hardness of the ${\alpha}-(Mg)$ matrix in response to the higher density of CPs within the matrix, plays a key role in increasing the overall hardness value.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.443-451
• /
• 2008

Memon(1995) pointed out that the groundwater recharge from the precipitation is affected by various factors such as the occurrence, intensity, duration, and seasonal distribution of rainfall; air temperature, humidity, and wind velocity; the character and thickness of the soil layer above the water table; vegetated cover, soil moisture content, depth to the water table, topography; and land use. To reflect above factors, groundwater recharge in Chungju basin is computed by using the SWAT-K which is a longterm continuous watershed hydrologic model. Frequency analysis is adopted to evaluate the existing values of potential amount of groundwater development which is made by the 10 year drought frequency rainfall multiplied by recharge coefficient. In this work, the recharge rates of 10 year drought frequency in subbains were computed and compared with the existing values of potential amount of groundwater development. This process could point out the problems of existing precesses used for computing potential amount of groundwater development.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.50 no.2
• /
• pp.117-128
• /
• 2017

Occurrence characteristics and existing forms of U-Th containing minerals in KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel) granite are investigated to understand long-term behavior of radionuclides in granite considered as a candidate rock for the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. KURT granite primarily consists of quartz, feldspar and mica. zircon, REE(Rare Earth Element)-containing monazite and bastnaesite are also identified. Besides, secondary minerals such as sericite, microcline and chlorite including quartz vein and calcite vein are observed. These minerals are presumed to be accompanied by a post-hydrothermal process. U-Th containing minerals are mainly observed at the boundaries of quartz, feldspar and mica, mostly less than $30{\mu}m$ in size. Quantitative analysis results using EPMA (Electron Probe Micro-Analyzer) show that 74.2 ~ 96.5% of the U-Th containing minerals consist of $UO_2$ (3.39 ~ 33.19 wt.%), $ThO_2$ (41.61 ~ 50.24 wt.%) and $SiO_2$ (15.43 ~ 18.60 wt.%). Chemical structure of the minerals calculated using EPMA quantitative analysis shows that the U-Th minerals are silicate minerals determined as thorite and uranothorite. The U-Th containing silicate minerals are formed by a magmatic and hydrothermal process. Therefore, KURT granite formed by a magmatic differentiation is accompanied by an alteration and replacement owing to a hydrothermal process. U-Th containing silicate minerals in KURT granite are estimated to be recrystallized by geochemical factors and parameters such as temperature, pressure and pH owing to the hydrothermal process. By repeated dissolution/precipitation during the recrystallization process, U-Th containing silicate minerals such as thorite and uranothorite are formed according to the variation in the concentrated amount of U and Th.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.242-252
• /
• 2016

A process-based ecosystem model, BIOME-BGC, was applied to simulate seasonal and inter-annual dynamics of carbon and water processes for potential evergreen needleleaf forest (ENF) biome in Korea. Two simulation sites, Milyang and Unljin, were selected to reflect warm-and-dry and cool-and-wet climate regimes, where massive diebacks of pines including Pinus densiflora, P. koraiensis and P thunbergii, were observed in 2009 and 2014, respectively. Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) showed periodic drought occurrence at every 5 years or so for both sites. Since mid-2000s, droughts occurred with hotter climate condition. Among many model variables, Cpool (i.e., a temporary carbon pool reserving photosynthetic compounds before allocations for new tissue production) was identified as a useful proxy variable of tree carbon starvation caused by reduction of gross primary production (GPP) and/or increase of maintenance respiration (Rm). Temporal Cpool variation agreed well with timings of pine tree diebacks for both sites. Though water stress was important, winter- and spring-time warmer temperature also played critical roles in reduction of Cpool, especially for the cool-and-wet Uljin. Shallow soil depth intensified the drought effect, which was, however, marginal for soil depth shallower than 0.5 m. Our modeling analysis implicates seasonal drought and warmer climate can intensify vulnerability of ENF dieback in Korea, especially for shallower soils, in which multi-year continued stress is of concern more than short-term episodic stress.