• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2008

A geophysical mapping was performed for Hwasan caldera which is located in Euisung Sub-basin of the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula. In order to overcome the limitation of the previous studies, remote sensing technic was used and dense potential data were obtained and analyzed. First, we analyzed geological lineament for target area using geological map, digital elevation model (DEM) data and satellite imagery. The results were greatly consistent with the previous studies, and showed that N-S and NW-SE direction are the most dominant one in target area. Second, based on the lineament analysis, highly dense gravity data were acquired in Euisung Sub-basin and an integrated interpretation considering air-born magnetic data was made to investigate the regional structure of the target area. The results of power spectrum analysis for the acquired potential data revealed that the subsurface of Euisung Sub-basin have two density discontinuities at about 1 km and 3-5 km depth. A 1 km depth discontinuity is thought as the depth of pyroclastic sedimentary rocks or igneous rocks which were intruded at the ring vent of Hwasan caldera, while a 3-5 km depth discontinuity seems to be associated with the depth of the basin basement. In addition, three-dimensional gravity inversion for the total area of Euisung Sub-basin was carried out, and the inversion results indicated two followings; 1) Cretaceous Palgongsan granite and Bulguksa intrusion rocks, which are located in southeastern part and northeastern part of Euisung Sub-basin, show two major low density anomalies, 2) pyroclastic rocks around Hwasan caldera also have lower density when compared with those of neighborhood regions and are extended to 1.5 km depth. However, a poor vertical resolution of potential survey makes it difficult to accurately delineate the detailed structure caldera which has a vertically developed characteristic in general. To overcome this limitation, integrated analysis was carried out using the magnetotelluric data on the corresponding area with potential data and we could obtain more reasonable geologic structure.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.325-338
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• 2023

Korean fir (Abies koreana Wilson) is one of the most important environmental indicator tree species for assessing climate change impacts on coniferous forests in the Korean Peninsula. However, due to the nature of alpine and subalpine regions, it is difficult to conduct regular field surveys of Korean fir, which is mainly distributed in regions with altitudes greater than 1,000 m. Therefore, this study analyzed the vegetation change trend of Korean fir using regularly observed remote sensing data. Specifically, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), land surface temperature (LST), and precipitation data from Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievalsfor GPM from September 2003 to 2020 for Hallasan and Jirisan were used to analyze vegetation changes and their association with environmental variables. We identified a decrease in NDVI in 2020 compared to 2003 for both sites. Based on the NDVI difference maps, areas for healthy vegetation and high mortality of Korean fir were selected. Long-term NDVI time-series analysis demonstrated that both Hallasan and Jirisan had a decrease in NDVI at the high mortality areas (Hallasan: -0.46, Jirisan: -0.43). Furthermore, when analyzing the long-term fluctuations of Korean fir vegetation through the Hodrick-Prescott filter-applied NDVI, LST, and precipitation, the NDVI difference between the Korean fir healthy vegetation and high mortality sitesincreased with the increasing LST and decreasing precipitation in Hallasan. Thissuggests that the increase in LST and the decrease in precipitation contribute to the decline of Korean fir in Hallasan. In contrast, Jirisan confirmed a long-term trend of declining NDVI in the areas of Korean fir mortality but did not find a significant correlation between the changes in NDVI and environmental variables (LST and precipitation). Further analyses of environmental factors, such as soil moisture, insolation, and wind that have been identified to be related to Korean fir habitats in previous studies should be conducted. This study demonstrated the feasibility of using satellite data for long-term monitoring of Korean fir ecosystems and investigating their changes in conjunction with environmental conditions. Thisstudy provided the potential forsatellite-based monitoring to improve our understanding of the ecology of Korean fir.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.439-449
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• 2023

This study was conducted to verify the role of forest roads in the extinction of large forest fires in Korea. The study area was the forest fire-damaged area of Gangneung City, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, in April 2023, which is one of the areas with the highest road density among the major forest fires that have occurred so far. The scope of the forest fire damage area was confirmed through on-site survey, and the intensity of the fire was carried out through Sentinel-2 satellite imagery analysis. After that, the relationship between the damage range and intensity and the forest road was examined. About 59.6 km of roads were built within 50 m from the boundary of the forest fire damage area, which can easily access the entire 149.1 ha of forest fire damaged area. The road density is as high as 168.9 m/ha. All forests that were fragmented by roads were fragmented into 83 places, and all of these forests could be judged to have spread by spotting fire. As a result of analyzing the distribution of damage intensity by distance from the road to see the extent of damage according to the ease of access of fire extinguishing vehicles, it was confirmed that the proportion of areas with low-intensity damage has increased sharply even from 75 m or more away from the road. The results of analyzing the distribution of damage intensity by altitude to see the extent of damage according to the ease of access of fire extinguishing showed that the proportion of areas with low-intensity damage increased as the altitude increased, while the proportion of areas with damage of more than strong intensity decreased as the altitude increased. It was confirmed that there is no data that roads inside or adjacent to forests in the forest fire area of Gangneung City are effective in extinguishing forest fires. These results are contrary to the logic that increasing the road density in forests is effective in extinguishing forest fires. In the case of this fire area in Gangneung City, the road density is 43 times higher than the current road density in Korea claimed by the Korea Forest Service of 3.9 m/ha. This study suggests that roads can be a hindrance to extinguishing forest fires.