• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.88 no.3
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• pp.352-363
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• 1999

It has been rare to obtain reliable information related to the size of forest land in North Korea. Several sources of forest statistics, ranging from the first map of forest distribution in Korean Peninsula produced in 1910 to official data reported by the North Korea Government in 1997, were gathered and analyzed to define the characteristics of forest cover changes over years. In addition, Landsat satellite data obtained from 1973 to 1993 were processed for the two study areas of the provinces of Pyungyang and Heasan, where the topography and land use pattern are significantly different each other. Using three sets of multitemporal Landsat imagery, land cover ma-ps were produced by computer classification. Although forest statistics reported before 1990 are somewhat inconsistent, they mere gradually decreasing over years. The estimates of 1991 satellite data and the recent statistics reported in 1998 shows very steep decline in forest lands as compared to the ones before 1990. The abrupt decrease of forest lands after 1990 was also found on the detailed analysis of Landsat data for the two study areas of Pyungyang and Heasan. The rapid decline of forest lands may have something to do with the poor economic situation of the country and the continuing natural disasters of severe flooding and drought. Unstocked forest, which was not classified into forest land, was a very distinct and pervasive land cover type that can be easily observed on satellite imagery. Since unstocked forest land in North Korea may be a critical factor for degrading environmental quality as well as for the continuing natural disasters, further analysis is necessary to define the exact extent and the physical characteristics of the cover type.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.100-118
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• 2015

This study established a land-cover classification method on objects using satellite images, and figured out distributional patterns of land cover according to categories through spatial statistics techniques. Object-based classification generated each land cover classification map by spectral information, texture information, and the combination of the two. Through assessment of accuracy, we selected optimum land cover classification map. Also, to figure out spatial distribution pattern of land cover according to categories, we analyzed hot spots and quantified them. Optimal weight for an object-based classification has been selected as the Scale 52, Shape 0.4, Color 0.6, Compactness 0.5, Smoothness 0.5. In case of using the combination of spectral information and texture information, the land cover classification map showed the best overall classification accuracy. Particularly in case of dry fields, protected cultivation, and bare lands, the accuracy has increased about 12 percent more than when we used only spectral information. Forest, paddy fields, transportation facilities, grasslands, dry fields, bare lands, buildings, water and protected cultivation in order of the higher area ratio of DMZ according to categories. Particularly, dry field sand transportation facilities in Yanggu occurred mainly in north areas of the civilian control line. dry fields in Cheorwon, forest and transportation facilities in Inje fulfilled actively in south areas of the civilian control line. In case of distributional patterns according to categories, hot spot of paddy fields, dry fields and protected cultivation, which is related to agriculture, was distributed intensively in plains of Yanggu and in basin areas of Cheorwon. Hot spot areas of bare lands, waters, buildings and roads have similar distribution patterns with hot spot areas related to agriculture, while hot spot areas of bare lands, water, buildings and roads have different distributional patterns with hot spot areas of forest and grasslands.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.5_1
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• pp.469-480
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• 2017

This study aims to understand the relationship between lineaments and epicenters in Geochang region, Gyungsangnam-do, South Korea. An instrumental observation of earthquakes has been started by Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) since 1978 and there were 6 earthquakes with magnitude ranging 2 to 2.5 in Geochang region from 1978 to 2016. Lineaments were extracted from LANDSAT 8 satellite image and shaded relief map displayed in 3-dimension using Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Then, lineament density was statistically examined by hotspot analysis. Hexagonal grids were generated to perform the analysis because hexagonal pattern expresses lineaments with less discontinuity than square girds, and the size of the grid was selected to minimize a variance of lineament density. Since hotspot analysis measures the extent of clustering with Z score, Z scores computed with lineaments' frequency ($L_f$), length ($L_d$), and intersection ($L_t$) were used to find lineament clusters in the density map. Furthermore, the Z scores were extracted from the epicenters and examined to see the relevance of each density elements to epicenters. As a result, 15 among 18 densities,recorded as 3 elements in 6 epicenters, were higher than 1.65 which is 95% of the standard normal distribution. This indicates that epicenters coincide with high density area. Especially, $L_f$ and $L_t$ had a significant relationship with epicenter, being located in upper 95% of the standard normal distribution, except for one epicenter in $L_t$. This study can be used to identify potential seismic zones by improving the accuracy of expressing lineaments' spatial distribution and analyzing relationship between lineament density and epicenter. However, additional studies in wider study area with more epicenters are recommended to promote the results.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.69-78
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• 2011

Rice is one of the world's staple foods. Paddy rice fields have unique biophysical characteristics that the rice is grown on flooded soils unlike other crops. Information on the spatial distribution of paddy fields and the timing of irrigation are of importance to determine hydrological balance and efficiency of water resource management. In this paper, we detected the timing of irrigation and spatial distribution of paddy fields using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor onboard the NASA EOS Aqua satellite. The timing of irrigation was detected by the combined use of MODIS-based vegetation index and Land Surface Water Index (LSWI). The detected timing of irrigation showed good agreement with field observations from two flux sites in Korea and Japan. Based on the irrigation detection, a land cover map of paddy fields was generated with subsidiary information on seasonal patterns of MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI). When the MODISbased paddy field map was compared with a land cover map from the Ministry of Environment, Korea, it overestimated the regions with large paddies but underestimated those with small and fragmented paddies. Potential reasons for such spatial discrepancies may be attributed to coarse pixel resolution (500 m) of MODIS images, uncertainty in parameterization of threshold values for discarding forest and water pixels, and the application of LSWI threshold value developed for paddy fields in China. Nevertheless, this study showed that an improved utilization of seasonal patterns of MODIS vegetation and water-related indices could be applied in water resource management and enhanced estimation of evapotranspiration from paddy fields.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.686-697
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• 2018

Due to the advance in remote sensing technology, it has become easier to more frequently obtain high resolution imagery to detect delicate changes in an extensive area, particularly including forest which is not readily sub-classified. Time-series analysis on high resolution images requires to collect extensive amount of ground truth data. In this study, the potential of land coverage mapas ground truth data was tested in classifying high-resolution imagery. The study site was Wonju-si at Gangwon-do, South Korea, having a mix of urban and natural areas. KOMPSAT-3A imagery taken on March 2015 and land coverage map published in 2017 were used as source data. Two pixel-based classification algorithms, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Random Forest (RF), were selected for the analysis. Forest only classification was compared with that of the whole study area except wetland. Confusion matrixes from the classification presented that overall accuracies for both the targets were higher in RF algorithm than in SVM. While the overall accuracy in the forest only analysis by RF algorithm was higher by 18.3% than SVM, in the case of the whole region analysis, the difference was relatively smaller by 5.5%. For the SVM algorithm, adding the Majority analysis process indicated a marginal improvement of about 1% than the normal SVM analysis. It was found that the RF algorithm was more effective to identify the broad-leaved forest within the forest, but for the other classes the SVM algorithm was more effective. As the two pixel-based classification algorithms were tested here, it is expected that future classification will improve the overall accuracy and the reliability by introducing a time-series analysis and an object-based algorithm. It is considered that this approach will contribute to improving a large-scale land planning by providing an effective land classification method on higher spatial and temporal scales.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.247-253
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• 2023

As climate change problem has recently become serious, studies are being conducted to identify carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission dynamics based on satellite data to reduce emissions. It is also very important to analyze spatial patterns by estimating and mapping CO₂ emissions dynamic. Therefore, in this study, CO₂ emissions in the Korean Peninsula from 2013 to 2020 were estimated and mapped. To spatially estimate and map emissions, we use the enhanced vegetation index adjusted nighttime light index, an index that combines nighttime light (NTL) and vegetation index, to map both areas where NTL is observed and areas where NTL is not observed. In order to spatially estimate and map CO₂ emissions, the total annual emissions of the Korean Peninsula were calculated, resulting in an increase of 11% from 2013 to 2017 and a decrease of 13% from 2017 to 2020. As a result of the mapping, it was confirmed that the spatial pattern of CO₂ emissions in the Korean Peninsula were concentrated in urban areas. After being divided into 17 regions, which included the downtown area, the metropolitan area accounted for roughly 40% of CO₂ emissions in the Korean Peninsula. The region that exhibited the most significant change from 2013 to 2020 was Sejong City, showing a 96% increase.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.111-116
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• 2012

Far-infrared observations provide crucial data for the investigation and characterisation of the properties of dusty material in the Interstellar Medium (ISM), since most of its energy is emitted between ~ 100 and $200{\mu}m$. We present the first all-sky image from a sensitive all-sky survey using the Japanese AKARI satellite, in the wavelength range $50-180{\mu}m$. Covering > 99% of the sky in four photometric bands with four filters centred at $65{\mu}m$, $90{\mu}m$, $140{\mu}m$, and $160{\mu}m$ wavelengths, this achieved spatial resolutions from 1 to 2 arcmin and a detection limit of < 10 MJy $sr^{-1}$, with absolute and relative photometric accuracies of < 20%. All-sky images of the Galactic dust continuum emission enable astronomers to map the large-scale distribution of the diffuse ISM cirrus, to study its thermal dust temperature, emissivity and column density, and to measure the interaction of the Galactic radiation field and embedded objects with the surrounding ISM. In addition to the point source population of stars, protostars, star-forming regions, and galaxies, the high Galactic latitude sky is shown to be covered with a diffuse filamentary-web of dusty emission that traces the potential sites of high latitude star formation. We show that the temperature of dust particles in thermal equilibrium with the ambient interstellar radiation field can be estimated by using $90{\mu}m$, $140{\mu}m$, and $160{\mu}m$ data. The FIR AKARI full-sky maps provide a rich new data set within which astronomers can investigate the distribution of interstellar matter throughout our Galaxy, and beyond.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.27-36
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• 2010

This study observed distribution of vegetation to confirm change of tundra-taiga boundary. Tundra-taiga boundary is used to observe the transfer of vegetation pattern because it is very sensitive to human activity, natural disturbances and climate change. The circumpolar tundra-taiga boundary could observe reaction about some change. Reaction and confirmation about climate change were definite than other place. This study used Leaf Area Index(LAI) 8-Day data in August from 2000 to 2009 that acquire from Terra satellite MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) sensor and used K$\"{o}$ppen Climate Map, Global Land Cover 2000 for reference data. This study conducted analysis of spatial distribution in low density vegetated areas and inter-annual / zonal analysis for using the long period data of LAI. Change of LAI was confirmed by analysis based on boundary value of LAI in study area. Development of vegetation could be confirmed by area of grown vegetation($730,325km^2$) than area of reduced vegetation ($22,372km^2$) in tundra climate. Also, area was increased with the latitude $64^{\circ}$ N~$66^{\circ}$ N as the center and around the latitude $62^{\circ}$ N through area analysis by latitude. Vegetation of tundra-taiga boundary was general increase from 2000 to 2009. While area of reduced vegetation was a little, area of vegetation growth and development was increased significantly.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.505-513
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• 2014

The RapidEye can acquire the 6.5m spatial resolution satellite imagery with the high temporal resolution on each day, based on its constellation of five satellites. The image products are available in two processing levels of Basic 1B and Ortho 3A. The Basic 1B image have radiometric and sensor corrections and include RPCs (Rational Polynomial Coefficients) data. In Korea, the geometric accuracy of RapidEye imagery can be improved, based on the scaled national digital maps that had been built. In this paper, we present the fully automated procedures to georegister the 1B data using 1:25,000 digital maps. Those layers of map are selected if the layers appear well in the RapidEye image, and then the selected layers are RPCs-projected into the RapidEye 1B space for generating vector images. The automated edge-based matching between the vector image and RapidEye improves the accuracy of RPCs. The experimental results showed the accuracy improvement from 2.8 to 0.8 pixels in RMSE when compared to the maps.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.443-459
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• 2013

Located on Java subduction zone, Merapi volcano is an active stratovolcano with a volcanic activity cycle of 1-5 years. Merapi's eruptions were relatively small with VEI 1-3. However, the most recent eruption occurred in 2010 was quite violent with VEI 4 and 386 people were killed. In this study, we have attempted to study the characteristics of Merapi's eruptions during 18 years using optical Landsat images. We have collected a total of 55 Landsat images acquired from July 6, 1994 to September 1, 2012 to identify pyroclastic flows and their temporal changes from false color images. To extract areal extents of pyroclastic flows, we have performed supervised classification after atmospheric correction by using COST model. As a result, the extracted dimensions of pyroclastic flows are nearly identical to the CVP monthly reports. We have converted the thermal band of Landsat TM and ETM+ to the surface temperature using NASA empirical formula and calculated time-series of the mean surface temperature in the area of peak temperature surrounding the crater. The mean surface temperature around the crater repeatedly showed the tendency to rapidly rise before eruptions and cool down after eruptions. Although Landsat satellite images had some limitations due to weather conditions, these images were useful tool to observe the precursor changes in surface temperature before eruptions and map the pyroclastic flow deposits after eruptions at Merapi volcano.