• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.229-235
• /
• 2000

Characteristics of hail occurred during 1989-1998 is studied. Hail is observed mainly at west coast, southwest inland, and Taegwallyong. Average diameter of hailstone is 0.6 cm, and 70% of the occurrence frequency of hail is observed at west coast. During winter and spring, the wet -bulb zero height (WBZ) is low enough to prevent the melting process of hail. But the lack of available low-level moisture (mean mixing ratio in lowest 100 hPa) makes the size of hail small. As a result, smaller size hail is observed frequently over west coast. On the contrary, WBZ is higher during summer, it means that hail is melted before it reaches ground, but the size of hail is bigger. Thus the larger hail is observed mainly Taegwallyong during summer. Hail is observed from 1100 LST to 1500 LST over west coast and around 1800 LST over Taegwallyong. It suggest that thermally driven mesoscale circulations such as land-sea breeze and mountain ridge-valley circulation aid in the formation of hail. Upper and surface air temperature is related to formation of hailstorm. Before formation of hailstorm in November 1998, the upper air temperature decreases. And hails is observed in the spot of strong temperature and dew point temperature gradient coincidently.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.246-260
• /
• 2014

A 90-m horizontal-resolution numerical model was configured to study the micrometeorological features of local winds in the valley of Gwangneung KoFlux (Korea Flux network) Sites (GDK: Gwangneung Deciduous forest site in Korea, GCK: Gwangneung Coniferous forest site in Korea) during summer days. The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data were employed for high-resolution model terrain height. Model performance was evaluated by comparing observed and simulated near-surface temperature and winds. Detailed qualitative analysis of the model-simulated wind field was carried out for two selected cases which are a clear day (Case I) and a cloudy day (Case II). Observed winds exhibited that GDK and GCK, as well as Case I and Case II, had differences in timing, duration and strength of daytime and nighttime wind direction and speeds. The model simulation results strongly supported the existence of the drainage flow in the valley of the KoFlux tower sites. Overall, the simulated model fields realistically presented the diurnal cycle of local winds in and around the valley, including the morning drainage-upslope transition and the evening reversal of upslope wind. Also, they indicated the complexity of local winds interactions by presenting that daytime westerly winds in the valley were not always pure mountain winds and were often coupled with larger-scale wind systems, such as synoptic-scale winds or mesoscale sea breezes blowing from the west coast of the peninsula.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.43-56
• /
• 1998

The purpose of this study is to identify distributional characteristics of climatic elements and to analyze synoptic characteristics on the pressure fields for spring droughts in Korea. In the distributions of minimum temperature during the spring droughts, positive anomalies and negative anomalies are mixed up, but in March the negative anomaly areas are widely distributed in Korea. It implies that the droughts of March have more frequent occurrences of the west-high, east-low pressure patterns. In the maximum air temperatures, the positive anomalies appear in Korea. It indicates that the spring droughts have rain days, cloud amount and humidities less than normal. As a result, the amount of evaporation is increased in Korea. In the pressure anomaly of surface pressure fields, the positive anomalies appear in the west, negative anomalies in the east in March, but in May the positive anomalies appeared zonally around the Korean peninsula. It indicates that March droughts have more frequent occurrences of the west-high. east-low patterns, but in May the Korean Peninsula has more frequent recurrences of the migratory anticyclone patterns. The height anomaly patterns of 500hPa pressure surface in spring droughts are similarly shown to those of surface fields. In March droughts, the positive height anomalies appear in the west, the negative height anomalies in the east, but in April the negative height anomaly areas are extended to the west part. In May the positive anomalies appear zonally around the Korean Peninsula, and strong positive height anomalies appear around the Kamchatka Peninsula and the sea of Okhotsk. These are the result of circulations that inhibit the eastward movement of westerlies and that has persistent anticyclone circulation patterns around the Korean Peninsula. As a result, the zonal indices of westerlies during March and April droughts are lower than normal, but higher in May. These data indicate that early spring droughts are associated with weak zonal flow, but the late spring droughts are obviously related with strong zonal flow. In addition, during early spring droughts the abnormally deep trough over the west coast of the North Pacific Ocean that accompanied the anticyclone was associated with frequent advection of air from the dry regions in the Central Asia into the Korean Peninsula. The atmospheric circulation patterns at the height of the 500hPa pressure surface in May was quite different from March and April circulation patterns. Instead of the abnormal ridge in the west and trough in the east, the circulation pattern in May was characterized by a much stronger than normal anticyclone over the Korean Peninsula. Also, the zonal indices of westerlies in May are higher than normal. The occurrences of drought in early spring, therefore, have mechanism different from those of late spring.