• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.184-194
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• 2012

Objectives: We investigated the effects of air pollution on allergic diseases (allergic rhinitis, asthma, atopic dermatitis) in metropolitan cities in Korea, adjusting for meteorological factors. Methods: Data on daily hospital visits and hospital admissions for 2003-2010 was obtained from the National Health Insurance Cooperation. Meteorological data was obtained from the Korea Meteorological Administration. We then calculated daily mean temperature, daily mean humidity, daily mean air pressure at sea level, and diurnal temperature range. We used data on air pollution provided by the National Institute of Environmental Research. Maximum daily eight-hour average ozone concentrations and the daily mean $PM_{10}$ were used. We estimated excess risk and 95% confidence interval for the increasing interquatile range (IQR) of each air pollutant using Generalized Additive Models (GAM) that appropriate for time series analysis. Results: In this study, we observed an association between ozone and hospital visits for allergic rhinitis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis in all metropolitan cities, adjusting for temperature, humidity, air pressure at sea level, diurnal temperature range, and day of the week. Ozone was associated with hospital visits for allergic rhinitis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis across all metropolitan cities. However $PM_{10}$ was associated with allergic-related diseases in only select cities. Also, ozone and $PM_{10}$ were associated with hospital admission for asthma in all cities except Gwangju. Hospitalization for the other diseases failed to show consistent association with air pollutants. Conclusion: In the findings of this study, there was a significant association between air pollutants and allergic-related diseases. More detailed research subdivided age group or conducting meta-analyses combining data of all cities is required.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.33-41
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• 2024

Abnormal climate is a phenomenon in which meteorological factors such as temperature and precipitation are significantly higher or lower than normal, and is defined by the World Meteorological Organization as a 30-year period. However, over the past 30 years, abnormal climate phenomena have occurred more frequently around the world than in the past. In Korea, abnormal climate phenomena such as abnormally high temperatures on the Korean Peninsula, drought, heatwave and heavy rain in summer are occurring in March 2023. Among them, heatwaves are expected to increase in frequency compared to other abnormal climates. This suggests that heatwave should be recognised as a disaster rather than just another extreme weather event. According to several previous studies, greenhouse gases and meteorological factors are expected to affect heatwaves, so this paper uses logistic regression and discriminant analysis on meteorological element data and greenhouse gas data in Gwangju from 2008 to 2022. We analyzed the impact of heatwaves. As a result of the analysis, greenhouse gases were selected as effective variables for heatwaves compared to the past, and among them, chlorofluorocarbons were judged to have a stronger effect on heatwaves than other greenhouse gases. Since greenhouse gases have a significant impact on heatwaves, in order to overcome heatwaves and abnormal climates, greenhouse gases must be minimized to overcome heatwaves and abnormal climates.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.264-270
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• 2024

This study is conducted to analyze environmental factors that affect the ecology of boreal digging frog and use them as basic data for selecting (or creating) suitability of alternative habitats for survival and monitoring method from 2020 to 2022 after boreal digging frog were relocated to the alternative habitats in 2019. Analyzing the environment of the alternative habitats showed that the criteria suited the followings: distance from wetlands, grasslands and rivers was within 5 m, the low-rise grassland was 6,000 m², soft soil was at a depth of ≥20 cm, and the area of permanent wetlands was 5,000 m² wide. As a result of the correlation analysis between meteorological factors and population (n) and breeding, there was a significant correlation between rainfalls and breeding (p<0.01). During the monitoring, it was confirmed that the SVL (Snout-Vent Length) and BM (Body Mass) of the translocated population were maintained (p>0.05), and it was found that the proximity of the habitat and spawning pond, securing food space (grasslands), soil quality, and wetlands could function as an alternative habitat if conditions were met. As a result of analyzing the meteorological factors affecting the population of boreal digging frog, the SVL had a statistical impact on the minimum temperature, maximum temperature, relative humidity, and the rainfall (p<0.05). In the case of breeding, rainfall was found to be affected (p<0.01), and the population was statistically affected by the average temperature, minimum temperature, and relative humidity (p<0.05).

• Atmosphere
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.377-384
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• 2017

The effective management of call centers under special circumstances is critical to improve customer satisfaction. In order to effectively respond to call center counseling demand, this paper aims to identify factors having the greatest impact on the number of Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) call center counseling. To do so, we propose to combine call center data with severe weather announcement data and investigate how the severe weather announcement affects the number of KMA call center counseling. A time lag analysis is conducted and it is found that the severe weather announcement takes about an hour to be reflected in the number of KMA call center counseling. Based on the result of the time lag analysis, we conduct a comparative analysis according to time and season using the data collected from 1 January 2012, to 29 June 2016. The results show that the number of KMA call center counseling increases at lunchtime and decreases during nighttime, and the average rate of change in call center counseling demand tends to be larger under the severe weather announcement. For the comparative analysis according to the season, there are significant differences in the effect of severe weather announcement on the number of KMA call center counseling in spring, fall and winter.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.780-788
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• 2013

This study attempted to determine important meteorological parameters related to airborne pollen concentrations in urban areas. Hourly pollen measurement data were prepared from a regular sampling with a volumetric Burkard spore trap at a site in the Ulsan city, during the spring season (March~May) of 2011. Results showed that the daily mean and maximum concentrations for total pollen counts during the spring season were statistically significantly correlated with both air temperature and wind speed; daily mean pollen concentration was the most highly related to daily maximum temperature (r=0.567, p<0.001). It was also identified that pollen concentration has a stronger relationship with wind speed at the rural site than at the urban one, which confirms that strong wind conditions over the pollen sources area can be favorable for pollen dispersal, resulting in increases in airborne pollen concentrations downwind. From the results of an oak-pollen episode analysis, it was found that there was a significant relationship between hourly variation of oak pollen concentrations and dynamic meteorological factors, such as wind and mixing height (representing the boundary layer depth); especially, a strong southwestern wind and elevated mixing height was associated with high nocturnal concentrations of oak pollen. This study suggests that temperature, wind, and mixing height can be important considerations in explaining the pollen concentration variations. Additional examination of complex interactions of multiple meteorological parameters affecting pollen behavior should be carried out in order to better understand and predict the temporal and spatial pollen distribution in urban areas.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.60-65
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• 1993

This experiment was conducted to understand the effects of climatic environment on the useful components in Angelicae gigantis radix. The variation of decursin contents in different seven cultivated regions and the relationship between decursin contents and meteorological factors were investigated. The appropriate analytical methods for decursin and decursinol angelate of Angelicae gigantis radix were HPLC method used normal phase column($\mu$-Porasil) and GC method. In different cultivated regions, the variation of decursin contents of Angelicae gigantis radix was relatively great, which were high with 4.86%, 4.75% in Bongwha, Yongcheon respectively and was low with 2.33% in Suwon. There was no significant relationship between decursin contents of Angelicae radix and meteorological factors during growing periods, but was negative correlation in average temperature and precipitation, and positive correlation in diurnal change of temperature, radiation and sunshine hours.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1221-1234
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• 2012

There are many factors to influence the amount of terpene at the forest. However, it is poorly understood whether the amount is altered by meteorological factors. In order to study correlation analysis between terpene amount and meteorological(i.e., temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation) and environmental factors(i.e., oxygen, carbonb dioxide) at the artificial coniferous forest of Chamaecyparis obtusa (site 1) and Cryptomeria japonica (site 2) nearby the $1^{st}$ reservoir at Mt. Moodeung, the research was executed during April to November in 2011. Forest density at site 1 was 1,692 trees/ha, being occupied with 87.2% of Chamaecyparis obtusa, higher than 925 trees/ha at site 2. Carbon dioxide at site 1 was in the range of 385~410 ppm in June, similar to at Anmyundo(395 ppm in 2010). Solar radiation has positive correlation with ambient temperature and inversely negative with relative humidity. Main species of terpene released were ${\alpha}$-pinene, camphene, ${\beta}$-pinene, cymene, ${\delta}$-limonene and camphor at two sites and terpene was more effluent at spring and summer than at fall. The large amount of terpene was emitted in the afternoon than in the morning under the influence of the wind speed and the topographical property. The terpene amount has positive correlation with relative humidity and oxygen, and negative with wind speed and soil temperature. Because correlations of ${\alpha}$-pinene and other terpene materials showed statistically significant within p=0.01. ${\alpha}$-pinene could be suggested as the basic material in explaining the amount of other terpene materials.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.6_3
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• pp.1733-1741
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• 2020

This study analyzed the effect of meteorological factors on the concentration of PM10 (particulate matter 10) in the atmosphere and the variation of rainwater quality using multivariate statistical analysis. The concentration of PM10 in the atmosphere was continuously measured during eleven precipitation events with a custom-built PM sensor node. A total of 183 rainwater samples were analyzed for pH, EC (electrical conductivity), and water-soluble cations (Na+, Mg2+, K+, Ca2+, NH4+) and anions (Cl-, NO3-, SO42-). The data has been analyzed using two multivariate statistical techniques (principal component analysis, PCA, and Pearson correlation analysis) to identify relationships among PM10 concentrations in the atmosphere, meteorological factors, and rainwater quality factors. When the rainfall intensity was relatively strong (> 5 mm/h, rainfall type 1), the PM10 concentration in the atmosphere showed a negative correlation (r = -0.55, p < 0.05) with cumulative rainfall. The PM10 concentration increased the concentration of water-soluble ions (r = 0.25) and EC (r = 0.4), and decreased the pH (r = -0.7) of rainwater samples. However, for rainfall type 2 (< 5 mm/h), there was no negative correlation between the PM10 concentration in the atmosphere and cumulative rainfall and no statistically significant correlation between the PM10 concentration in the atmosphere and rainwater quality.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 1986

This study is carried out to determine the concentration of the ozone and the factors affecting the variation of ozone concentration in the ambient air in Seoul. The one-hour average concentration of ozone $(O_3)$, sulfur dioxide $(SO_2)$, nitrogen oxides (NO and $NO_2$), suspended particulate (TSP), carbon monoxide (CO) and non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) at 5 sites in Seoul measured from September to October in 1983 and 1984 were analysed statistically along with meteorological data for the same period. The results were as follows; 1. The average concentrations of ozone at 5 sites during the period ranged from 3.3 to 9.1 ppb, they were below 20 ppb of the ambient air quality standard of Korea. 2. The maximum hourly concentration of ozone occurred between 2 and 3 p.m. in a day and concentration at night were very low but higher concentrations were observed at around 4 a.m. 3. The concentration ratio between NO and $NO_2$ in Seoul was relatively lower than that for the cities of foreign countries reported so far. 4. The ozone concentration has negative correlationships with the concentration of other primary pollutants$(SO_2, NO, NO_2, CO and NMHC)$ in simple regression analyses. 5. The ozone concentration was positively correlated to wind speed, temperature and insolation intensity but negatively correlated to relative humidity. 6. Stepwise multiple regression analysis of the ozone concentration to the pollutants and meteorological factors indicate that insolation intensity and $[NO_2]/[NO]$ were the primary influencing factors. 7. The three factors of insolation intensity, $[NO_2]/[NO] and NO_2$ concentration had a significant combined effect on the ozone concentration $(r^2 = 0.47-0.57)$.

• Atmosphere
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.457-467
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• 2018

This study investigated the variability of spring (March-May) forest fire risk in Korea for the period 1991~2017 and analyzed its relationship with large-scale climate factors. The Forest Weather Index (FWI) representing the meteorological risk for forest fire occurrences calculated based on observational data and its relationship with large-scale climate factors were analyzed. We performed the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis on the spring FWI. The leading EOF mode of FWI accounting for about 70% of total variability was found to be highly correlated with total number of forest fire occurrences in Korea. The high FWI, forest fire occurrence risk, in Korea, is associated with warmer atmosphere temperature in midwest Eurasia-China-Korea peninsula, cyclonic circulation anomaly in northeastern China-Korea peninsula-northwest pacific, westerly wind anomaly in central China-Korea peninsula, and low humidity in Korea. These are further related with warmer sea surface temperature and enhanced outgoing longwave radiation over Western Pacific, which represents a typical condition for a La $Ni\tilde{n}a$ episode. This suggests that large-scale climate factors over East Asia and ENSO could have a significant influence on the occurrence of spring forest fires in Korea.