• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.63-73
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• 2020

Drought is considered as a devastating hazard that causes serious agricultural, ecological and socio-economic impacts worldwide. Fundamentally, the drought can be defined as temporarily different levels of inadequate precipitation, soil moisture, and water supply relative to the long-term average conditions. From no unified definition of droughts, droughts have been divided into different severity level, i.e., moderate drought, severe drought, extreme drought and exceptional drought. The drought severity classification defined the ranges for each indicator for each dryness level. Because the ranges of the various indicators often don't coincide, the final drought category tends to be based on what the majority of the indicators show and on local observations. Evaporative Stress Index (ESI), a satellite-based drought index using the ratio of potential and actual evaporation, is being used as a index of the droughts occurring rapidly in a short period of time from studies showing a more sensitive and fast response to drought compared to Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). However, ESI is difficult to provide an objective drought assessment because it does not have clear drought severity classification criteria. In this study, U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), the standard for drought determination used in the United States, was applied to ESI, and the Percentile method was used to classify drought categories by severity. Regarding the actual 2017 drought event in South Korea, we compare the spatial distribution of drought area and understand the USDM-based ESI by comparing the results of Standardized Groundwater level Index (SGI) and drought impact information. These results demonstrated that the USDM-based ESI could be an effective tool to provide objective drought conditions to inform management decisions for drought policy.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.249-258
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• 2019

Acid spill accidents are frequently occurring in Korea with increasing production, use, storage, and transport of acids, accompanying industrialization and economic growth. The acids introduced to the subsurface environments would eventually be neutralized by reactions with geomedia. However, the spatial and temporal extent to which the spilled acids would affect will be dependent on the characteristics of the geomedia exposed to the acids. In this work, sulfuric acid, the most used acid in Korea, was reacted with a set of model geomedia representative of the geology of Korea. The buffering capacity of the model geomedia was determined through batch-type experiments using pH changes as an indicator. X-ray diffraction was used to identify the mineral phases contributing to the acid neutralization. The results showed that sandstone had the largest acid neutralization capacity among the tested geomedia, while kaolinite had the smallest. The findings of this study would contribute to quantitatively assessing the impact of spilled acids on geomedia and hence to predicting the vulnerability of geomedia to the spilled acid.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.182-190
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• 2017

Background: Baekdudaegan was designated in 2005 as a protected area to prevent destruction and conserve. However, there are many disturbed and destroyed areas. The total disturbed area amounts to $25.9km^2$ (0.94%), including $13.4km^2$ (0.49%) in the core area and $12.5km^2$ (0.45%) in the buffer area. This study aims to classify the vegetation types established in the disturbed areas and diagnose the current conditions for ecological restoration in the forest ecosystem. Methods: We surveyed the vegetation in the disturbed areas of Daegwallyeong and Chupungryeong and the surrounding natural areas. The survey conducted from July to September 2015 targeted a total of 54 quadrats by Braun-Blanquet method (Daegwallyeong, 22; Chupungryeong, 32). We also investigated the height and coverage of each layer. We classified the vegetation types based on the field data and analyzed the ratio of life form and the exotic plants, species richness, and vegetation index (Hcl). The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was calculated from rapideye satellite imagery in 2014 and 2015. Results: Vegetation types were classified into 11 groups according to the criteria that included successional sere or plantation at first, followed by developmental stage and origins. As a result of the analysis of the survey data, species richness, vegetation index (Hcl), ratio of tree plants, and the NDVI tended to increase, while the ratio of the exotic plants tended to decrease with the time since disturbance. These indicators had the classified values according to the vegetation types with time since the disturbance. Conclusions: These indicators can be effectively used to diagnose the conditions of the present vegetation in the disturbed area of the Baekdudaegan area. In addition, the NDVI might be effective for the diagnosis of the disturbed status instead of the human efforts based on the higher spatial resolution of satellite imagery. Appropriate diagnosis of the disturbed forests in the Baekdudaegan area considering the established vegetation types is essential for the elaboration of restoration plans. In addition, restoration target and level should be different according to the disturbed status of restoration site.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.751-763
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• 2015

Both the selection of indicators and weights for them are critical issues in the vulnerability assessment. This study is to assess the air pollution vulnerability focused on ozone for 249 local jurisdictions using weights calculated by the entropy methodology and then examine the applicability of the methodology. We selected indicators for air pollution vulnerability assessment and standardized them. Subsequently, we calculated weights of each indicator using the entropy method and then integrated them into the vulnerability index. The exposure indicators consider meteorological and air pollution factors and the sensitivity of the local jurisdiction include variables on vulnerable areas and environments. The adaptive capacity contains socio-economic characteristics, health care capacities and air pollution managemental factors. The results show that Hwaseong-si, Gwangjin-gu, Gimpo-si, Gwangju-si, Gunpo-si are among the highest vulnerabilities based on the simple aggregation of indicators. And vulnerability-resilience (VRI) aggregation results indicates the similar spatial pattern with the simple aggregation outcomes. This article extends current climate change vulnerability assessment studies by adopting the entropy method to evaluate relative usefulness of data. In addition, the results can be used for developing customized adaptation policies for each jurisdiction reflecting vulnerable aspects.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2018

With land-use (cover) and water quality, the distributional characteristics of epilithic diatom communities were studied with 193 samples from estuaries of Korean peninsula between 2015 and 2016. Of total 394 taxa classified, Nitzschia perminuta (19.6%) and N. inconspicua (14.0%) were the 1st and 2nd dominant species. Using a cluster analysis, the epilithic diatom communities of Korean estuaries were divided into four groups (G1-G4). Ecological characteristics of each group were followed: G1 was located in estuaries of the East Sea, and characterized by high forest land-use and high DO and low nutrients; G2 was the eastern part of the South Sea, and characterized by low turbidity and nutrients; G3 was the western part of the South Sea, and characterized by high agriculture, low electric conductivity and low salinity; G4 was the Yellow Sea, and characterized by high nutrients. The environmental factors having significant correlation with diatom distributions were as follows: TN to G1, turbidity to G2, agriculture to G3, and TP to G4. Moreover, the important factors affecting the occurrence of indicator species were forest land-use for Fragilaria construens var. venter in G1, turbidity for Rhoicosphenia abbreviata in G2, urban land- use and total phosphorus (TP) for Bacillaria paradoxa and Hantzschia amphioxys of G3, and TP and turbidity for N. ovalis and Stephanodiscus invistatus of G4. These results collectively indicate that the distribution of epilithic diatom communities in Korean peninsula was largely effected by water quality and land cover/use.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.117-129
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• 2009

Evaporation over the world is expected to increase owing to increase in temperature by global warming. However, pan evaporation around the world has decreased in the past few decades. This study, which has been conducted in 18 meteorological gauging stations in Korean peninsula, investigates the changes in pan evaporation and climate variables such as precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, sunshine hours, and percentage of sunshine, which can affect evaporation processes; the changes in these variables have been recorded between 1960 and 2007. At most gauging stations, pan evaporation shows statistically significant downward trends. The relative humidity, wind speed, sunshine hours, and percentage of sunshine also show downward trends. On the other hand, precipitation and temperature show upward trends. The spatial distribution of the downward trend in sunshine hours and percentage of sunshine correspond to that of the downward trend in pan evaporation. Scatter plots imply that pan evaporation has a strong positive correlation with the sunshine hours and percentage of sunshine, while it has a negative correlation with precipitation. At the Gangneung gauging station, the open water evaporation estimated using the Penman equation does not show the significant downward trend shown by pan evaporation. This result implies that pan evaporation is not a good indicator of potential or open water evaporations during the investigation of their long-term variability. Finally, this study explains the complementary relationship between pan and actual evaporations. Decreases in the pan evaporation can act as an evidence for the ever-increasing actual evaporation.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.97-113
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• 2020

Soil is the foundation of human life and the basis for food security. Considering this it is prioritized in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Therefore, research on soil resilience in the agricultural environment is crucial for sound and sustainable soil management, especially in highly uncertain and unpredictable conditions. Soil resilience is defined in different ways by several researchers; however, its definition typically includes the concepts of recovery and resistance to stress. The physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of soils that are used to assess the soil resilience, i.e., the response of soil to various types of stress are summarized in this study. In addition, various statistical processing techniques and quantification methods are summarized considering the wide spatial and temporal scope of soil resilience research. Several soil resilience studies typically conduct the following five steps: (1) soil and site selection (2) stress (independent variable) setting (3) soil characteristics and indicator (dependent variable) setting (4) performing various spatiotemporal scale experiments (5) statistical analysis. The previous and present studies present a general introduction of soil resilience, based on which, further practical research considering domestic agricultural environment should be conducted. The extensive range of soil resilience measurements will require collaboration between researchers in various fields.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2011

Site conditions affect the magnitude of loss due to geologic hazards including, but not limited to, earthquakes, landslides and liquefaction. Reliable geologic loss estimation system requires site information which can be achieved by GIS-based method using geologic or topographic maps. Slope data derived from DEM can be an effective indicator for classifying the site conditions. We studied and discussed the effect of different DEM resolutions in the site classification. We limited the study area to the south-eastern Korea and used two different resolutions of DEMs to observe discrepancies in the site classification results. Largest discrepancy is observed in the areal coverage of site class C(very dense soil and soft rock) and E(soft soil). Comparison of results shows that more areas are classified as site class B(general rock) or E(soft soil) when we use higher resolution DEM. The comparison also shows that more areas are classified as site class C or D(stiff soil) using lower resolution DEM. The comparison of results using resampled DEMs with different resolutions shows that the areal coverage of site class B and E decreases with decreasing resolutions. On the contrary, areal coverage of site class C and D increase with decreasing resolutions. Loss estimation system can take advantage of higher-resolution DEMs in the area of rugged or populated to obtain precise local site information.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2003

Dipole-dipole resistivity and ground penetrating radar(GPR) surveys were performed on an abandoned landfill site filled with asbestos containing material. The main purpose of the study was to estimate spatial extension and volume of the landfill for evaluting the cost for developing appropriate remedial alternatives. Assuming that the bedrock is within 10 m depth, dipole spacings of 2, 2.5 and 5m were set for six survey lines for resistivity measurements. For More detailed information, GPR suvey using 225 Mhz antenna was carried out for twelve survey lines for the shallower information. DC resistivity structures showed few tens ~ hundreds ohm-m for the landfill or alluvial laver, and 1,000~ 5,000 ohm-m for the bedrock. The depth to bedrock is found out to be approximately 5m. GPR survey results represented very clear reflection and/or diffraction events from the boundaries as well as from the blocky construction wastes. With high-resolution GPR survey, depth of the bedrock was resolved up to 2m, which in turn, could be a good indicator for estimating the volume of the landfill. Those depths of bedrock were confirmed by backhoe excavation data for 13 sites. The total area and volume of the landfill were to be approximately 3,953 .$m^2$ and 4,033 $m^3$, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.53-68
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• 2011

A selection of viewpoint is a first priority for landscape evaluation. However, it has been artificially carried out by a subjective method without of criterion. Therefore, this study proposed the objective and quantitative viewpoint selection methods using space syntax and GIS. For this, the study area on samduk3 residential improvement district located at Daegu city was divided into 24 sectors of visibility zone by distance and direction. After that, the preliminary viewpoints equally distributed in space were selected by axial map analysis of space syntax and viewshed-frequency analysis of GIS. According to the result of selection of the final viewpoints using the VEI(Viewpoint Evaluation Index), all the final viewpoints were placed in the National Debt Repayment Movement; VEI value of VP-2 was 112.63 in the foreground, VP-10 was 18.31 in the middleground and VP-18 was 5.55 in the background. Selected viewpoints were verified as a big changing of landscape variation and high chance of view such as the public area, the park and the high-density residential area. Thus, VEI will be used as a quantitative method of selecting viewpoints and it is expected to be able to use as the objective indicator.