• Atmosphere
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.131-151
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• 2010

This study establishes a conceptual model to analyze heavy rainfall events in Korea using multi-functional transport satellite-1R satellite images. Three heavy rainfall episodes in two major synoptic types, such as synoptic low (SL) type and synoptic flow convergence (SC) type, are analyzed through a conceptual model procedure which proceeds on two steps: 1) conveyer belt model analysis to detect convective area, and 2) cloud top temperature analysis from black body temperature (TBB) data to distinguish convective cloud from stratiform cloud, and eventually estimate heavy rainfall area and intensity. Major synoptic patterns causing heavy rainfall are Changma, synoptic low approach, upper level low in the SL type, and upper level low, indirect effect of typhoon, convergence of tropical air in the SC type. The relationship between rainfall and TBBs in overall well resolved areas of heavy rainfall. The SC type tended to underestimate the intensity of heavy rainfall, but the analysis with the use of water vapor channel has improved the performance. The conceptual model improved a concrete utilization of images and data of satellite, as summarizing characteristics of major synoptic type causing heavy rainfall and composing an algorism to assess the area and intensity of heavy rainfall. The further assessment with various cases is required for the operational use.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.159-172
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• 2017

Asthma deaths in Seoul peaked on the third, fifth, and second days after the PM concentration exceeded the daily average concentration standard. We classified the synoptic meteorological conditions, based on the days involving such cases, into three categories. Type 1 included the meteorological condition likely to cause high air pollution concentrations in the leeward region, the dominant wind direction of which is the northwest. Type 2 included the meteorological condition likely to cause high air pollution concentrations due to the weak wind velocity under stable atmospheric conditions. Type 3 was when the passage low atmospheric pressure and the expansion of high atmospheric pressure occurred at the rear, indicating a meteorological condition likely to cause high air pollution, in certain regions. Type 1 occurred 11 times, with high concentrations of over $100{\mu}g/m^3$ being observed in the southeastern part of Seoul. Type 2 occurred 24 times, often accompanied by a PM concentration of $100{\sim}400{\mu}g/m^3$. Type 3 occurred 11 times, and was accompanied by several days of yellow dust that accounted for the highest concentrations.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.443-451
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• 2013

Spring rainfall events were comprehensively analyzed based on the distribution of precipitation amount and the related synoptic weather between 2008~2012. Forty-eight cases are selected among the rain events of the entire country, and each distribution of the 24-hour accumulated precipitation amount is classified into three types: evenly distributed rain(Type 1), more rain in the southern area and south coast region (Type 2), and more rain in the central region (Type 3), respectively. Type 1 constitutes the largest part(35 cases, 72.9%) with mean precipitation amount of 19.4 mm, and the 17 cases of Type 1 are observed in March. Although Type B and C constitutes small parts (11 cases, 22.9% and 2 cases, 4.2%), respectively. The precipitation amount of these types is greater than 34.5 mm and occurred usually in April. The main synoptic weather patterns affecting precipitation distribution are classified into five patterns according to the pathway of low pressures. The most influential pattern is type 4, and this usually occurs in March, April, and May (Low pressures from the north and the ones from the west and south consecutively affect South Korea, 37.5%). The pattern 3(Low pressures from the south affect South Korea, 25%) happens mostly in April, and the average precipitation is usually greater than 30 mm. This value is relatively higher than the values in any other patterns.

• Atmosphere
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.235-246
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• 2006

Remote sensing techniques using satellites or the scanning weather radars depend mostly on the presence of clouds or precipitation, and leave the extensive regions of clear air unobserved. But wind profilers provide the most direct measurements of mesoscale vertical air motion in the troposphere, even in the context of heavy precipitation. In this paper, the precipitation events during the Changma period was classified into 4 precipitation types - stratiform, mixed stratiform/ convective, deep convective, and shallow convective. The parameters for the classification of analysis are the vertical structure of reflectivity, Doppler velocity, and spectral width measured with the wind profiler at Haenam for a three-year period (2003-2005). In addition, the synoptic fields and total amount of precipitation were analyzed using the Global Final Analyses (FNL) data and the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) data. During the Changma period, the results show that the stratiform type was dominant under the moist-neutral atmosphere in 2003, whereas the deep convective type was under the moist unstable condition in 2004. The stratiform type was no less popular than the deep convective type among four seasons because the moist neutral layer was formed by the convergence between the upper-level jet and the low-level jet, and by the moisture transport along the western rim of the North Pacific subtropical anticyclone.

• Atmosphere
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.183-193
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• 2020

In this study, Yeongdong cold air damming (YCAD) cases that occur in winters have been selected using automatic weather station data of the Yeongdong region of Korea. The vertical and horizontal scales of YCAD were analyzed using rawinsonde and numerical weather model. YCAD occurred in two typical synoptic patterns such that low pressure and trough systems crossing and passing over Korea (low crossing type: LC and low passing type: LP). When the Siberian high does not expand enough to the Korean peninsula, low pressure and trough systems are likely to move over Korea. Eventually this could lead to surface temperature (3.1℃) higher during YCAD than the average in the winter season (1.6℃). The surface temperature during YCAD, however, was decrease by 1.3℃. The cold air layer was elevated around 120 m~450 m for LP-type. For LC-type, the cold layer were found at less than approximately 400 m and over 1,000 m, which could be thought of combined phenomena with synoptic and local weather forcing. The cross-sectional analysis results indicate the accumulation of cold air on the east mountain slope. Additionally, the north or northeasterly winds turned to the northwesterly wind near the coast in all cases. The horizontal wind turning point of LC-type was farther from the top of the mountain (52.2 km~71.5 km) than that of LP-type (20.0 km~43.0 km).

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.289-302
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• 2017

During the research period, error analysis of the amount of daily precipitation was performed with data obtained from 2DVD, Parsivel, and AWS, and from the results, 79 days were selected as research days. According to the results of a synoptic meteorological analysis, these days were classified into 'LP type, CF type, HE type, and TY type'. The dates showing the maximum daily precipitation amount and precipitation intensity were 'HE type and CF type', which were found to be attributed to atmospheric instability causing strong ascending flow, and leading to strong precipitation events. Of the 79 days, most days were found to be of the LP type. On July 27, 2011 the daily precipitation amount in the Korean Peninsula reached over 80 mm (HE type). The leading edge of the Northern Pacific high pressure was located over the Korean Peninsula with unstable atmospheric conditions and inflow of air with high temperature and high humidity caused ascending flow, 120 mm/h with an average precipitation intensity of over 9.57 mm/h. Considering these characteristics, precipitation in these sample dates could be classified into the convective rain type. The results of a precipitation scale distribution analysis showed that most precipitation were between 0.4-5.0 mm, and 'Rain' size precipitation was observed in most areas. On July 9, 2011, the daily precipitation amount was recorded to be over 80 mm (CF type) at the rainy season front (Jangma front) spreading across the middle Korean Peninsular. Inflow of air with high temperature and high humidity created unstable atmospheric conditions under which strong ascending air currents formed and led to convective rain type precipitation.

• Atmosphere
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.245-264
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• 2013

Heavy rain over the Gangwon region has distinct characteristics in the temporal and spatial distribution of rainfall, most of which are concentrated on a very short period of time and either part of Yeongdong and Yeongseo regions. According to its regional distribution, heavy rain events over the Gangwon region may be classified into Yeongdong and Yeongseo heavy rain in which rainfalls of more than 110 mm $(6 hrs)^{-1}$ (heavy rain warning) have been observed in at least one of the weather stations over only Yeongdong or Yeongseo region, but over the other region the rainfalls are less than 70 mm $(6 hrs)^{-1}$ (heavy rain advisory). To differentiate between Yeongdong and Yeongseo heavy rain, 9 cases for Yeongdong heavy rain and 8 cases for Yeongseo heavy rain are examined on their synoptic and mesoscale environments using some meteorological parameters and ingredients. In addition, 8 cases are examined in which heavy rain warning or advisory are issued in both Yeongdong and Yeongseo regions. The cases for each heavy rain type have shown largely similar features in some meteorological parameters and ingredients. Based on an ingredient analysis, there are three common and basic ingredients for the three heavy rain types: instability, moisture, and lift. However, it is found that the distinct and important process producing strong upward vertical motions may discriminate among three heavy rain types very well. Yeongdong heavy rain is characterized by strong orographic lifting, Yeongseo heavy rain by high instability (high CAPE), and heavy rain over both regions by strong synoptic-scale ascent (strong 850 hPa Q-Vector convergence, diagnostics for ascent). These ingredients and diagnostics for the ingredients can be used to forecasting the potential for regional heavy rain. And also by knowing which of ingredients is important for each heavy rain type, forecasters can concentrate on only a few ingredients from numerous diagnostic and prognostic products for forecasting heavy rain events.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.1673-1691
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• 2014

Although most natural disaster related studies conducted in Korea recently have been related to typhoons or severe rainstorms, the occurrence frequency of disasters due to windstorms or rainstorms is also high. To reduce the strong wind damage caused by strong windstorms due to climate change, basic studies of strong winds are necessary. Therefore, in this study, the types and representative cases of windstorms that were observed to have been higher than 14 m/s, which is the criterion for strong-wind warnings from the Korea Meteorological Administration, were selected from among those windstorm cases that occurred on the Korean Peninsula for 10 years to conduct a statistical analysis of them and determine their synoptic meteorological characteristics. The cases of windstorms occurring on the Korean Peninsula were divided into six weather patterns according to the locations of the anticyclones/cyclones. Among these types, the SH type, which occurs when Siberian Highs expand into the Korean Peninsula, showed the highest occurrence frequency, accounting for at least the majority of the entire occurrence frequency of windstorms together with that of the EC type, which occurs when cyclones develop on the East Sea, and there was no clear yearly trend of the occurrence frequencies of windstorms. The monthly occurrence frequencies of windstorms were formed mainly by typhoons in the summer and the Siberian Highs in the winter, and the months with the highest windstorm occurrence frequencies were December and January, in which mainly the SH and EC type windstorms occurred. March showed the next highest occurrence frequency with10 times, and SH windstorms occurred the most frequently in March, followed by the CC, SC, and EC types of windstorms, in order of precedence. Therefore, attention to these types of windstorms is required. Countermeasures against storm and flood damage in Korea targeting the summer should be re-reviewed together with pre-disaster prevention plans, because cases of storm and flood damage due to windstorms occur more frequently than those due to typhoons, and they occur throughout the year.

• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.611-622
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• 2015

Heavy rainfall ($>30mm\;hr^{-1}$) over the Korean Peninsula is examined in order to understand thermo-dynamic characteristics of the atmosphere, using radiosonde observational data from seven upper-air observation stations during the last 17 years (1997~2013). A total of 82 heavy rainfall cases during the summer season (June-August) were selected for this study. The average values of thermo-dynamic indices of heavy rainfall events are Total Precipitable Water (TPW) = 60 mm, Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) = $850J\;kg^{-1}$, Convective Inhibition (CIN) = $15J\;kg^{-1}$, Storm Relative Helicity (SRH) = $160m^2s^{-2}$, and 0~3 km bulk wind shear = $5s^{-1}$. About 34% of the cases were associated with a Changma front; this pattern is more significant than other synoptic pressure patterns such as troughs (22%), migratory cyclones (15%), edges of high-pressure (12%), typhoons (11%), and low-pressure originating from Changma fronts (6%). The spatial distribution of thermo-dynamic conditions (CAPE and SRH) is similar to the range of thunderstorms over the United States, but extreme conditions (supercell thunderstorms and tornadoes) did not appear in the Korean Peninsula. Synoptic conditions, vertical buoyancy (CAPE, CIN), and wind parameters (SRH, shear) are shown to discriminate among the environments of the three types. The first type occurred with high CAPE and low wind shear by the edge of the high pressure pattern, but Second type is related to Changma front and typhoon, exhibiting low CAPE and high wind shear. The last type exhibited characteristics intermediate between the first and second types, such as moderate CAPE and wind shear near the migratory cyclone and trough.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.345-359
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• 2016

This study analyze the synoptic meteorological cause of rainfall, rainfall intensity, drop size distribution(DSD), fall velocity and oblateness measured by the 2D-Video distrometer(2DVD) by comparing two cases which are heavy rainfall event case and a case that is not classified as heavy rainfall but having more than $30mm\;h^{-1}$ rainrate in July, 2014 at Gimhae region. As a results; Over the high pressure edge area where strong upward motion exists, the convective rain type occurred and near the changma front, convective and frontal rainfall combined rain type occurred. Therefore, rainrate varies based on the synoptic meteorological condition. The most rain drop distribution appeared in the raindrops with diameters between 0.4 mm and 0.6 mm and large particles appeared for the convective rain type since strong upward motion provide favorable conditions for the drops to grow by colliding and merging so the drop size distribution varies based on the location or rainfall types. The rainfall phases is mainly rain and as the diameter of the raindrop increase the fall velocity increase and oblateness decrease. The equation proposed based on the 2DVD tends to underestimated both fall velocity and oblateness compared with observation. Since these varies based on the rainfall characteristics of the observation location, standard equation for fall velocity and oblateness fit for Gimhae area can be developed by continuous observation and data collection hereafter.