• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.103-110
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• 2000

In order to understand the wintertime intermittent characteristics of the trans-boundary air pollutant transport observed in East Asia, a numerical simulation of the long-range transport of pollutants was applied using an atmospheric transport model(STEM-II). The numerical simulation was carried out for the entire month of January 1997 and specific atmospheric aerosol (including sulfate, nitrate, and other ion compounds0 observation data were compared from four observation sites(Cheju Island, Kanghwa Island, Dazaifu, and Fukue Island). The observation data revealed that concentration peaks were intermittently observed at 3 to 4-day intervals plus the four observation sites exhibited a very similar spatial variation. The horizontal and spatial scale of the heavily polluted air masses was analyzed based on numerical results. The mechanism of the intermittent transport of air pollutants was clearly explained by a comparison of the observed data with the numerical output. It was found that the wind pattern variations associated with the synoptic scale pressure system changes play an extremely important role in the transport of pollutants in this region.

• Atmosphere
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.383-392
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• 2018

This study investigates synoptic characteristics of cold surges over South Korea during winter season (December-February). A total of 63 cold events are selected by quantile regression analysis using daily mean temperature observations from 11 KMA stations for 38 years (1979/80-2016/17). Large-scale pressure pattern during the cold surges is well characterized by high over Siberia and low over Aleutian regions, which elucidates cold advection over the Korean peninsula. However, the large-scale pattern cannot successfully explain the observed sudden decrease of temperature during the cold surges. Composite analyses reveal that a synoptic-scale cyclone developing over the northern Japan is a key feature that significantly contribute to the enhancement of cold advection by increasing pressure gradient over the Korean peninsula. Enhanced sensible and latent heat fluxes are observed over the southern ocean of Korea and Japan during the cold surges due to temperature and humidity differences between the near surface and the lower atmosphere over the ocean. The evaporated water vapor transported toward the center of the surface cyclone and condenses in the lower-to-middle troposphere. The released energy likely promotes the development of the surface cyclone by inducing positive PV near the surface of the heating region.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.209-221
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• 2018

The characteristics of heat wave events in Seoul are analyzed using weather station data from Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) ERA-Interim reanalysis data from 1979 to 2016. Heat waves are defined as events in the upper 10th percentile of the daily maximum temperatures. The associated synoptic weather patterns are then classified into six clusters through Self-Organizing Map (SOM) analysis for sea-level pressure anomalies in East Asia. Cluster 1 shows an anti-cyclonic circulation and weak troughs in southeast and west of Korea, respectively. This synoptic pattern leads to southeasterly winds that advect warm and moist air to the Korean Peninsula. Both clusters 2 and 3 are associated with southerly winds formed by an anti-cyclonic circulation over the east of Korea and cyclonic circulation over the west of Korea. Cluster 4 shows a stagnant weather pattern with weak winds and strong insolation. Clusters 5 and 6 are associated with F?hn wind resulting from an anti-cyclonic circulation in the north of the Korean Peninsula. In terms of long-term variations, event frequencies of clusters 4 and 5 show increasing and decreasing trends, respectively. However, other clusters do not show any long-term trends, indicating that the mechanisms that drive heat wave events in Seoul have remained constant over the last four decades.

• 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.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.591-604
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• 2024

To investigate the frequency and trajectories of volcanic ash from Mt. Baekdu reaching the Korean Peninsula, a forward trajectory analysis was conducted using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Through a cluster analysis of air parcel trajectories, we identified the main pathways of the volcanic ash from Mt. Baekdu entering the Korean Peninsula and analyzed the synoptic meteorological conditions on those days. The frequency of volcanic ash reaching the Korean Peninsula was 82 times at an altitude of 1000 m and 70 times at 2000 m, with an increasing trend from 2016 to 2022. This increase is attributed to the weakening of westerly winds and the strengthening of north-south winds due to global warming. Five and three trajectory clusters were classified at 1000 m and 2000 m, respectively. At a starting altitude of 1000 m, most air parcels originating from Mt. Baekdu entered the Korean Peninsula under weather conditions (C2, C3) where the pressure gradient from the northwest to the southeast was small, resulting in weak northerly winds. C2 and C3 showed shorter trajectories, which occurred in all seasons, except summer. At a starting altitude of 2000 m, air parcels mostly passed over the Korean Peninsula in a synoptic pattern similar to that at 1000 m in altitude; however, the air parcels had simpler paths and less frequent inflow. C2, at a starting altitude of 2000 m, originates from Mount Baekdu, crosses the center of the Korean Peninsula, and continues to the central region. At a starting altitude of 1000 m, volcanic ash can enter the Korean Peninsula when there is no strong low-pressure system to the southeast of the Korean Peninsula, whereas at 2000 m, volcanic ash can enter the Korean Peninsula when the Siberian high-pressure system is weak.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.743-753
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• 2008

Gwangyang Bay is often severely confronted by photochemical pollutants due to its location and dense emissions. It is located in a basin on the south coast of the Korean peninsula and is crossed by a remarkable cluster of hills and mountains of a small horizontal scale that forms a channel. Clearly, the air flow field has a great influence on the dispersion of air pollutants. The characteristics of the wind flow patterns have an important effect on the dispersion of pollutants emitted. In these situations, the distribution of the ozone concentration is extremely complicated because of the superposition of circulations of the air flow fields, especially in complex coastal region. In this study, we examined the distribution of the high level ozone on Gwangyang Bay particularly during the episode day (for 5 years). Among these days, A high level ozone was induced by the development of a sea/land breeze local circulation system, as well as by an anabatic/catabatic flow from the mountains and valley with weakening of the synoptic wind. High level ozone distribution pattern(6 types) on Gwangyang bay is analyzed and the comparison of each pattern reveals substantial localized differences in intensity and distribution of ozone concentration from the site coherence and UPA analysis of ozone concentration. The observed VOC concentration had much difference in concentrations and daily variations between Jungdong and Samil.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.335-348
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• 1998

The intensive meteorological observations including pibal balloon at Ungcheon, airsonde and 10m meteorological tower observations at Gulup-Do, where are located In the western coastal region, are taken to Investigate the characteristics of the upper and lower atmospheric structure and the local circulation pattern during the period of 17 to 22 September 1996. The diurnal variations of weather elements(i.e. air temperature, humidity, pressure, and Und speeds at Gulup-Do are analyzed and discussed with those at four inland meteorological stations. The vertical profiles of wind vector, ortho- gonality(Ω), and shear obtained from the pibal obsenrations are also presented to examine the change of wand structure according to the synoptic-scale pressure system's movement. The diurnal temperature changes at Gulup-Do are more sensitive than that of Inland meteorological stations In case of the mow of southwesterlies but are not dominant due to the ocean effect under the Influence of relatively cold northerlies. A well defined mixed layer Is developed from the 500m to the maximum 1700m with a significant capping Inversion layer on the top of it. It can be found from the vertical profiles of wind vector that the wind become generally strong at the interface heights between cloud lay- ers and non-cloud layers. The maximum Und shear Is appeared at the bel각t where the varlauon of wand direction Induced by the passage of synoptic-scale pressure system Is accompanied with the In- crease of Und speed. Based on the wind orthogonality, the change of wind direction with height is more complicated In cloudy day than In clear day. In case of a fair weather, the change of wand direction is showed to be at around 2km.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.33 no.1_2
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• pp.37-48
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• 2021

The cold surge is an important extreme weather in East Asia during winter, and is largely affected by behavior of the Siberian high Arctic Oscillation, which represents undulation of large-scale pressure pattern in the Arctic region. Recent studies also revealed that the synoptic low pressure system developing in the eastern boundary of the Asian continent is sensitive to sea surface temperature (SST) and plays an important role in strengthening the cold advection over the Korean Peninsula during cold surges. In this study, we analyzed the Arctic Oscillation affecting the large-scale background of cold surge in East Asia, and the sea surface temperature in the coast of East Asia is examined focusing on its role on synoptic low-inducing cold advection. For the analysis, the days with the bottom 3% of the average daily temperature, measured at five surface stations in Korean Peninsula during 49 years (1969/70-2017/18), were used for the cold surge cases. During the negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation, a strong trough is observed over East Asia, and the inflow of cold air from the polar region is strengthened, which lead to frequent cold surges. In addition, anomalously high SST in the eastern coast of Asia increases sensible and latent heat release from the ocean, therefore, it enlarges the likelihood of synoptic low-inducing extreme cold surges.

• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.321-336
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• 2016

Damages caused by torrential rain occur every year in Korea and summer time convection can cause strong thunderstorms to develop which bring dangerous weather such as torrential rain, gusts, and flash flooding. On 6 August 2013 a sudden torrential rain concentrated over the inland of Southern Korean Peninsula occurred. This was an event characterized as a mesoscale multicellular convection. The purpose of this study is to analyze the conditions of the multicellular convection and the synoptic and mesoscale nature of the system development. To this end, dynamical and thermodynamic analyses of surface and upper-level weather charts, satellite images, soundings, reanalysis data and WRF model simulations are performed. At the beginning stage there was a cool, dry air intrusion in the upper-level of the Korean Peninsula, and a warm humid air flow from the southwest in the lower-level creating atmospheric instability. This produced a single cell cumulonimbus cloud in the vicinity of Baengnyeongdo, and due to baroclinic instability, shear and cyclonic vorticity the cloud further developed into a multicellular convection. The cloud system moved southeast towards Seoul metropolitan area accompanied by lightning, heavy precipitation and strong wind gusts. In addition, atmospheric instability due to daytime insolation caused new convective cells to develop in the upstream part of the Sobaek Mountain which merged with existing multicellular convection creating a larger system. This case was unusual because the system was affected little by the upper-level jet stream which is typical in Korea. The development and propagation of the multicellular convection showed strong mesoscale characteristics and was not governed by large synoptic-scale dynamics. In particular, the system moved southeast crossing the Peninsula diagonally from northwest to southeast and did not follow the upper-level westerly pattern. The analysis result shows that the movement of the system can be determined by the vertical wind shear.

• Atmosphere
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.91-99
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• 2005

This study compares the summer monsoon circulations during a heavy rainfall period over the Korean peninsular from 11 to 18 July 2004, simulated by three widely used regional models; WRF, MM5, and RSM. An identical model setup is carried out for all the experiments, except for the physical option differences in the RSM. The three models with a nominal resolution of about 50 km over Korea are nested by NCEP-DOE reanalysis data. Another RSM experiment with the same cumulus parameterization scheme as in the WRF and MM5 is designed to investigate the importance of the representation of subgrid-scale parameterized convection in reproducing monsoonal circulations in East Asia. All thee models are found to be capable of reproducing the general distribution of monsoonal precipitation, extending northeastward from south China across the Korean peninsula, to northern Japan. The results from the WRF and MM5 are similar in terms of accumulated precipitation, but a slightly better performance in the WRF than in the MM5. The RSM improves the bias for precipitation as compared to those from the WRF and MM5, but the pattern correlation is degraded due to overestimation of precipitation in northern China. In the comparison of simulated synoptic scale features, the RSM is found to reproduce the large-scale features well compared to the results from the MM5 and WRF. On the other hand, the simulated precipitation from the RSM with the convection scheme used in the MM5 and WRF is closer to that from the WRF and MM5 simulations, indicating the significant dependency of simulated precipitation in East Asia on the cumulus parameterization scheme.