• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.261-270
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• 2015

Characteristics of snowfall and snow crystal habits have been investigated in the campaign of Experiment on Snow Storms At Yeongdong (ESSAY) using radiosonde soundings, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and a digital camera with a magnifier for taking a photograph of snowfall crystals. The analysis period is 6 to 14 February 2014, when the accumulated snowfall amount is 192.8 cm with the longest snowfall duration of 9 days. The synoptic situations are similar to those of the previous studies such as the Low pressure system passing by the far South of the Korean peninsula along with the Siberian High extending to northern Japan, which eventually results in the northeasterly or easterly flows and the long-lasting snowfall episodes in the Yeongdong region. In general, the ice clouds tended to exist below around 2~3 km with the consistent easterly flows, and the winds shifted to northerly~northwesterly above the clouds layer. The snow crystal habits observed in the ESSAY campaign were mainly dendrite, consisting of 70% of the entire habits. The rimed habits were frequently captured when two-layered clouds were observed, probably through the process of freezing of super-cooled droplets on the ice particles. The homogeneous habit such as dendrite was shown in case of shallow clouds with its thickness of below 500 m whereas various habits were captured such as dendrites, rimed dendrites, aggregates of dendrites, plates, rimed plates, etc in the thick cloud with its thickness greater than 1.5 km. The dendrites appeared to be dominant in the condition of cloud top temperature specifically ranging $-12{\sim}-16^{\circ}C$. However, the association of snow crystal habits with temperature and super-saturation in the cloud could not be examined in the current study. Better understandings of characteristics of snow crystal habits would contribute to preventing breakdown accidents such as a greenhouse destruction and collapse of a temporary building due to heavy snowfall, and traffic accidents due to snow-slippery road condition, providing a higher-level weather information of snow quality for skiers participating in the winter sports, and estimating more accurate snowfall amount, location, and duration with the fallspeed of solid precipitation.

• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.617-633
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• 2016

Jangbogo station is located in Terra Nova Bay over the East Antarctica, which is often affected by individual storms moving along nearby storm tracks and a katabatic flow from the continental interior towards the coast. A numerical simulation for two strong wind events of maximum instantaneous wind speed ($41.17m\;s^{-1}$) and daily mean wind speed ($23.92m\;s^{-1}$) at Jangbogo station are conducted using the polar-optimized version of Weather Research and Forecasting model (Polar WRF). Verifying model results from 3 km grid resolution simulation against AWS observation at Jangbogo station, the case of maximum instantaneous wind speed is relatively simulated well with high skill in wind with a bias of $-3.3m\;s^{-1}$ and standard deviation of $5.4m\;s^{-1}$. The case of maximum daily mean wind speed showed comparatively lower accuracy for the simulation of wind speed with a bias of -7.0 m/s and standard deviation of $8.6m\;s^{-1}$. From the analysis, it is revealed that the each case has different origins for strong wind. The highest maximum instantaneous wind case is caused by the approach of the strong synoptic low pressure system moving toward Terra Nova Bay from North and the other daily wind maximum speed case is mainly caused by the katabatic flow from the interiors of Terra Nova Bay towards the coast. Our evaluation suggests that the Polar WRF can be used as a useful dynamic downscaling tool for the simulation and investigation of high wind events at Jangbogo station. However, additional efforts in utilizing the high resolution terrain is required to reduce the simulation error of high wind mainly caused by katabatic flow, which is received a lot of influence of the surrounding terrain.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.645-661
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• 2013

The synoptic, thermodynamic, and dynamic characteristics of a heavy snowfall event that occurred in Seoul metropolitan area on 27 to 28 December 2010 was investigated. During this period there was a distinctive case that was identified as a polar low. We analyzed surface and upper level weather charts, snowfall amount, sea surface temperature, satellite imagery, sounding, and the National Center for Environmental Prediction global $1^{\circ}{\times}1^{\circ}$ reanalysis data. The polar low developed in an area where there was strong baroclinicity in the lower level aided by strong conditional instability due to 925 hPa warm air advection and 700 hPa cold air advection. The development mechanism of polar low is due, in part, to the tropopause folding, which advected stratospheric air increasing potential vorticity in mid-level and inducing cyclonic vorticity and convergence in low-level. Eventually clouds developed and there were snowfall total of 10 cm in Seoul metropolitan area and as much as 20 cm in southern parts of Korea. During the snowfall development, there was a $-45^{\circ}C$ cold core at 500 hPa and shortwave maintained $3-5^{\circ}$ separation with surface trough, which favored the development of polar low located in the warm sector and cyclonic advection area. The height of the dynamical tropopause lowered to 700 hPa during the peak development and increase in potential vorticity allowed strong vertical motion to occur. Overall, there was a close relationship between the development of snowfall and tropopause undulation. The heaviest snowfall occurred east of the tropopause folding where strong cyclonic vorticity, vertical motion, and moisture advection all coincided while the polar low was passing through the Korean peninsula.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.109-120
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• 2010

Heat wave is a disaster, which increases morbidity and mortality in temperate regions. Climate model results indicate that both intensity and frequency of heat wave in the future will be increased. This study shows the result about relationship between excess mortality and offensive airmass in 7 metropolitan cities, and an operational Heat-Health Warning System (HHWS) in Korea. Using meteorological observations, the Spatial Synoptic Classification (SSC) has been used to classify each summer day from 1982 to 2007 into specific airmass categories for each city. Through the comparative study analysis of the daily airmass type and the corresponding daily mortality rate, Dry Tropical (DT), and Moist Tropical plus (MT+) were identified as the most offensive airmasses with the highest rates of mortality. Therefore, using the multiple linear regression, forecast algorithm was produced to predict the number of the excess deaths that will occur with each occurrence of the DT and MT+ days. Moreover, each excess death forecast algorithm was implemented for the system warning criteria based on the regional acclimatization differences. HHWS will give warnings to the city's residents under offensive weather situations which can lead to deterioration in public health, under the climate change.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.56-61
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• 2021

This study was conducted to determine the possibility of estimating the daily mean temperature for a specific location based on the climatic data collected from the nearby Automated Synoptic Observing System (ASOS) and Automated Weather System(AWS) to improve the accuracy of the climate data in forage yield prediction model. To perform this study, the annual mean temperature and monthly mean temperature were checked for normality, correlation with location information (Longitude, Latitude, and Altitude) and multiple regression analysis, respectively. The altitude was found to have a continuous effect on the annual mean temperature and the monthly mean temperature, while the latitude was found to have an effect on the monthly mean temperature excluding June. Longitude affected monthly mean temperature in June, July, August, September, October, and November. Based on the above results and years of experience with climate-related research, the daily mean temperature estimation was determined to be possible using longitude, latitude, and altitude. In this study, it is possible to estimate the daily mean temperature using climate data from all over the country, but in order to improve the accuracy of daily mean temperature, climatic data needs to applied to each city and province.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.77-90
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• 2022

Despite the decreasing trend of anthropogenic emissions in East Asia in recent years, haze days still frequently occur in spring. Atmospheric blocking, which occurs frequently in the northeastern Pacific, leads to persistent changes in large-scale circulation and blocks westerly flow in the East Asian region. During March 2019, frequent warm and stagnant synoptic meteorological conditions over East Asia were accompanied 6-7 days later by the Alaskan atmospheric blocking. The Alaskan atmospheric blocking over the period of March 18-24, 2019 led to high particulate matter (PM₁₀) severe haze days exceeding a daily average of 50 ㎍ m^-3 over the period of March 25-28, 2019 in South Korea. Although the high-PM₁₀ severe haze days were caused by warm and stagnant meteorological conditions, the regional contribution of anthropogenic emissions in eastern China was calculated to be 30-40% using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). The major regional contributions of PM₁₀ aerosols in the period of high-PM₁₀ severe haze days were as follows: nitrates, 20-25%; sulphates, 10-15%; ammonium, 5-10%; and other inorganics, 15-20%. Ammonium nitrate generated via gas-to-aerosol conversion in a warm and stagnant atmosphere largely contributed to the regional transport of PM₁₀ aerosols in the high-PM₁₀ severe haze days in South Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.1-18
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• 2022

Currently, the Korea Meteorological Administration evaluates the meteorological drought by region using SPI6(standardized precipitation index 6), which is a 6-month cumulative precipitation standard. However, SPI is an index calculated only in consideration of precipitation at 69 weather stations, and the drought phenomenon that appears for complex reasons cannot be accurately determined. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to calculate and compare SPI considering only precipitation and SDCI (Scaled Drought Condition Index) considering precipitation, vegetation index, and temperature in Gyeonggi. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of the station data-based drought index and the satellite image-based drought index were identified by using results calculated through the comparison of SPI and SDCI. MODIS(MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite image data, ASOS(Automated Synoptic Observing System) data, and kriging were used to calculate SDCI. For the duration of precipitation, SDCI1, SDCI3, and SDCI6 were calculated by applying 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month respectively to the 8 points in 2014. As a result of calculating the SDCI, unlike the SPI, drought patterns began to appear about 2-month ago, and drought by city and county in Gyeonggi was well revealed. Through this, it was found that the combination of satellite image data and station data increased efficiency in the pattern of drought index change, and increased the possibility of drought prediction in wet areas along with existing dry areas.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.266-280
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• 1994

Upper-air synoptic data and surface weather elements such as temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, cloud and precipitation were analyzed in some detail to determine the characteristics of Nopsae, a foehn-like surface wind over the Youngsuh region of Central Korea. NOAA AVHRR and GMS images are also referenced to identify the distribution of clouds and precipitation to classify the tpyes of foehn over the study area. The data period examined is from 1982 until 1993 of spring and summer months from March through August. Results of the anaylsis are as follows. Warm and dry air penetration over the Younesuh region has experienced on foehn days occured between March 21 and August 10 during study perion. The mean annual number of foehn the days were 28. Foehn phenomena were prominent during March 21-25, April 5-15, May 25-June 10, and June 26-30 pentads. The intensity of the phenomena can be evaluated as the difference of daily maximum temperature and relative humidity between windward sites and leeward sites. The intensity of daily maximum temperature reached 14.5$^{\circ}C$, but most values were in the range of 5.0-7.5$^{\circ}C$ (61%). Although strong intensity of foehns usually develop in June, it is common that farmers in the region experince more aridity during the foehnday of April and May due to the transplantation of rice seedlings. Long-run foehn are not common phenomena and 55% of foehn terminate in one day, but there is a record that Nopsae persisted up to 9 days continuously. The author identified using the cloud and precipitation data out of NOAA-11, AVHRR and GMS images is that one of them has no precipitation over windward side. The available data and the results of the analysis are somewhat inadequate. Since the results imply that wave phenomenon is potentially important in terms of local surface weather and vertical momentum transport, more detailed theoretical and observational studies are necessary to clarify the mechanism and the impacts of Nopsae.

• Atmosphere
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.429-438
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• 2011

The climatology of surface UV radiation for Seoul, presented in Cho et al. (1998; 2001), has been updated using measurement of surface erythemal ultraviolet (EUV) and total ultraviolet (TUV) irradiance (wavelength 286.5~363.0 nm) by a Brewer Spectrophotometer (MK-IV) for the period 2004~2010. The analysis was also carried out together with the broadband total (global) solar irradiance (TR ; 305~2800 nm) and cloud amount to compare with the UV variations, measured by Seoul meteorological station of Korean Meteorological Agency located near the present study site. Under all-sky conditions, the day-to-day variability of EUV exhibits annual mean of 98% in increase and 31% in decrease. It has been also shown that the EUV variability is 17 times as high as the total ozone in positive change, whereas this is 6 times higher in negative change. Thus, the day to day variability is dominantly caused rather by the daily synoptic situations than by the ozone variability. Annual mean value of daily EUV and TUV shows $1.62kJm^{-2}$ and $0.63MJm^{-2}$ respectively, whereas mean value of TR is $12.4MJm^{-2}$ ($143.1Wm^{-2}$). The yearly maximum in noon-time UV Index (UVI) varies between 9 and 11 depending on time of year. The highest UVI shows 11 on 20 July, 2008 during the period 2004~2010, but for the period 1994~2000, the index of 12 was recorded on 13 July, 1994 (Cho et al., 2001). A 40% of daily maximum UVI belongs to "low (UVI < 2)", whereas the UVI less than 5% of the maximum show "very high (8 < UVI < 10)". On average, the maximum UVI exceeded 8 on 9 days per year. The values of Tropospheric Emission Monitoring Internet Service (TEMIS) EUV and UVI under cloud-free conditions are 1.8 times and 1.5 times, respectively, higher than the all-sky measurements by the Brewer. The trend analysis in fractional deviation of monthly UV from the reference value shows a decrease of -0.83% and -0.90% $decade^{-1}$ in the EUV and TUV, respectively, whereas the TR trend is near zero (+0.11% $decade^{-1}$). The trend is statistically significant except for TR trend (p = 0.279). It is possible that the recent UV decrease is mainly associated with increase in total ozone, but the trend in TR can be attributed to the other parameters such as clouds except the ozone. Certainly, the cloud effects suggest that the reason for the differences between UV and TR trends can be explained. In order to estimate cloud effects, the EUV, TUV and TR irradiances have been also evaluated for clear skies (cloud cover < 25%) and cloudy skies (cloud cover ${\geq}$ 75%). Annual mean values show that EUV, TUV and TR are $2.15kJm^{-2}$, $0.83MJm^{-2}$, and $17.9MJm^{-2}$ for clear skies, and $1.24kJm^{-2}$, $0.46MJm^{-2}$, and $7.2MJm^{-2}$ for cloudy skies, respectively. As results, the transmission of radiation through clouds under cloudy-sky conditions is observed to be 58%, 55% and 40% for EUV, TUV and TR, respectively. Consequently, it is clear that the cloud effects on EUV and TUV are 18% and 15%, respectively lower than the effects on TR under cloudy-sky conditions. Clouds under all-sky conditions (average of cloud cover is 5 tenths) reduced the EUV and TUV to about 25% of the clear-sky (cloud cover < 25%) values, whereas for TR, this was 31%. As a result, it is noted that the UV radiation is attenuated less than TR by clouds under all weather conditions.