• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.88-98
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• 2016

The storage variation in the vadose zone at a hillslope is important to understand the hydrological process. This study explores seasonal changes of soil water storage at a hillslope scale. The study was conducted on a hillslope of Beomrunsa, located in the Seolma-cheon river basin in Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do. Using soil moisture measurements through Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR), storage, discharge, and response constant were calculated for all monitoring points on a hillslope between March and November, 2010. This study found that temporal changes in storage are resulted from the rainfall distribution patterns. Analysis of the spatial changes in storage indicated that the soil water storage tends to increase towards the downslope direction. The discharges calculated based on the soil water measurements exhibited a high correlation with observation discharge. The storage response constant was high during the autumn which demonstrates the increased contribution from upslope is responsible for the occurrence of soil water recharge during autumn.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.234-246
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• 2007

The role of macropore in the hydrological processes is important at the hillslope scale. Developments and distribution of macropores have not been investigated in conjunction with the characteristics of the hillslope such as topography, soil property, and soil moisture. In this study, macropore properties, such as macropore flow and saturation hydraulic conductivity were measured at a hillslope located in Gwangneung Research Forest, Pochun-gun, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. An intensive field survey provided a refined Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for surface and subsurface topography. Spatial distributions of upslope area and topographic index were obtained through the digital terrain analysis. The total number of monitoring points was 22, and the selected points were distributed along the transect of the digital contour map. Vertical fluxes through macropores were measured using a tension infiltrometer at the depth of 0.1 m from the surface. Spatial and temporal distributions of soil moisture were obtained using an on-line measurement system, TRASE, installed in the study area. Soil moisture for the aforementioned points was measured at 0.1 and 0.3m depths below the surface. The results from tension infiltrometer experiments present that the macropore flows ranged between 21 and 94%, and the measured macroporosities varied from 1.4 to 47%. Macropore flows and macroporosities tended to increase as the measurement location moved to downslope. The ability for water conduction through macropores becomes increasingly developed as the location approaches the outlet of the hillslope.

• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.227-241
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• 2016

This study investigated the cause of the heavy snowfall that occurred in the East Coast of Korea from 6 February to 14 February 2014. The synoptic conditions were analyzed using blocking index, equivalent potential temperature, potential vorticity, maritime temperature difference, temperature advection, and ground convergence. During the case period, a large blocking pattern developed over the Western Pacific causing the flow to be stagnant, and there was a North-South oriented High-to-Low pressure system over the Korean Peninsula because of this arrangement. The case period was divided into three parts based on the synoptic forcing that was responsible for the heavy snowfall; detailed analyses were conducted for the first and last period. In the first period, a heavy snowfall occurred over the entire Korean Peninsula due to strong updrafts from baroclinic instability and a low pressure caused by potential vorticity located at the mid-troposphere. In the lower atmosphere, a North-South oriented High-to-Low pressure system over the Eastern Korea intensified the easterly airflow and created a convergence zone near the ground which strengthened the upslope effect of the Taebaek Mountain range with a cumulative fresh snowfall amount of 41 cm in the East Coast region. In the last period, the cold air nestled in the Maritime Province of Siberia and Manchuria strengthened much more than that in the first half and extended to the East Sea. The temperature difference between the 850 hPa air and the SST was large and convective clouds developed over the sea. The highest cumulative fresh snow amount of 39.7 cm was recorded in the coastal area during this period. During the entire period, vertically oriented equivalent potential temperature showed neutral stability layer that helped the cloud formation and development in the East Coast. The 2014 heavy snowfall case over the East Coast provinces of Korea were due to: 1) stagnation of the system by blocking pattern, 2) the dynamic effect of mid-level potential vorticity of 1.6 PVU, 3) the easterly air flow from North-South oriented High-to-Low pressure system, 4) the existence of vertically oriented neutral stable layer, and 5) the expansion of strong cold air into the East Sea which created a large temperature difference between the air and the ocean.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 1991

The distribution of cryophilous arctic-alpine and alpine plants in Korea is reviewed in connection with palaeoenvironment, along with a discussion to their origins, patterns of migration, and their refugia. At present, the estimated number of Korean arctic-alpine and alpine species is 419, and this includes 75 arctic-alpine species, 239 alpine species and 105 Korean endemic alpine species. The disjunctive distribution of cryophilous arctic-alpine and alpine plants is likely to be due to first, the downslope and southward expansion of those species towards the Korean peninsula as a primary refugia from the arctic region as the Pleistocene glacial phases approached, and then their subsequent isolation upslope in mountain areas toward a secondary refugia as the interglacial and post-glacial climatic ameliorations followed; secondly, the expansion of forest tree communities on lowland and montane areas subsequent to the end of the Pleistocene has had the effect of dividing formerly high mountains as a result of the increased competition; and thirdly, the general disapperance or restriction of available habitats for arctic-alpine and alpine species because of post-glacial climatic amelioration. The existence of 139 alpine species exclusively in the north of Korea may be due to the following reasons; first, frequent exchanges of alpine floras with other neighbouring East Asian regions would have been facilitated; secondly, there are numerous high mountains available for the alpine plants to survive and prosper during the post-glacial period; thirdly, the existence of easy accesses between mountains within the north, which has enabled alpine floras to migrate when necessary; and finally, the availability of diverse environments and habitats for the alpine flora of the north. However, the continued survival of those species in Korea at the world's or East Asia's southernmost limits of their distribution for many species is in danger if global warming associated with the greenhouse effect takes place.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.88-99
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• 2007

Soil moisture is one of the essential components in determining surface hydrological processes such as infiltration, surface runoff as well as meteorological, ecological and water quality responses at watershed scale. This paper discusses soil moisture transfer processes measured at hillslope scale in the Gwangneung forest catchment to understand and provide the basis of stochastic structures of soil moisture variation. Measured soil moisture series were modelled based upon the developed univariate model platform. The modeling consists of a series of procedures: pre-treatment of data, model structure investigation, selection of candidate models, parameter estimation and diagnostic checking. The spatial distribution of model is associated with topographic characteristics of the hillslope. The upslope area computed by the multiple flow direction algorithm and the local slope are found to be effective parameters to explain the distribution of the model structure. This study enables us to identify the key factors affecting the soil moisture distribution and to ultimately construct a realistic soil moisture map in a complex landscape such as the Gwangneung Supersite.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.21-32
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• 2023

Interrill erosion dominates in forest areas, and the erosion rate in surface-disturbed areas is significantly increased by the development and expansion of rill. In this study, soil erosion experiments using simulated rainfall and inflow were performed to understand the development and the micromorphological changes of rill on steep slopes. The characteristic factors of the micromorphology, such as the rill cross section, rill volume, rill density, rill order, and rill sharpness, were analyzed according to steepness and location (upper or lower) of slope. The head-cut of the simultaneous incised rills by rainfall simulation moved rapidly upslope, and the randomly developed rills expanded deeply and widely with their connection. The rill cross section evolved to downslope gradually increased. The rill volume occupied about 78 % of the sediment volume, confirming that the contribution of the sediment from the rill erosion is greater than that of the interrill erosion. Although the rate of increase in rill order slowed as the slope increased, the total length and density of the rill generally increased. As the slope increased from 15° to 20°, the bed incision of rills became larger than the sidewall expansion, and the rill sharpness increased by 1.6 times. The runoff coefficient on the lower slope decreased by 12.3 % than that on the upper slope. It was evaluated that the subsoil exposures and formation changes by the rill expansion increased the infiltration rate. Although the sediment accompanying the rills generally increased with slope increase, it was directly influenced by the hydraulic velocity of enhanced rill with the local convergence and expansion in the process of the rill evolution.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.343-351
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• 2012

This study proposes a modified equation to calculate the factor of safety for an infinite slope considering the saturation depth ratio as a new variable calculated from rainfall infiltration into unsaturated soil. For the proposed equation, this study introduces the concepts of the saturation depth ratio and subsurface flow depth. Analysis of the factor of safety for an infinite slope is conducted by the sequential calculation of the effective upslope contributing area, subsurface flow depth, and the saturation depth ratio based on quasi-dynamic wetness index theory. The calculation process makes it possible to understand changes in the factor of safety and the infiltration behavior of individual rainfall events. This study analyzes stability changes in an infinite slope, considering the saturation depth ratio of soil, based on the proposed equation and the results of soil column tests performed by Park et al. (2011 a). The analysis results show that changes in the factor of safety are dependent on the saturation depth ratio, which reflects the rainfall infiltration into unsaturated weathered gneiss soil. Under continuous rainfall with intensities of 20 and 50 mm/h, the time taken for the factor of safety to decrease to less than 1.3 was 2.86-5.38 hours and 1.34-2.92 hours, respectively; in the case of repeated rainfall events, the time taken was between 3.27 and 5.61 hours. The results demonstrate that it is possible to understand changes in the factor of safety for an infinite slope dependent on the saturation depth ratio.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.19-32
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• 2007

In Korea, there have been various methods of estimating groundwater recharge which generally can be subdivided into three types: baseflow separation method by means of groundwater recession curve, water budget analysis based on lumped conceptual model in watershed, and water table fluctuation method (WTF) by using the data from groundwater monitoring wells. However, groundwater recharge rate shows the spatial-temporal variability due to climatic condition, land use and hydrogeological heterogeneity, so these methods have various limits to deal with these characteristics. To overcome these limitations, we present a new method of estimating recharge based on water balance components from the SWAT-MODFLOW which is an integrated surface-ground water model. Groundwater levels in the interest area close to the stream have dynamics similar to stream flow, whereas levels further upslope respond to precipitation with a delay. As these behaviours are related to the physical process of recharge, it is needed to account for the time delay in aquifer recharge once the water exits the soil profile to represent these features. In SWAT, a single linear reservoir storage module with an exponential decay weighting function is used to compute the recharge from soil to aquifer on a given day. However, this module has some limitations expressing recharge variation when the delay time is too long and transient recharge trend does not match to the groundwater table time series, the multi-reservoir storage routing module which represents more realistic time delay through vadose zone is newly suggested in this study. In this module, the parameter related to the delay time should be optimized by checking the correlation between simulated recharge and observed groundwater levels. The final step of this procedure is to compare simulated groundwater table with observed one as well as to compare simulated watershed runoff with observed one. This method is applied to Mihocheon watershed in Korea for the purpose of testing the procedure of proper estimation of spatio-temporal groundwater recharge distribution. As the newly suggested method of estimating recharge has the advantages of effectiveness of watershed model as well as the accuracy of WTF method, the estimated daily recharge rate would be an advanced quantity reflecting the heterogeneity of hydrogeology, climatic condition, land use as well as physical behaviour of water in soil layers and aquifers.