• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.12-22
• /
• 2020

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is a promising water management strategy for securing stable water resources to overcome water shortage and water quality deterioration caused by global environmental changes. A MAR demonstration site was selected at Imgok-ri, Sangju-si, Korea, based on screening for the frequency of drought events and local water supply situations. The abundant groundwater discharging from a nearby abandoned coal mine is one of the potential recharge water sources for the MAR implementation. However, it has elevated levels of arsenic (~12 ㎍/L). In this study, the potential of the natural attenuation of arsenic by the field geological media was investigated using batch and column experiments. The adsorption and desorption parameters were obtained for two drill core samples (GM1; 21.8~22.8 m and GM2; 26.0~27.8 m depth) recovered from the potentially water-conducting fracture-zones in the injection well. The effluent arsenic concentrations were monitored during the continuous flow of the mine drainage water through the columns packed with the core samples. GM2 removed about 60% of arsenic in the influent (0.1 mg-As/L) while GM1 removed about 20%. The results suggest that natural attenuation is an acitive process occurring during the MAR operation, potentially lowering the arsenic level in the mine drainage water below the regulatory standard for drinking water. This study hence demonstrates that using the mine drainage water as the recharge water source is a viable option at the MAR demonstration site.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.71-80
• /
• 2016

Meanwhile, reference evapotranspiration(ET0) is important information for agricultural management including irrigation planning and drought assessment, the database of reference evapotranspiration for future periods was rarely constructed especially at districts unit over the country. The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) provides several meteorological data such as precipitation, average temperature, humidity, wind speed, and radiation for long-term future period at daily time-scale. This study aimed to build a database for reference evapotranspiration using the climate forecasts at high resolution (the outputs of HadGEM3-RA provided by Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA)). To estimate reference evapotranspiration, we implemented four different models such as FAO Modified Penman, FAO Penman-Monteith, FAO Blaney-Criddle, and Thornthwaite. The suggested database system has an open architecture so that user could add other models into the database. The database contains 5,050 regions' data for each four models and four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) climate change scenarios. The developed database system provides selecting features by which the database users could extract specific region and period data.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2016

Rehabilitation for low-yielding wells resulting in improvement on groundwater quantity and quality is considered to be the most economic and ecofriendly method against the increasing demand to groundwater due to frequent drought and the increase in numbers of agricultural complex for growing horticultural crops. This study suggests standard, stepwise diagnostic fuctions consisting of four steps (Basic inspection, Specific inspection, Rehabilitation, and Management) for an optimal management to the wells. Basic inspection can provide information on current groundwater quantity and quality compared with those on its initial stage. Specific-inspection based on hydrogeology can scientifically demonstrate causes of deterioration on groundwater quantity and quality. Results of specific inspection can suggest an optimal rehabilitation method to solve deteriorating problems including clogging and corrosion for the wells. After rehabiliating the wells, an assessment on groundwater quantity and quality would be conducted to identify the suitability of the applied method and improvement of the wells. A short-term, periodic management to the wells is considered as the key to save a public management budget. Suggested diagnostic functions can possibly induce sustainable supply of agricultural groundwater to the farm land and finally contribute the increase on rural household income.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.65-78
• /
• 2011

Ozone ($O_3$) is a main component of photochemical oxidants, and a phytotoxic anthropogenic air pollutant. In North America and Europe, the current concentration of $O_3$ has been shown to have significant adverse effects on vegetation. In this review, we summarize the experimental studies on the effects of $O_3$ on the growth and photosynthetic activity of Japanese forest tree species to understand the present knowledge and provide sound basis for future research toward the assessment of $O_3$ impacts on Japanese forest ecosystem. Since the 1990s, several Japanese researchers have conducted the experimental studies on the effects of ambient levels of $O_3$ on growth and physiological functions such as net photosynthesis of Japanese forest tree species. Although the sensitivity to $O_3$ of whole-plant growth is quite different among the species, it was suggested that the current ambient levels of $O_3$ in Japan are high enough to adversely affect growth and photosynthetic activity of Japanese forest tree species classified into high $O_3$ sensitivity group such as Japanese beech. The N load to soil has been shown to reduce the sensitivity to $O_3$ of Japanese larch and increase that of Japanese beech. To establish the critical level of $O_3$ for protecting Japanese forest tree species, therefore, it is necessary to take into account the N deposition from the atmosphere. There is little information on the combined effects of $O_3$ and other environmental factors such as elevated $CO_2$ and drought on growth and physiological functions of Japanese forest tree species. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the experimental study and accumulate the information on the combined effects of $O_3$ and any other abiotic environmental factors on Japanese forest tree species.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.62 no.2
• /
• pp.39-52
• /
• 2020

A high quality, long-term, high-resolution precipitation dataset is an essential in climate analyses and global water cycles. Rainfall data from station observations are inadequate over many parts of the world, especially North Korea, due to non-existent observation networks, or limited reporting of gauge observations. As a result, satellite-based rainfall estimates have been used as an alternative as a supplement to station observations. The Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation (CHIRP) and CHIRP combined with station observations (CHIRPS) are recently produced satellite-based rainfall products with relatively high spatial and temporal resolutions and global coverage. CHIRPS is a global precipitation product and is made available at daily to seasonal time scales with a spatial resolution of 0.05° and a 1981 to near real-time period of record. In this study, we analyze the applicability of CHIRPS data on the Korean Peninsula by supplementing the lack of precipitation data of North Korea. We compared the daily precipitation estimates from CHIRPS with 81 rain gauges across Korea using several statistical metrics in the long-term period of 1981-2017. To summarize the results, the CHIRPS product for the Korean Peninsula was shown an acceptable performance when it is used for hydrological applications based on monthly rainfall amounts. Overall, this study concludes that CHIRPS can be a valuable complement to gauge precipitation data for estimating precipitation and climate, hydrological application, for example, drought monitoring in this region.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.60-69
• /
• 2016

In this study, we estimated root zone soil moisture dynamics using remotely sensed (RS) data. A soil moisture data assimilation scheme was used to derive the soil and root parameters from MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. Based on the estimated soil/root parameters and weather forcings, soil moisture dynamics were simulated at spatio-temporal scales based on a hydrological model. For calibration/validation, the Little Washita (LW13) in Oklahoma and Chungmi-cheon/Seolma-cheon sites were selected. The derived water retention curves matched the observations at LW 13. Also, the simulated soil moisture dynamics at these sites was in agreement with the Time Domain Reflectrometry (TDR)-based measurements. To test the applicability of this approach at ungauged regions, the soil/root parameters at the pixel where the Seolma-cheon site is located were derived from the calibrated MODIS-based (Chungmi-cheon) soil moisture data. Then, the simulated soil moisture was validated using the measurements at the Seolma-cheon site. The results were slightly overestimated compared to the measurements, but these findings support the applicability of this proposed approach in ungauged regions with predictable uncertainties. These findings showed the potential of this approach in Korea. Thus, this proposed approach can be used to assess root zone soil moisture dynamics at spatio-temporal scales across Korea, which comprises mountainous regions with dense forest.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.26 no.8
• /
• pp.939-953
• /
• 2017

For the development of flow duration curves for the management of 41 Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) units of the Nakdong River basin, first, an equation for estimating daily flow rates as well as the level of correlation (correlation and determination coefficients) was extrapolated through regression analysis of discrete (Ministry of Environment) and continuous (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation) measurement data. The equation derived from the analysis was used to estimate daily flow rates in order to develop flow duration curves for each TMDL unit. By using the equation, the annual flow duration curves and flow curves, for the entire period and for each TMDL unit of the basin, were developed to be demonstrated in this research. Standard flow rates (abundant-, ordinary-, low- and drought flows) for major flow duration periods were calculated based on the annual flow duration curves. Then, the flow rates, based on percentile ranks of exceedance probabilities (5, 25, 50, 75, and 95%), were calculated according to the flow duration curves for the entire period and are suggested in this research. These results can be used for feasibility assessment of the set values of primary and secondary standard flow rates for each river system, which are derived from complicated models. In addition, they will also be useful for the process of implementing TMDL management, including evaluation of the target level of water purity based on load duration curves.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.61-70
• /
• 2010

The increase of impervious cover (IC) in a watershed is known as an important factor causing alteration of water cycle, deterioration of water quality and biological communities of urban streams. The study objective was to assess the impact of IC changes on the surface runoff characteristics of Kap Stream basin located in Geum river basin (Korea) using the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). SWMM was calibrated and verified using the flow data observed at outlet of the watershed with 8 days interval in 2007 and 2008. According to the analysis of Landsat satellite imagery data every 5 years from 1975 to 2000, the IC of the watershed has linearly increased from 4.9% to 10.5% during last 25 years. The validated model was applied to simulate the runoff flow rates from the watershed with different IC rates every five years using the climate forcing data of 2007 and 2008. The simulation results indicated that the increase of IC area in the watershed has resulted in the increase of peak runoff and reduction of travel time during flood events. The flood flow ($Q_{95}$) and normal flow ($Q_{180}$) rates of Kap Stream increased with the IC rate. However, the low flow ($Q_{275}$) and drought flow ($Q_{355}$) rates showed no significant difference. Thus the subsurface flow simulation algorithm of the model needs to be revisited for better assessment of the impact of impervious cover on the long-term runoff process.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.549-558
• /
• 2014

Occurrence frequency of flood and drought tends to increase in last a few decades, leading to social and economic damage since the abnormality of climate changes is one of the causes for hydrologic facilities by exceedance its designed tolerance. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used in the study to estimate temporal variance of groundwater recharge and baseflow. It was limited to consider recession curve coefficients in SWAT model calibration process, thus the recession curve coefficient was estimated by the Baseflow Filter Program (BFLOW) before SWAT model calibration. Precipitation data were estimated for 2014 to 2100 using three models which are GFDL-ESM2G, IPSL-CM5A-LR, and MIROC-ESM with Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenario. SWAT model was calibrated for the Soyang watershed with NSE of 0.83, and $R^2$ of 0.89. The percentage to precipitation of groundwater recharge and baseflow were 27.6% and 17.1% respectively in 2009. Streamflow, groundwater recharge, and baseflow were estimated to be increased with the estimated precipitation data. GFDL-ESM2g model provided the most large precipitation data in the 2025s, and IPSL-CM5A-LR provided the most large precipitation data in the 2055s and 2085s. Overall, groundwater recharge and baseflow displayed similar trend to the estimated precipitation data.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.58 no.5
• /
• pp.81-90
• /
• 2016

Due to droughts and water shortages causing severe damage to crops and other vegetations, much attention has been given to efficient irrigation for upland farming. However, little information has been known to measure soil moisture levels in a field scale and apply their spatial variability for proper irrigation scheduling. This study aimed to characterize the spatial variability and temporal stability of soil water contents at depths of 10 cm, 20 cm and 30 cm on flat (loamy soil) and hill-slope fields (silt-loamy soil). Field monitoring of soil moisture contents was used for variogram analysis using GS+ software. Kriging produced from the structural parameters of variogram was applied for the means of spatial prediction. The overall results showed that the surface soil moisture presented a strong spatial dependence at the sampling time and space in the field scale. The coefficient variation (CV) of soil moisture was within 7.0~31.3 % in a flat field and 8.3~39.4 % in a hill-slope field, which was noticeable in the dry season rather than the rainy season. The drought assessment analysis showed that only one day (Dec. 21st) was determined as dry (20.4 % and 24.5 % for flat and hill-slope fields, respectively). In contrary to a hill-slope field where the full irrigation was necessary, the centralized irrigation scheme was appeared to be more effective for a flat field based on the spatial variability of soil moisture contents. The findings of this study clearly showed that the geostatistical analysis of soil moisture contents greatly contributes to proper irrigation scheduling for water-efficient irrigation with maximal crop productivity and environmental benefits.