• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.630-645
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• 2009

The tropopause fold event that took place on January 1, 1997 over mid-region on the Korean Peninsula is examined by means of a numerical simulation based on a Mesoscale Model (MM5). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of moisture in reinforcing a tropopause fold linked to an explosive cyclone. Two types of simulations were carried out; 1) simulations for moist conditions in which full physical and dynamic processes are considered and 2) simulations for dry conditions in which cumulus parameterization and cloud microphysics process are excluded. The results of the moist condition simulations demonstrate that the intensity of the central pressure of the cyclone was overestimated compared with the observed values and that the location of the center and the pressure deepening rates (-17 hPa/12 hr) complied with the observed values. The potential vorticity (PV) anomaly on the isentropic surface at 305 K continued to move in a southeast direction on January 1, 1997 and thus created a single tube of tropopause fold covering the northern and the middle area of the Korean Peninsula and reaching the ground surface at 0300 UTC and 0600 UTC. The results of the dry condition simulations show that the tropopause descended to 500 and 670 hPa in 0300 and 0600 UTC, respectively at the same location for the moist condition simulation; however, there was no deep tropopause fold observed. A comparison of the simulated data between the moist and the dry conditions suggests that a deep tropopause fold should happen when there is sufficient moist in the atmosphere and significantly large PV in the lower atmosphere pulls down the upper atmosphere rather than when the tropopause descends itself due to dynamic causes. Thus, it is estimated that moisture in the atmosphere should have played a crucial role in a deep tropopause fold process.

• Atmosphere
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.187-200
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• 2018

The heavy snowfall phenomenon with thunder and lightning occurred in Yeongdong coastal region on 20 January 2017. Amount of snow on that day was a maximum of 47 cm and was concentrated in a short time (2 hours) at the Yeongdong coastal area. The mechanism of thundersnow was investigated to describe in detail using observational data and numerical simulation (Weather Research and Forecast, WRF) applied lightning option. The results show that a convective cloud occurred at the Yeongdong coastal area. The east wind flow was generated and the pressure gradient force was maximized by the rapidly developed cyclone. The cold and dry air in the upper atmosphere has descended (so called tropopause folding) atmospheric lower layer at precipitation peak time (1200 LST). In addition, latent heat in the lower atmosphere layer and warm sea surface temperature caused thermal instability. The convective cloud caused by the strong thermal instability was developed up to 6 km at that time. And the backdoor cold front was determined by the change characteristics of meteorological elements and shear line in the east sea. Instability indexes such as Total totals Index (TT) and Lightning Potential Index (LPI) are also confirmed as one of good predictability indicates for the explosive precipitation of convective rainfall.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.83-107
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• 2014

This study presents spatial characteristics of cloud using satellite image in the extreme heavy snowfall of the Yeongdong region. 3 extreme heavy snowfall events in the Yeongdong region during the recent 12 years (2001 ~ 2012) are selected for which the fresh snow cover exceed 50 cm/day. Spatial characteristics (minimum brightness temperature; Tmin, cloud size, center of cloud-cell) of cloud are analyzed by tracking main cloud-cell related with these events. These characteristics are compared with radar precipitation in the Yeongdong region to investigate relationship between cloud and precipitation. The results are summarized as follows, selected extreme heavy snowfall events are associated with the isolated, well-developed, and small-scale convective cloud which is developing over the Yeongdong region or moving from over East Korea Bay to the Yeongdong region. During the period of main precipitation, cloud-cell Tmin is low ($-40{\sim}-50^{\circ}C$) and cloud area is small (17,000 ~ 40,000 $km^2$). Precipitation area (${\geq}$ 0.5 mm/hr) from radar also shows small and isolated shape (4,000 ~ 8,000 $km^2$). The locations of the cloud and precipitation are similar, but in there centers are located closely to the coast of the Yeongdong region. In all events the extreme heavy snowfall occur in the period a developed cloud-cell was moving into the coastal waters of the Yeongdong. However, it was found that developing stage of cloud and precipitation are not well matched each other in one of 3 events. Water vapor image shows that cloud-cell is developed on the northern edge of the dry(dark) region. Therefore, at the result analyzed from cloud and precipitation, selected extreme heavy snowfall events are associated with small-scale secondary cyclone or vortex, not explosive polar low. Detection and tracking small-scale cloud-cell in the real-time forecasting of the Yeongdong extreme heavy snowfall is important.