• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.322-334
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• 2010

Spatiotemporal characteristics of precipitation in Korea, associated with the weakening of Tropical Cyclones (TCs) around the Korean Peninsula ($32-36^{\circ}N$, $122-132^{\circ}E$) over the last 30 years (1979-2008), were investigated. Weakened TCs are classified as WEC (Weakened to Extratropical Cyclone) and WTD (Weakened to Tropical Depression). In WEC, precipitation was evenly distributed all over the Korean Peninsula and the greater precipitation was recorded in the southern coast. In WTD, the most precipitation was recorded in the southern coast but low precipitation was recorded in the central and inland areas of Korea. The difference of precipitation between WEC and WTD was not statistically significant in Region 2 (Jeollanam-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, southeastern part of Gyeongsangbuk-do, Jeju-do); however, the precipitation resulting from WEC was greater than that resulting from WTD in Region 1 (central area of Korea, Jeollabuk-do, inland of Gyeongsangbuk-do). In WEC, the developed upper-level potential vorticity (PV) and low-level temperature trough shifted to the northwest of TCs approaching Korea. In addition, an upper-level jet stream and strong divergence field were observed to the northeast of the TCs. It was assumed that these meteorological factors had induced baroclinic instability and diabatic process, which created a large precipitation area around the TCs. However, the intense PV, temperature trough, jet stream were not observed in WTD, which created a small precipitation area around the TCs.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.567-578
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• 2008

The extratropically transitioning cyclones have been shown to have a large effect on weather system in the midlatitues and cause sometimes the severe weather phenomena. However, both operational forecasting and research aspect of ET remain a significant challenge. Because it is difficult to distinguish ET stage due to obscure configuration of the cyclone itself. Furthermore, any definition of ET should not only be precise enough to satisfy the needs of the operational and research communities. Therefore, the "operational deterministic process for ET" was proposed and has been used to diagnose both structure and subsequent process of ET in 2007. In this study, it has been examined the maximum wind and SST in the 1st step, satellite image in the 2nd step, sounding in the 3rd step, surface weather chart analysis in the final step. This operational manual has allowed better monitoring and understanding of the changes in the structure as ET occurs.

• Atmosphere
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.33-48
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• 2006

A classification of snowfall type based on development mechanism is proposed using previous snowfall studies, operational experiences, etc. Five types are proposed: snowfall caused by 1) airmass transformation (AT type), 2) terrain effects in a situation of expanding Siberian High (TE type), 3) precipitation systems associated with extratropical cyclones (EC type), 4) indirect effects of extratropical cyclones passing over the sea to the south of the Korean peninsula (ECS type), and 5) combined effects of TE and ECS types (COM type). Snowfall events during 1981-2001 are classified according to the 5 types mentioned above. For this, 118 events, with at least one station with daily snowfall depth greater than 20 cm, are selected. For the classification, synoptic weather charts, satellite images, and precipitation data are used. For TE and COM types, local sea-level pressure chart is also used to confirm the presence of condition for TE type (this is done for events in 1990 and thereafter). The classification shows that 109 out of 118 events can be classified as one of the 5 types. In the remaining 8 events, heavy snowfall occurred only in Ullung Island. Its occurrence may be due to one or more of the following mechanism: airmass transformation, mesoscale cyclones and/or mesoscale convergence over the East Sea, etc. Each type shows different characteristics in location of snowfall and composition of precipitation (i.e., dry snow, rain, and mixed precipitation). The AT-type snowfall occurs mostly in the west coast, Jeju and Ullung Islands whereas the TE-type snowfall occurs in the East coast especially over the Young Dong area. The ECS-type snowfall occurs mostly over the southern part of the peninsula and some east cost area (sometimes, whole south Korea depending on the location of cyclones). The EC- and COM-type snowfalls occur in wider area, often whole south Korea. Precipitation composition also varies with the type. The AT-type has a snow ratio (SR) higher than the mean value. The TE- and EC-type have SR similar to the mean. The ECS- and COM-type have SR values smaller than the mean. Generally the SR values at high latitude and mountainous areas are higher than those at the other areas. The SR value informs the characteristics of the precipitation composition. An SR value larger than 10 means that all precipitation is composed of snow whereas a zero SR value means that all precipitation is composed of rain.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.295-302
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• 2007

Abnormally high waves occurring at the east coast of korea were observed at five field measurement stations and their characteristics were analyzed with the use of wind data provided by the Korean Meteorological Administration. The high waves occurred because strong Donghae twister that was developed by extratropical cyclone blew while high swell arrived at the east coast of Korea. At Sokcho, the most northern site among the five measurement stations, maximum gust speed was 63.7 m/s and significant wave height reached at its maximum of 9.69 m with the corresponding peak wave period of 12.8 s. The reason for appearance of the abnormally high waves is that high swell continued while the twister blew strongly. Moreover, the wind direction was the same as the direction of swell propagation, which maximizes the increase of wave height due to superposition of swell and wind-generated waves. On the east coast of Korea, outbreak of this type of storm waves is very probable in winter season so that it is requested to establish a countermeasure of minimizing possible damage caused by the storm waves.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.712-736
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• 2022

To understand the characteristics of low-level clouds (CLs), environmental variables are composited on each CL using individual surface observations and six-hourly upper-air meteorologies around the globe. Individual CLs has its own distinct environmental conditions. Over the eastern subtropical and western North Pacific Ocean in JJA, stratocumulus (CL5) has a colder sea surface temperature (SST), stronger and lower inversion, and more low-level cloud amount (LCA) than the climatology whereas cumulus (CL12) has the opposite characteristics. Over the eastern subtropical Pacific, CL5 and CL12 are influenced by cold and warm advection within the PBL, respectively but have similar cold advection over the western North Pacific. This indicates that the fundamental physical process distinguishing CL5 and CL12 is not the horizontal temperature advection but the interaction with the underlying sea surface, i.e., the deepening-decoupling of PBL and the positive feedback between shortwave radiation and SST. Over the western North Pacific during JJA, sky-obscuring fog (CL11), no low-level cloud (CL0), and fair weather stratus (CL6) are associated with anomalous warm advection, surface-based inversion, mean upward flow, and moist mid-troposphere with the strongest anomalies for CL11 followed by CL0. Over the western North Pacific during DJF, bad weather stratus (CL7) occurs in the warm front of the extratropical cyclone with anomalous upward flow while cumulonimbus (CL39) occurs on the rear side of the cold front with anomalous downward flow. Over the tropical oceans, CL7 has strong positive (negative) anomalies of temperature in the upper troposphere (PBL), relative humidity, and surface wind speed in association with the mesoscale convective system while CL12 has the opposite anomalies and CL39 is in between.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.465-480
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• 2018

On 20 January 2017, the fresh snow cover which is more than 20 cm, accompaning with lightning occurred over Yeongdong coastal region for the first 3-hour of the heavy snowfall event. This study analyzed sounding observations in the heavy snow period which were including the measurements of wind profiler, radiometer and rawinsonde. The features examined from the vertical wind and temperature data at the two adjacent stations, Bukgangneung and Gangneung-Wonju National University, are summarized as follows: 1) The strong (30-40 kts) north-east winds were observed in the level from 2 to 6 km. The Strong atmospheric instability was found from 4 to 6 km, in which the lapse rate of temperature was about $-18^{\circ}C\;km^{-1}$. These features indicate that the deep convective cloud develops up to the height of 6 km in the heavy snowfall period, which is shown in the satellite infrared images. 2) The cooling was observed in the level below 1 km. At this time, the surface air temperature at Bukgangneung station decreased by $4^{\circ}C$. The narrow cooling zone estimated from AWS and buoy data was located in east-west direction. These are the features observed in the cold front of extratropical cyclone. The distributions of radar echo and lightning also show the same shape in east-west direction. Therefore, the results indicate that the Yeongdong thundersnow event was the combined precipitation system of deep convective cloud and cold frontal precipitation.

• Atmosphere
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.239-246
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• 2010

In this study, the climatological characteristics of the landfall typhoons on North Korea are surveyed to estimate the frequency, the intensity, the track, and their damage. The data for the period of 1951-2008 are used from both RSMC (Regional Specialized Meteorological Center) Tokyo Typhoon Center and NCEP/NCAR (National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research), EM-DAT (Emergency Events Database). There are the ten highest frequencies from 1961 to 1965 and is one frequency for the period of both 1966-1979 and 1976-1980 respectively. Even if a clear trend on the frequency of typhoon is not defined, it is noticeable the intensity has been weak since the frequency of TS (Tropical Storm) decreased. In order to figure out both the characteristic of intensity and the relation between the typhoon track and the expansion of North Pacific High (NPH), Typhoon's tracks are classified into three types as follows: (I) landing on the west coast of North Korea through the mainland of China, (II) landing on the west coast of North Korea, (III) landing on a central/eastern part of the Korean peninsula through South Korea. More often than not, the characteristic of Type (I) is the case of a landfall after it becomes extratropical cyclone. Type(II) and Type(III) show a landfall as TS grade, by comparision. On the relation between the typhoon's track and the expansion of NPH analyzed, Type (I) shows the westward expansion while both Type (II) and Type (III) show the northward expansion and development of NPH. This means the intensity of a typhoon landfall on North Korea is variable depending on the development of NPH. Finally, only two cases are found among total five cases in EM-DAT, reportedly that North Korea was damaged. And therefore, the damage by the wind of Prapiroon (the $12^{th}$ typhoon, 2000) and heavy rainfall with Rusa (the $15^{th}$ typhoon, 2002) landing on North Korea was analyzed. Moreover, it is estimated both Prapiroon and Rusa have done badly damaged to North Korea as the economical losses of as much as six billion and five hundred-thousand US dollar, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.93-102
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• 1996

The Korean Peninsula is located on the east coast of monsoon Asia of the midlatitude, where the Pacific polar front moves. As a result variations of spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation occur. A great variation of precipitation during the summer months created frequent droughts and floods. The purpose of this study is to identify distributional characteristics and to analyze synopic characteristics of summer droughts in Korea. The research methods used are ; (1) to identify droughts based on the anomaly of monthly precipitation during summer of 1994. (2) to analyze correlations between drought and weather systems by using the calender of rain days. (3) to compare a synoptic mechanism of summer droughts with that of typical normal summer. The characteristics of summer droughts of 1994 may be summarized as follows ; 1) While most regions were affected by the droughts some regions displayed specific characteristics. The southern part of the Korean Peninsula was severely affected during the month of June. August droughts severely affected east part of the Sobek Mountains, thus showing that the droughts of June and August are highly localized. 2) In the pressure anomaly of surface field. the positive anomaly appears in June around Korean Peninsula, but in July when all parts of the South Korea were under severe droughts, the anomaly changes and becomes negative. 3) Extracyclones occurred less frequently in the summer of 1994. Those that did occur were located in areas far off the Korean Peninsula having little consequences on the drought patterns. 4) The trough of westerly wave at 500hPa height patterns in June is located far from the eastern sea of Korean Peninsula, but in July and August Korean Peninsula belongs to ridge of westerly wave. 5) In June the positive height anomaly at 500hPa surface appears zonally from Siberia to the western Parts of North Pacific Ocean, and in July and August, the strong positive anomaly appears around Korean Peninsula. As a result the zonal index of westerlies at during each month of summer in Korean sector has a large value, which in turn implies that drought will prevails when zonal flow is strong.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.206-216
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• 2017

The temporal distribution of the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) and the vertical component of Reynolds stresses ($-{\bar{u^{\prime}w^{\prime}}}$) was measured during one wave period under high wave energy conditions. The wave data were obtained at Hujeong Beach in the east coast of Korea at January 14~18 of 2017 when an extratropical cyclone was developed in the East Sea. Among the whole thousands of waves measured during the period, hundreds of regular waves that had with similar pattern were selected for the analysis in order to give three representing mean wave patterns using the ensemble average technique. The turbulence properties were then estimated based on the selected wave data. It is interesting to find out that $-{\bar{u^{\prime}w^{\prime}}}$ has one clear peak near the time of flow reversal while TKE has two peaks at the corresponding times of maximum cross-shore velocity magnitudes. The distinguished pattern of Reynolds stress indicates that vertical fluxes of such properties as suspended sediments may be enhanced at the time when the horizontal flow direction is reversed to disturb the flows, supporting the turbulence convection process proposed by Nielsen (1992). The characteristic patterns of turbulence properties are examined using the CADMAS-SURF Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model. Although the model can reasonably simulate the distribution of TKE pattern, it fails to produce the $-{\bar{u^{\prime}w^{\prime}}}$ peak at the time of flow reversal, which indicates that the application of RANS model is limited in the prediction of some turbulence properties such as Reynolds stresses.