• Title/Summary/Keyword: geography of North Korea

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Present Distribution of Cryophilous Plants and Palaeoenvironment in the Korean Peninsula (한반도 한지선호식물의 분포와 고환경)

  • Kong, Woo-seok
    • 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.

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A Study on the Environmental Changes of Coastal Area in Oncheon Gun of Pyeongnam Province by Neural Network Classification Using Satellite Images, West Coast of North Korea (위성영상의 신경망 분류에 의한 평안남도 온천군 해안지역의 환경 변화 연구)

  • Lee, Min-Boo;Kim, Nam-Shin;Lee, Gwang-Ryul;Han, Uk
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.278-290
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    • 2005
  • This study deals with the geomorphic, environmental and land use changes by comparative analysis using Landsat TM images of 1988 year and ETM ones of 2002 year, partly together with the new Quick Bird images having 60cm resolution for more detail analysis, focusing on the Oncheon gun(county) in Pyeongnam Province, west coast zone of North Korea. The main analysis methodology is neural network classification, which is more advanced techniques for the classification of land cover and land use, with higher accuracy rate and lower errors. The TM images of 1988 year show, mainly, the on-construction tide embank for the reclamation at Gwangryangman bay and salt farm on the reclaimed tidal flat. But, ETM images of 2002 year present stabilized reclaimed land, salt farm and rice field, recently transformed from salt farm. Especially, new tidal land has been naturally developed on the coastal shallow out of tide embank and salt farm. The results of the study may help to database coastal environmental changes and to support for reasonable and productive land use of North Korea, and to manage and plan unified national land in the near future.

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How effective are artificial nests in attracting bees? A review

  • Rahimi, Ehsan;Barghjelveh, Shahindokht;Dong, Pinliang
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.45 no.3
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    • pp.152-162
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    • 2021
  • Background: Recent declines in bee populations, along with increasing demand for pollination services in urban, agricultural, and natural environments, have led to strategies to attract wild bees to these areas. One of these strategies is installing artificial nests adjacent to urban gardens and agricultural farms. Bee hotels and nest boxes are among the artificial nests used by gardeners and farmers to attract pollinators. In this paper, we reviewed 50 studies that reported the efficiency of nest boxes and bee hotels in attracting bees. We considered the maximum occupation rate (percentage) as the main index to evaluate the efficiency of artificial nests. Results: The maximum occupation rate of bee hotels was higher in farms (averaged 44.1%) than in forests (averaged 30.3%) and urban (averaged 38.3%) environments. In the case of nest boxes, most studies reported efficiencies of less than 20%, with an occupation rate of 16% and 5.5% on average in forest and urban environments respectively. However, our meta-analysis results showed that there was no significant relationship between the occupation rate of the nests and their installation place. Regression analysis also showed that the structural features of bee hotels (length and diameter) and nest boxes (volume and entrance size) did not affect their efficiency in attracting bees. Conclusion: Our data showed that the strategy of installing artificial nests to attract pollinators is successful only concerning bee hotels, and the use of nest boxes has not been very successful.

China's Cave Resources Distribution and Cave Research (중국의 동굴 자원과 동굴 연구)

  • Jin, Shi-Zhu
    • Journal of the Speleological Society of Korea
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    • no.95
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    • pp.23-33
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    • 2009
  • This study analyzed the distribution of China's caves and cave resources in Research. The results are as follows: First, China's melting karst caves are mainly distributed in southwest widely distributed. Recently in Beijing and other northern areas found in many caves. First, China's Karst caves are mainly distributed in karst-flung southwest. Recently in Beijing and other northern areas found in many caves. Second, although China is widespread volcanic landscapes, but most of the extinct volcano, the lava caves less so. Are mainly distributed in Hainan Island, north-east there are some distribution. Third, China's recent development and evolution of the cave, analysis of the paleo-environment records of cave stalagmites, cave biology, cave tourism development, environmental aspects of cave research more active.

Quantifying how urban landscape heterogeneity affects land surface temperature at multiple scales

  • Rahimi, Ehsan;Barghjelveh, Shahindokht;Dong, Pinliang
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.45 no.4
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    • pp.190-202
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    • 2021
  • Background: Landscape metrics have been widely applied to quantifying the relationship between land surface temperature and urban spatial patterns and have received acceptable verification from landscape ecologists but some studies have shown their inaccurate results. The objective of the study is to compare landscape metrics and texture-based measures as alternative indices in measuring urban heterogeneity effects on LST at multiple scales. Results: The statistical results showed that the correlation between urban landscape heterogeneity and LST increased as the spatial extent (scale) of under-study landscapes increased. Overall, landscape metrics showed that the less fragmented, the more complex, larger, and the higher number of patches, the lower LST. The most significant relationship was seen between edge density (ED) and LST (r = - 0.47) at the sub-region scale. Texture measures showed a stronger relationship (R2 = 34.84% on average) with LST than landscape metrics (R2 = 15.33% on average) at all spatial scales, meaning that these measures had a greater ability to describe landscape heterogeneity than the landscape metrics. Conclusion: This study suggests alternative measures for overcoming landscape metrics shortcomings in estimating the effects of landscape heterogeneity on LST variations and gives land managers and urban planners new insights into urban design.

Seasonal Onset and Duration in South Korea (우리나라 사계절 개시일과 지속기간)

  • Choi, Gwang-Yong;Kwon, Won-Tae;Robinson David A.
    • Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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    • v.41 no.4 s.115
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    • pp.435-456
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    • 2006
  • This study examines the long-term spatial patterns and recent trends of seasonal onsets and durations defined by daily temperatures in South Korea for the period 1973-2004. Spatially, spring and winter onset dates show approximately 44 day and 63 day maximum difference respectively between south and north (Seongsanpo to Daegwallryeong) attributable to the impacts of latitudes and altitudes. In contrast, summer onset, which is more affected by proximity to oceans and altitudes than by latitudes, begins earlier in interior low elevated areas than in the coastal areas but earliest at higher latitudes than Jeiu Island. Five climatic types regarding the seasonal cycles in South Korea are spatially clustered according to the combination of longer seasonal durations. As a reflection of recent climate changes on seasonal cycles in South Korea, winter duration was shortened by 10 days during the post-1988 period due to a late winter onset of 4 days and an early spring onset of 6 days. The winter reduction began in the southern regions of the Korean Peninsula in the mid-1980s and spread northward during the 1990s period, ultimately appearing everywhere. In urbanized cities, where much of the surface is covered with asphalt or concrete, the winter reduction was intensified and summer duration was locally incremented. The reduced winter duration in recent decades shows significant teleconnections with variations of geopotential height (925hPa) in the eastern Arctic region ($0-90^{\circ}E$, $65-85^{\circ}N$) during the cold season. The reduction in winter duration in South Korea agrees with results in overall global warming trends as a climate change signal.

Sediments Distribution and Micro-topographical Landscape Changes of a Composite Mixed Beach - Padori Beach in Taean National Park - (혼합해빈의 퇴적물 분포 특성과 미지형 경관변화 - 태안해안국립공원 파도리 해빈을 중심으로 -)

  • LEE, Won Young;SUNG, Hyo Hyun
    • Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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    • v.20 no.4
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    • pp.1-13
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    • 2013
  • Padori beach is one of the representative composite mixed beach in Korea and shows divert geomorphic landscape change. It belongs to the Taean National Park. The purpose of this study is to clarify movement mechanism of sediments from sediment distribution of Padori beach associated with morphology. In addition, it is to explain morphological landscape change under different wave and tide condition in the composite mixed beach consisting of a dissipative low tide terrace and a reflective beach face with a high tide range of 5 to 7m. The results of this study are: First, the mean grain size of sediments becomes smaller from the south of the beach, where there is a wide wave-cut platform, to the north because gravels are supplied from the wave-cut platform as well as sea-cliff in the south of the beach. A sedimentation pattern of the sandy gravel on the beach face and gravel on the berm, and gradation phenomena of grain size on cross-shore and alongshore direction in the beach can be explained with a pattern of sediment movement, overpassing, in the composite mixed beach. Second, micro-topography on beach face and berm were changed depending on effects of wave height and tide. As a result, in low-wave energy environments, a berm is developed in large size, and beach cusps are formed on the upper beach face, while in high-wave energy environments, a berm is built up in relatively small size, and mixture of sediments occur on the upper beach face.

Planning the New City Based on the Geomancy: A Case of the Design of the New Multi-functional Administrative City (NMAC) (경관풍수에 입각한 신도시의 개념적 설계 : 행정중심복합 예정도시를 사례로)

  • Seo, Tae-Yeol;Ock, Han-Suk
    • Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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    • v.40 no.5 s.110
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    • pp.491-513
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    • 2005
  • The Republic of Korea is planning to build the now Multi-functional Administrative city (NMAC). The purpose of this paper is to suggest the conceptual framework for this new city that relies on the Korean geomancy, oriental viewpoint on man and nature relationship, particularly in Korea. According to the Geomancy which could conceptualize the human-environment relationship in the site, the overall landscape image of the city could be symbolized by two flying crane with three Taegueks. In transforming the overall landscape image to urban form, two diamonds which means eternity and strength arises from the western spatial viewpoint, as means to protect and harmonize the human, land and mountain relationship in this site and the symbolic meaning of this site as generative and sacred place in Korean people's mind. On the one hand, through juxtaposing of the two diamonds a geometric structure shows up, on the other hand the main axis of the city could be established from two crane and three Taegueks. On the North-South axis from the core of the symbolic green axis, symbolic things will be located, and the administrative offices will be Placed on the East-West axis. Peripherals of the central axis also play a role in developing overall land use from image. The buildings and residents could be arranged and located according to undulations and this is based on the oriental theory of geomancy. We can build cultural amenities on the head part of the crane and on the core area.

Micro-Geopolitics against the U.S. Forces in S. Korea: Local Problems Caused by the U.S. Military Bases and Strategies for their Resolution (주한미군의 미시적 지정학 - 미군기지로 인한 지역사회의 범죄 및 환경 문제의 발생과 해결방안 -)

  • Choi, Byung-Doo
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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    • v.9 no.3
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    • pp.297-313
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    • 2003
  • Problems caused by the U.S. military bases have attracted little attention until recently due to the national security of S.Korea and the peace of North-Eastern Asia, emphasized from the perspective of macro-geopolitics. However, since the political regime has been democratized and political discourses have been liberalized from the 1990s, those problems become a nation-widely serious social issue, though they have been brought about on the local areas. Thus, it can be suggested that micro-geopolitics is highly relevant and significant in approaching the local problems caused by the U.S. military bases, and ultimately resolving the macro-geopolitical problem of longstanding unfair relations in the SOFA and the withdrawal of U.S. troops. This paper aims to consider local problems caused by the U.S. military bases and resolving strategies from the perspective of micro-geopolitics. First of all, it discusses some significance of the micro-geopolitical perspective, as it has been recently emphasized in political geography in considering local problems and politics of life on the basis of place, then looks on empirically criminal and environmental problems caused by the U.S. military bases, analyses the questionnaire date on the perception of local dwellers around the military camps in Nam-gu Daegu, and finally suggests strategies to resolve those problems, which level up from the micro to the macro-scale of geopolitics.

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A study on the bedrock erosional forms at Dutayeon, Yanggu (양구 두타연 인근 지역의 기반암 하상지형 연구)

  • KIM, Jong Yeon;KIM, Chang Hwan
    • Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.31-49
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    • 2012
  • Satae cheon, a tributary of the Suip cheon in Yanggu, Gangwon province, is an international river extended to North Korea. Most of drainage basin area of the river was the fierce battle field during the Korean War(1950-1953) and hard to access as it located between the MDL(Military Demarcation Line) and the CCZ(Civilian Control Zone: about 10km south from MDL). By the restriction of access to the sites, most of natural landscape have been well conserved except limited use for military activities. Even the landfoms in that area were not studied, except the government's heritage reports. Satae Cheon's channel follows the Imdang fault line(N-S) to Satae-ri and flow to west to the Dutayeon area. The river meanders along geological structure or weak line at the Dutayeon area. The meandering channel was shorten by the meander cut which linked the thalweg line of meander loop ant the meander neck. As a result of this cut, the river cliff formed by the Satae cheon became the part of newly formed channel bed and the S-forms are formed. After the channel route stabilized, channel incised the rock with large potholes and undulating walls were formed. The channel width changes from 1m to 10m with restriction of the undulating walls, so this part can be regarded as inner channel or inner gorge. From the point of planar forms it also can be slot-type canyon.