• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.453-462
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• 2005

The study deals with surface erosion patterns due to the development of cropland toward hillslope and hilltop in the Oncheon-gun, pyeongbuk province and Nampo city of west coast area in the North Korea, using Quick Bird satellite images with 60cm resolution. In North Korea, for national economic difficult after 1980 year, newly developed croplands have been along the gentle hillslope, in which it is possible for individual man power different from the tideland which needs large scaled man-power and equipment. The new croplands are named Darakbat(terraced farm with embankment) and Bitalbat(titled farm developed on the original hill slope), neighboring with orchard and grouped settlement in lower valley. For supplying agricultural water, irrigation ditches and temporal crop storages have been constructed, connecting Darakbat, Bitalbat and orchard. These cropland developments have caused surface erosion composed of 3 types such as pit, linear and headward erosion, together with rill and gully. Owing to poor management of cropland and irrigation system, topsoil erosion and, collapse and sedimentation of ditch and pool, caused the decrease of agricultural productivity. These analysis using Quick Bird images can suggest original raw data about geographical facts on North Korea agriculture and help to recover their agricultural system and plan future national unified land.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.104-111
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• 2005

Dmitri Donskoi, the Russian cruiser launched in 1883, is known to have sunk near Ulleung Island (East Sea, Korea) on May 29, 1905, while it was participating in the Russo-Japanese War. In order to find this ship, information about its possible location was obtained from Russian and Japanese maritime historical records. The supposed location of the ship was identified, and we conducted a five-year geophysical survey from 1999 to 2003. A reconnaissance three-dimensional topographic survey of the sea floor was carried out using multi-beam echo sounder, marine magnetometer, and side-scan sonar. An anomalous body identified through the initial reconnaissance survey was identified by a detailed survey using a remotely operated vehicle, deep-sea camera, and the mini-submarine Pathfinder. Interpretation of the acquired data showed that the ship is hanging on the side of a channel, at the bottom of the sea 400 m below sea level. The location is about 2 km from Port Jeodong, Uleung Island. We discovered 152 mm naval guns and other war materiel still attached to the hull of the ship. In addition, the remnants of the steering gear and other machinery that were burnt during the final action were found near the hull. Strong magnetic fields, resulting from the presence of volcanic rocks in the survey area, affected the resolution of the magnetic data gathered; as a result, we could not locate the ship reliably using the magnetic method. Severe sea floor topography in the gully around the hull gave rise to diffuse reflections in the side-scan sonar data, and this prevented us from identifying the anomalous body with the side-scan sonar technique. However, the sea-floor image obtained from the multi-bean echo sounder was very useful in verifying the location of the ship.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.85-92
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• 2008

This study, the one concerning the evaluation analysis of the function of the wind generation using KLAM_21, has examined closely how the wind really flows on the space of the city, working with the object of case location. In the first place, the cold air formed at upper stream of Sincheon river, a ravine of whole area of Gachang gully and an inclined plane of neighboring mountainous district, flows to the north and expands itself along the upper stream of the Sincheon river, and as the time passes, it is tending upwards in the change of the volume and height as well as of the velocity and direction, of the cold air. It was learned that this phenomenon has made it clear that the spatial features of this area give rise to very good condition in generating and flowing the cold air. Meanwhile, it has been shown that in the area of park in the Ap-mountain, the generation and flow of the cold air are much interrupted because of the overpass traversing the whole area of the park of Ap-mountain, the congested area of large-scaled apartments and the urban development activities constructing the building in the park, and the volume and height of the cold air has been grown very small. In conclusion, It has been learned that for maximization of the spatial effect of the wind corridor, the areas where the cold air is generated, flowed, accumulated, and maintained, have to be connected spatially, and this spatial connection has a close relation with spatial features of the area.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.630-639
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• 2003

This study aims to analysis the distribution and change of cropland and forest, the Onseong, Saebyeol, and Eundeok counties on the lower reach of Duman(Tumen) river, northeast Korea, using 1992 year Landsat TM data, 2000 year Landsat ETM data, and digital terrain elevation data(DTED). Land cover and land use of the study areas are classified into cropland, forest, village, and water body, using the supervised classification method including 1:50,000 DTED analysis, image band composition, and principal component analysis(PCA). Results of quantitative analysis present that each growth rate of cropland of Onseong and Eundeok are 22.8% and 14.7% corresponding to decreasing rates of forest, 8% and 13.6% during 8 years from 1992 to 2000. In Onseong, Saebyeol, and Eundeok, each values of mean elevations and slope gradients increased to 192m, 95m, and 91m from 157m, 85m, and 78m, and to 6.6$^{\circ}$, 3.0$^{\circ}$, and 4.4$^{\circ}$ from 5.2$^{\circ}$, 2.5$^{\circ}$, and 3.0$^{\circ}$. Especially, in case of newly developed cropland, the values of mean elevation and mean gradient have 225m, 122m, and 127m, and 9.4$^{\circ}$, 5.1$^{\circ}$, and 8.0$^{\circ}$, in above three regions. These new croplands were developing along to deeper valleys and toward lower hill and mountain slope up to knickpoint zone of gradient change. Deforested lands for cropland have formed irregular pattern of patch-type, and become sources for the sheet erosion, rilling and gulleying in mountain slope and sedimentation in local river channel. Though there were no field checking, analysis using landsat images and GIS mapping can help understand actual environmental problems relating to cropland development of mountain slope in North Korea.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.234-245
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• 2013

In order to examine the amount and rate of soil erosion on Ridge Traversing Trail in Jirisan National Park, a cross-sectional area of hiking trail were monitored at 16 sites in Nogodan - Samdobong section from November 2011 to April 2012. Although all sites demonstrates an enlarged cross-section of trail, the amount of soil erosion varies from site to site: 54.9 to $908.8cm^2$. It suggests that the erosional rate ranges from $0.1cm^2/day$ to $1.72cm^2/day$. The erosional amount is also varied with a trail type: $109.3cm^2$ for a shallow gully-like trail to $573.2cm^2$ for a unilateral trail. However, the cross-sectional change is larger on a sidewall than a tread irrespective of a trail type. The erosional amounts of November to April are smaller than that of May to October. In particular, the erosional amount of November 2011 to April 2012 is smaller than the depositional amount, implying a reduced cross-section of trail. Pipkrake action puts loose soil particles on a sidewall on March and April, and then rainwash due to a heavy rainfall takes them away after May. It seems to be the most predominant erosional process in Ridge Traversing Trail. A sidewall facing north shows a larger amount of erosion than a sidewall facing south. It also implies a difference in the development of a pipkrake according to an aspect. The small amount of erosion and cross-sectional decrease, which is usually observed on April, results from the combined effect of frost heaving, pipkrake action, a small rainfall and a temporary suspension of trampling. It is necessary to establish the monitoring system of trail erosion in terms of the management of hiking trail in a mountain national park.