• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.604-617
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• 2022

Sea surface temperature (SST) is a key variable that can be used to understand ocean-atmosphere phenomena and predict climate change. Satellite microwave remote sensing enables the measurement of SST despite the presence of clouds and precipitation in the sensor path. Therefore, considering the high utilization of microwave SST, it is necessary to continuously verify its accuracy and analyze its error characteristics. In this study, the validation of the microwave global precision measurement (GPM)/GPM microwave imager (GMI) SST around the Northwest Pacific and Korean Peninsula was conducted using surface drifter temperature data for approximately eight years from March 2014 to December 2021. The GMI SST showed a bias of 0.09K and an average root mean square error of 0.97K compared to the actual SST, which was slightly higher than that observed in previous studies. In addition, the error characteristics of the GMI SST were related to environmental factors, such as latitude, distance from the coast, sea wind, and water vapor volume. Errors tended to increase in areas close to coastal areas within 300 km of land and in high-latitude areas. In addition, relatively high errors were found in the range of weak wind speeds (<6 m s^-1) during the day and strong wind speeds (>10 m s^-1) at night. Atmospheric water vapor contributed to high SST differences in very low ranges of <30 mm and in very high ranges of >60 mm. These errors are consistent with those observed in previous studies, in which GMI data were less accurate at low SST and were estimated to be due to differences in land and ocean radiation, wind-induced changes in sea surface roughness, and absorption of water vapor into the microwave atmosphere. These results suggest that the characteristics of the GMI SST differences should be clarified for more extensive use of microwave satellite SST calculations in the seas around the Korean Peninsula, including a part of the Northwest Pacific.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.79-87
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• 2021

Because active interactions occur among vegetation, hydrology, and geomorphology in riparian systems, any changes in one of these factors can significantly affect the other two. In this study, we evaluated these interactions at four sites (two in Gajeong and two in Hahan) along the Seomjin-gang River that was substantially devastated by an extreme flood in 2020. We examined the relationship between the riparian vegetation and the hydraulic characteristics of the flood using remote sensing, hydraulic modeling, and field surveys combined. The evaluation results showed that the floods caused a record-breaking rise of up to 43.1 m above sea level at the Yeseong-bridge stage gauge station (zero elevation 27.4 m) located between the Gajeong and Hahan sites, with the shear stress being four times higher in Hahan than in Gajeong. Additionally, the water level during the flood was estimated to be a maximum of 1 m higher depending on the location in the presence of riparian plants. Furthermore, both sites underwent extensive biological damage due to the flood, with 78-80% loss in vegetation, with preferential damage observed in large willow species, compared to Quercus acutissima. The above findings imply that all plant species exhibit different vulnerabilities towards extreme floods and do not induce similar behavior towards events causing a disturbance. In conclusion, we developed strategies for effectively managing riparian trees by minimizing flood hazards that could inevitably cause damage.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.5_3
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• pp.1031-1042
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• 2023

In this study, a deep learning model was developed to predict the yield of cabbage and radish, one of the five major supply and demand management vegetables, using satellite images of Landsat 8. To predict the yield of cabbage and radish in Gangwon-do from 2015 to 2020, satellite images from June to September, the growing period of cabbage and radish, were used. Normalized difference vegetation index, enhanced vegetation index, lead area index, and land surface temperature were employed in this study as input data for the yield model. Crop yields can be effectively predicted using satellite images because satellites collect continuous spatiotemporal data on the global environment. Based on the model developed previous study, a model designed for input data was proposed in this study. Using time series satellite images, convolutional neural network, a deep learning model, was used to predict crop yield. Landsat 8 provides images every 16 days, but it is difficult to acquire images especially in summer due to the influence of weather such as clouds. As a result, yield prediction was conducted by splitting June to July into one part and August to September into two. Yield prediction was performed using a machine learning approach and reference models , and modeling performance was compared. The model's performance and early predictability were assessed using year-by-year cross-validation and early prediction. The findings of this study could be applied as basic studies to predict the yield of field crops in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_1
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• pp.1211-1224
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• 2023

Clouds cause many difficult problems in observing land surface phenomena using optical satellites, such as national land observation, disaster response, and change detection. In addition, the presence of clouds affects not only the image processing stage but also the final data quality, so it is necessary to identify and remove them. Therefore, in this study, we developed a new cloud detection technique that automatically performs a series of processes to search and extract the pixels closest to the spectral pattern of clouds in satellite images, select the optimal threshold, and produce a cloud mask based on the threshold. The cloud detection technique largely consists of three steps. In the first step, the process of converting the Digital Number (DN) unit image into top-of-atmosphere reflectance units was performed. In the second step, preprocessing such as Hue-Value-Saturation (HSV) transformation, triangle thresholding, and maximum likelihood classification was applied using the top of the atmosphere reflectance image, and the threshold for generating the initial cloud mask was determined for each image. In the third post-processing step, the noise included in the initial cloud mask created was removed and the cloud boundaries and interior were improved. As experimental data for cloud detection, CAS500-1 L2G images acquired in the Korean Peninsula from April to November, which show the diversity of spatial and seasonal distribution of clouds, were used. To verify the performance of the proposed method, the results generated by a simple thresholding method were compared. As a result of the experiment, compared to the existing method, the proposed method was able to detect clouds more accurately by considering the radiometric characteristics of each image through the preprocessing process. In addition, the results showed that the influence of bright objects (panel roofs, concrete roads, sand, etc.) other than cloud objects was minimized. The proposed method showed more than 30% improved results(F1-score) compared to the existing method but showed limitations in certain images containing snow.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.475-488
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• 2018

Surveying urban tributary vegetation is based mainly on field sampling at present. The tributary vegetation survey integrating UAV NIR(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Near Infrared Radiance) imagery and in-situ point photo has received only limited attentions from the field ecologist. The reason for this could be the largely undemonstrated applicability of UAV NIR imagery by the field ecologist as a monitoring tool for urban tributary vegetation. The principal advantage of UAV NIR imagery as a remote sensor is to provide, in a cost-effective manner, information required for a very narrow swath target such as urban tributary (10m width or so), utilizing very low altitude flight, real-time geo-referencing and stereo imaging. An exhaustive and realistic comparison of the two techniques was conducted, based on operational customer requirement of urban tributary vegetation survey: synoptic information, ground detail and quantitative data collection. UAV NIR imagery made it possible to identify area-wide patterns of the major plant communities subject to many different influences (e.g. artificial land use pattern), which cannot be acquired by traditional field sampling. Although field survey has already gained worldwide recognition by plant ecologists as a typical method of urban tributary vegetation monitoring, this approach did not provide a level of information that is either scientifically reliable or economically feasible in terms of urban tributary vegetation (e.g. remedial field works). It is anticipated that this research output could be used as a valuable reference for area-wide information obtained by UAV NIR imagery in urban tributary vegetation survey.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.241-262
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• 2021

This paper reviewed the necessity of a information and communication technology (ICT)-based smart livestock system as a development strategy for the animal life industry in the future. It also predicted the trends of livestock and animal food until 2050, 30 years later. Worldwide, livestock raising and consumption of animal food are rapidly changing in response to population growth, aging, reduction of agriculture population, urbanization, and income growth. Climate change can change the environment and livestock's productivity and reproductive efficiencies. Livestock production can lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation, water pollution, animal welfare, and human health problems. To solve these issues, there is a need for a preemptive future response strategy to respond to climate change, improve productivity, animal welfare, and nutritional quality of animal foods, and prevent animal diseases using ICT-based smart livestock system fused with the 4th industrial revolution in various aspects of the animal life industry. The animal life industry of the future needs to integrate automation to improve sustainability and production efficiency. In the digital age, intelligent precision animal feeding with IoT (internet of things) and big data, ICT-based smart livestock system can collect, process, and analyze data from various sources in the animal life industry. It is composed of a digital system that can precisely remote control environmental parameters inside and outside the animal husbandry. The ICT-based smart livestock system can also be used for monitoring animal behavior and welfare, and feeding management of livestock using sensing technology for remote control through the Internet and mobile phones. It can be helpful in the collection, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of a wide range of information that farmers need. It can provide new information services to farmers.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.633-638
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• 2018

We are constantly hearing about the seriousness of food shortages in North Korea through various media reports. Recently, the severity of the problem has increased, and international organizations and relief organizations have become increasingly concerned. Due to the shortage of food and firewood, residents illegally cut trees in the mountains and, as a result, North Korea has become the third fastest-growing area of forest degradation in Asia. However, since North Korea cannot directly measure the extent of forest degradation, remote sensing techniques using satellite imagery have to be applied. The purpose of this study was to analyze the characteristics of forest change in North Korea, in order to understand the severity of the forest degradation problem. For this purpose, Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 8 OLI TIRS satellite images were acquired and classified. As a result, it was found that the forests have turned into wilderness in the Nampo City and Pyongyang municipalities, while the wasteland has changed into forests in the north of Yanggangdo. In addition, the total forested area of the whole region decreased by $4,166.22km^2$, the residential area decreased by $2,017.03km^2$, and the amount of agricultural land increased by $6,625.74km^2$, which is similar to the amount of forested area lost, although the difference in the overall area of the forests between 2017 and 2006 was small.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.67-80
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• 2011

Choropleth mapping of population distribution is based on the assumption that people are uniformly distributed throughout each enumeration unit. Dasymetric mapping technique improves choropleth mapping by refining spatially aggregated data with residential information. Further, pycnophylactic interpolation can upgrade dasymetric mapping by considering population distribution of neighboring areas, while preserving the volumes of original units. This study proposed a combined solution of dasymetric mapping and pycnophylactic interpolation to improve the accuracy of population density distribution. Specifically, the dasymetric method accounts for the spatial distribution of population within each census unit, while pycnophylactic interpolation considers population distribution of neighboring area. This technique is demonstrated with 1990 census data of the Athens, GA. with land use land cover information derived from remotely-sensed imagery for the areal extent of populated areas. The results are evaluated by comparison between original population counts of smaller census units (census block groups) and population counts of the grid map built from larger units (census tracts) aggregated to the same areal units. The estimated populations indicate a satisfactory level of accuracy. Population distribution acquired by the suggested method can be re-aggregated to any type of geographic boundaries such as electoral boundaries, school districts, and even watershed for a variety of applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2008

Ship detection from satellite remote sensing is a crucial application for global monitoring for the purpose of protecting the marine environment and ensuring marine security. It permits to monitor sea traffic including fisheries, and to associate ships with oil discharge. An automatic ship detection approach for RADARSAT Fine Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image is described and assessed using in situ ship validation information collected during field experiments conducted on August 6, 2004. Ship detection algorithms developed here consist of five stages: calibration, land masking, prescreening, point positioning, and discrimination. The fine image was acquired of Ulsan Port, located in southeast Korea, and during the acquisition, wind speeds between 0 m/s and 0.4 m/s were reported. The detection approach is applied to anchoring ships in the anchorage area of the port and its results are compared with validation data based on Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) radar. Our analysis for anchoring ships, above 68 m in length (LOA), indicates a 100% ship detection rate for the RADARSAT single beam mode. It is shown that the ship detection performance of SAR for smaller ships like barge could be higher than the land-based radar. The proposed method is also applied to estimate the ship's dimensions of length and breadth from SAR radar cross section(RCS), but those values were comparatively higher than the actual sizes because of layover and shadow effects of SAR.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.78 no.3
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• pp.263-273
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• 1989

Accurate and cost-effective classification of forest vegetation is the primary goal for forest management and utilization of forest resources. Aerial photograph and remote sensing are the most frequent and effective method in forest resources inventories. TM and MSS are the principal observing instruments on the Landsat-4 and -5 earth observing satellite. Especially TM has considerably greater spatial, spectral, and radiometric resolution power than MSS, that is, the IFOV of TM at a nadir is 30m compared to 80m for MSS. In this study, we used TM data to classify forest types and compared the result with forest type map manufactured by interpretation of B/W infrared photographs. As a result, land use types were well defined with TM data. But classifying forest types was a little difficult and indistinct. However, the spectral signatures of forest in every season and growing stages remained as problems to be solved, and also the most effective selection and combination method of bands for differentiating the spectral plots among classes.