• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.109-126
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• 2014

We improved the Land Surface Emissivity (LSE) data (Kongju National University LSE v.2: KNULSE_v2) over the Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS) observation region using recent(2009-2012) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. The surface emissivity was derived using the Vegetation Cover Method (VCM) based on the assumption that the pixel is only composed of ground and vegetation. The main issues addressed in this study are as follows: 1) the impacts of snow cover are included using Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) data, 2) the number of channels is extended from two (11, 12 ${\mu}m$) to four channels (3.7, 8.7, 11, 12 ${\mu}m$), 3) the land cover map data is also updated using the optimized remapping of the five state-of-the-art land cover maps, and 4) the latest look-up table for the emissivity of land surface according to the land cover is used. The updated emissivity data showed a strong seasonal variation with high and low values for the summer and winter, respectively. However, the surface emissivity over the desert or evergreen tree areas showed a relatively weak seasonal variation irrespective of the channels. The snow cover generally increases the emissivity of 3.7, 8.7, and 11 ${\mu}m$ but decreases that of 12 ${\mu}m$. As the results show, the pattern correlation between the updated emissivity data and the MODIS LSE data is clearly increased for the winter season, in particular, the 11 ${\mu}m$. However, the differences between the two emissivity data are slightly increased with a maximum increase in the 3.7 ${\mu}m$. The emissivity data updated in this study can be used for the improvement of accuracy of land surface temperature derived from the infrared channel data of COMS.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.875-884
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• 2000

Sea fog/stratus is very difficult to detect because of the characteristics of air-sea interaction and locality ,and the scantiness of the observed data from the oceans such as ships or ocean buoys. The aim of our study develops new algorism for sea fog detection by using Geostational Meteorological Satellite-5(GMS-5) and suggests the technics of its continuous detection. In this study, atmospheric synoptic patterns on sea fog day of May, 1999 are classified; cold air advection type(OOUTC, May 10, 1999) and warm air advection type(OOUTC, May 12, 1999), respectively, and we collected two case days in order to analyze variations of water vapor at Osan observation station during May 9-10, 1999.So as to detect daytime sea fog/stratus(OOUTC, May 10, 1999), composite image, visible accumulated histogram method and surface albedo method are used. The characteristic value during day showed A(min) .20% and DA < 10% when visible accumulated histogram method was applied. And the sea fog region which is detected is similar in composite image analysis and surface albedo method. Inland observation which visibility and relative humidity is beneath 1Km and 80%, respectively, at OOUTC, May 10,1999; Poryoung for visble accumulated histogram method and Poryoung, Mokp'o and Kangnung for surface albedo method. In case of nighttime sea fog(18UTC, May 10, 1999), IR accumulated histogram method and Maximum brightness temperature method are used, respectively. Maxium brightness temperature method dectected sea fog better than IR accumulated histogram method with the charateristic value that is T_max < T_max_trs, and then T_max is beneath 700hPa temperature of GDAPS(Global Data Assimilation and Prediction System). Sea fog region which is detected by Maxium brighness temperature method was similar to the result of National Oceanic and Atmosheric Administratio/Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA/AVHRR) DCD(Dual Channel Difference), but usually visibility and relative humidity are not agreed well in inland.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.427-435
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• 2023

Changes in flowering time due to weather fluctuations impact plant growth and ecosystem dynamics. Accurate prediction of flowering timing is crucial for effective forest ecosystem management. This study uses a process-based model to predict flowering timing in 2023 for five major tree species in Korean forests. Models are developed based on nine years (2009-2017) of flowering data for Abeliophyllum distichum, Robinia pseudoacacia, Rhododendron schlippenbachii, Rhododendron yedoense f. poukhanense, and Sorbus commixta, distributed across 28 regions in the country, including mountains. Weather data from the Automatic Mountain Meteorology Observation System (AMOS) and the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) are utilized as inputs for the models. The Single Triangle Degree Days (STDD) and Growing Degree Days (GDD) models, known for their superior performance, are employed to predict flowering dates. Daily temperature readings at a 1 km spatial resolution are obtained by merging AMOS and KMA data. To improve prediction accuracy nationwide, random forest machine learning is used to generate region-specific correction coefficients. Applying these coefficients results in minimal prediction errors, particularly for Abeliophyllum distichum, Robinia pseudoacacia, and Rhododendron schlippenbachii, with root mean square errors (RMSEs) of 1.2, 0.6, and 1.2 days, respectively. Model performance is evaluated using ten random sampling tests per species, selecting the model with the highest R². The models with applied correction coefficients achieve R² values ranging from 0.07 to 0.7, except for Sorbus commixta, and exhibit a final explanatory power of 0.75-0.9. This study provides valuable insights into seasonal changes in plant phenology, aiding in identifying honey harvesting seasons affected by abnormal weather conditions, such as those of Robinia pseudoacacia. Detailed information on flowering timing for various plant species and regions enhances understanding of the climate-plant phenology relationship.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.267-275
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• 2023

This study predicted rice harvest date in South Korea using 11-year (2012-2022) hindcasts based on dynamically downscaled 2m air temperature at subseasonal (1-month lead) timescale. To obtain high (5 km) resolution meteorological information over South Korea, global prediction obtained from the NOAA Climate Forecast System (CFSv2) is dynamically downscaled using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) double-nested modeling system. To estimate rice harvest date, the growing degree days (GDD) is used, which accumulated the daily temperature from the seeding date (1 Jan.) to the reference temperature (1400℃ + 55 days) for harvest. In terms of the maximum (minimum) temperatures, the hindcasts tends to have a cold bias of about 1. 2℃ (0. 1℃) for the rice growth period (May to October) compared to the observation. The harvest date derived from hindcasts (DOY 289) well simulates one from observation (DOY 280), despite a margin of 9 days. The study shows the possibility of obtaining the detailed predictive information for rice harvest date over South Korea based on the dynamical downscaling method.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.163-186
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• 2009

The missile technology and its development in south Korea have been restrained to the limit of 180 km by America which instead provided to Korea with security protection. In the same vein, America pressured South Korea to abort its nuclear weapons program so as to prevent another possible military encounter that can easily develop into a war between South and North Korea. This restraint was a bit relaxed when South Korea joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in 2001 whereby the limit was 300 km. The situation of South Korea is in much contrast with its neighbor, North Korea, which has fired Taepo Dong 1 and Taepo Dong 2 to put its alleged satellite respectively into the Earth orbit. The range of this rocket believed to be reaching more than 5,500 km, a range of the intercontinental ballistic missile, without any rein. South Korea that has just geared its full powers for its outer space industry, with the current space projects of putting its satellites into the low Earth orbit, will in future put its satellite into the geostationary orbit, 36,000 km above the Earth. To do so, such restraint had better be resolved. Korean space industry, as it is alike in other countries, started with putting and manufacturing sounding rockets, producing satellites but relying on foreign launching facilities, and learning launching capacities. Experiencing three time launchings of KITSAT, the current satellite projects of Korea are undertaken as follows: - Koreasat - STSAT - Komsat - MBSAT - COMS (Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite) Koreans waked up to the things of outer space in 2008 with the first Korean astronaut Li So-yeon, a lady bio systems engineer. Although the first Korean made rocket in cooperation with a Russian company to fire last August 2009 was a failure, it should be considered as an inevitable process for future endeavors. There are currently three outer space related laws of Korea: Aerospace Industry Development Promotion Act 1987, Outer Space Development Promotions Act 2005, and Space Damage Compensation Act 2008. The first two stemming from the two different ministries are, however, overlapping in many aspects and have some shortcomings to be improved.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.135-142
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to confirm the improvement of efficiency for temperature estimation at 0600 and 1500 LST by using a simple method for estimating temperature lapse rate modulated by the amount of clouds in comparison with the case adopting the existing single temperature lapse rate ($-6.5^{\circ}C/km$ or $-9^{\circ}C/km$). A catchment of the 'Hadong Watermark2,' which includes Hadong, Gurye, and Gwangyang was selected as the area for evaluating the practicality of the temperature lapse rate estimation method. The weather data of 0600 and 1500 LST at 12 weather observation sites within the catchment were collected during the entire year of 2015. Also, the 'sky condition' of digital forecast products of KMA in 2015 ($5{\times}5km$ lattice resolution) were overlapped with the catchment of the 'Hadong Watermark2,' to calculate the spatial average value within the catchment, which were used to simulate the 0600 and 1500 LST temperature lapse rate of the catchment. The estimation errors of the temperatures at 0600 LST were ME $-0.39^{\circ}C$ and RMSE $1.45^{\circ}C$ in 2015, when applying the existing temperature lapse rate. Using the estimated temperature lapse rate, they were improved to ME $-0.19^{\circ}C$ and RMSE $1.32^{\circ}C$. At 1500 LST, the effect of the improvements found from the comparison between the existing temperature lapse rate and the estimated temperature lapse rate were minute, because the estimated lapse rate of clear days is not very different from the existing lapse rate. However, the estimation errors of the temperatures at 1500 LST during cloudy days were improved from ME $-0.69^{\circ}C$, RMSE $1.54^{\circ}C$ to ME $-0.51^{\circ}C$, RMSE $1.19^{\circ}C$.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.5_1
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• pp.469-480
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• 2017

This study aims to understand the relationship between lineaments and epicenters in Geochang region, Gyungsangnam-do, South Korea. An instrumental observation of earthquakes has been started by Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) since 1978 and there were 6 earthquakes with magnitude ranging 2 to 2.5 in Geochang region from 1978 to 2016. Lineaments were extracted from LANDSAT 8 satellite image and shaded relief map displayed in 3-dimension using Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Then, lineament density was statistically examined by hotspot analysis. Hexagonal grids were generated to perform the analysis because hexagonal pattern expresses lineaments with less discontinuity than square girds, and the size of the grid was selected to minimize a variance of lineament density. Since hotspot analysis measures the extent of clustering with Z score, Z scores computed with lineaments' frequency ($L_f$), length ($L_d$), and intersection ($L_t$) were used to find lineament clusters in the density map. Furthermore, the Z scores were extracted from the epicenters and examined to see the relevance of each density elements to epicenters. As a result, 15 among 18 densities,recorded as 3 elements in 6 epicenters, were higher than 1.65 which is 95% of the standard normal distribution. This indicates that epicenters coincide with high density area. Especially, $L_f$ and $L_t$ had a significant relationship with epicenter, being located in upper 95% of the standard normal distribution, except for one epicenter in $L_t$. This study can be used to identify potential seismic zones by improving the accuracy of expressing lineaments' spatial distribution and analyzing relationship between lineament density and epicenter. However, additional studies in wider study area with more epicenters are recommended to promote the results.

• Atmosphere
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.467-482
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• 2010

In this study, characteristics of various stability indexes (SI) and environmental parameters (EP) for the lightning are analysed by using 5 upper air observatories (Osan, Gwangju, Jeju, Pohang, and Baengnyeongdo) for the years 2002-2006 over South Korea. The analysed SI and EP are the lifted index, K-index, Showalter stability index, total precipitable water, mixing ratio, wind shear and temperature of lifting condensation level. The lightning data occurred on the range of -2 hr~+1 hr and within 100 km based on the launch time of rawinsonde and observing location are selected. In general, summer averaged temperature and mixing ratio of lower troposphere for the lightning cases are higher about 1 K and $1{\sim}2gkg^{-1}$ than no lightning cases, respectively. The Box-Whisker plot shows that the range of various SI and EP values for lightning and no lightning cases are well separated but overlapping of SI and EP values between lightning and no lightning are not a little. The optimized threshold values for the detection of lightning are determined objectively based on the highest Heidke skill socre (HSS), which is the most favorable validation parameter for the rare event, such as lightning, by using the simulation of SI and EP threshold values. Although the HSS is not high (0.15~0.30) and the number and values of selected SI and EP are dependent on geographic location, the new threshold values can be used as a supplementary tool for the detection or forecast of lightning over South Korea.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.525-536
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• 2014

In this study, a method to assess and monitor hydrological drought using remote sensing was investigated for use in regions with limited observation data, and was applied to the Upper Namhangang basin in South Korea, which was seriously affected by the 2008-2009 drought. Drought information may be obtained more easily from meteorological data based on water balance than hydrological data that are hard to estimate. Air temperature data at 2 m above ground level (AGL) were estimated using remotely sensed data, evapotranspiration was estimated from the air temperature, and the correlations between precipitation minus evapotranspiration (P-PET) and streamflow percentiles were examined. Land Surface Temperature data with $1{\times}1km$ spatial resolution as well as Atmospheric Profile data with $5{\times}5km$ spatial resolution from MODIS sensor on board Aqua satellite were used to estimate monthly maximum and minimum air temperature in South Korea. Evapotranspiration was estimated from the maximum and minimum air temperature using the Hargreaves method and the estimates were compared to existing data of the University of Montana based on Penman-Monteith method showing smaller coefficient of determination values but smaller error values. Precipitation was obtained from TRMM monthly rainfall data, and the correlations of 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month P-PET percentiles with streamflow percentiles were analyzed for the Upper Namhan-gang basin in South Korea. The 1-month P-PET percentile during JJA (r = 0.89, tau = 0.71) and SON (r = 0.63, tau = 0.47) in the Upper Namhan-gang basin are highly correlated with the streamflow percentile with 95% confidence level. Since the effect of precipitation in the basin is especially high, the correlation between evapotranspiration percentile and streamflow percentile is positive. These results indicate that remote sensing-based P-PET estimates can be used for the assessment and monitoring of hydrological drought. The high spatial resolution estimates can be used in the decision-making process to minimize the adverse impacts of hydrological drought and to establish differentiated measures coping with drought.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.93-105
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• 2005

Climatological characteristics in the variation of soil temperatures in Korea were investigated using Korea Meterological Administration's observation data. And the impacts of soil moisture on the variation of soil temperature were examined using observed precipitation data. The climatological averages of soil temperatures are ranged from 14.4 to $15.0^{\circ}C$ regardless of depths. And they showed an latitudinal gradient with a warm temperature at the southern region and 'U' shape as in the air temperature with a high value along the coastal region. The relatively higher heat capacity and low conductivity of soil compared to those of the air resulted in the significant delay of the maximum and minimum date with depth. As a results, soil acts as a heat source during winter while a heat sink during summer. Global warming and urban heat island have increased the soil temperatures with an average rate $0.3\~0.5^{\circ}C/10-year$ as in the air temperature during last 30 years $(1973\~2002)$. However, the warming rate is maximized during spring contrary to the winter in the air temperature. The temporal variation of soil temperatures is strongly affected by that of soil moisture through an modification of the heat capacity and heat convection. In general, the increased soil moisture clearly decreased the temporal variations and increased the deep layer soil temperatures during cold season.