• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.5_3
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• pp.855-866
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• 2017

Several research cases using remote sensing methods to analyze changes of storage and dynamics of groundwater aquifer were reviewed in this paper. The status of groundwater storage, in an area with regional scale, could be qualitatively inferred from geological feature, surface water altimetry and topography, distribution of vegetation, and difference between precipitation and evapotranspiration. These qualitative indicators could be measured by geological lineament analysis, airborne magnetic survey, DEM analysis, LAI and NDVI calculation, and surface energy balance modeling. It is certain that GRACE and InSAR have received remarkable attentions as direct utilization from satellite data for quantification of groundwater storage and dynamics. GRACE, composed of twin satellites having acceleration sensors, could detect global or regional microgravity changes and transform them into mass changes of water on surface and inside of the Earth. Numerous studies in terms of groundwater storage using GRACE sensor data were performed with several merits such that (1) there is no requirement of sensor data, (2) auxiliary data for quantification of groundwater can be entirely obtained from another satellite sensors, and (3) algorithms for processing measured data have continuously progressed from designated data management center. The limitations of GRACE for groundwater storage measurement could be defined as follows: (1) In an area with small scale, mass change quantification of groundwater might be inaccurate due to detection limit of the acceleration sensor, and (2) the results would be overestimated in case of combination between sensor and field survey data. InSAR can quantify the dynamic characteristics of aquifer by measuring vertical micro displacement, using linear proportional relation between groundwater head and vertical surface movement. However, InSAR data might now constrain their application to arid or semi-arid area whose land cover appear to be simple, and are hard to apply to the area with the anticipation of loss of coherence with surface. Development of GRACE and InSAR sensor data preprocessing algorithms optimized to topography, geology, and natural conditions of Korea should be prioritized to regionally quantify the mass change and dynamics of the groundwater resources of Korea.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 1987

To investigate the forest structure of Mt. Bukhan. ranging from Seoul to Kyongkido, twenty plots were set up by the vegetation physiognomy and vegetation analysis was carried out. According to the leading dominant tree species in canopy stratum, forest communities were classified into three large groups of natural forest communities, semi-natural forest communities and artificial forest communities, and each of them covered 82.64, 7.03, and 5.71% of Mt. Bukhan area, respectively. Pure or mixed natural forest communities of Pinus densiflora and Quercus mongolica were major forest communities and covered 70.8% of Mt. Bukhan area. The important planted tree species were Robinia pseudoacacia, Pinus rigida, and Alnus birsuta and they were mainly planted at the southern slope and roadside. The degree of human disturbance of vegetation of 8, 7, and 6 area covered 82.64, 0, and 12.74%, respectively. According to forest dimensions, most of forest communities were young aged forests of which mean DBH was 20cm and canopy height below 10m. However, a few mature forest communities of Pinus densiflora or Quercus mongolica were found in the small area. The range of Shannon's species diversity of major natural forest communities, pure or mixed forest communities of Pinus densiflora and Quercus mongolica was 1.085~1.242. According to stand dynamic analysis by DBH class distribution, the present Quercus mongolica communities arid Robinia pseudoacacia communities may last long their present forest structure and most of other communities may be succeeded to Quercus mongolica communities, however, a few communities invaded by Robinia pseudoacacia and Quercus aliena-Quercus acutissima communities may be succeeded to Robinia pseudoacacia communities and Quercus aliena communities, respectively. DCA was the most effective method of this study. DCA ordination were showed that successional trends of tree species seem to be from Pinus densiflora through Quercus serrata. Prunus sargrntii. Sorbus alnifolia to Q. mongolica. Fraxinus mandsburica, F. rhynchophylla in the upper layer and from Zanthoxylum schinifolium, Lespedeza crytobotrya trough Rhus trichocarpa. Rh. verniciflua. Rhododendron mucronulatum. Rh. schlippenbachii to Acer pseudo-sieboldianus. Magnolia sieboldii, Euonymus sieboldianus.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.321-327
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• 2006

In Korea, there is a growing competitive for water resources between industrial, domestic and agricultural consumer, and the environment as many other OECD countries. The demand on water use is also affecting aquatic ecosystems particularly where withdrawals are in excess of minimum environmental needs for rivers, lakes and wetland habits. OECD developed three indicators related to water use by the agriculture in above contexts : the first is a water use intensity indicator, which is expressed as the quantity or share of agricultural water use in total national water utilization; the second is a water stress indicator, which is expressed as the proportion of rivers (in length) subject to diversion or regulation for irrigation without reserving a minimum of limiting reference flow; and the third is a water use efficiency indicator designated as the technical and the economic efficiency. These indicators have different meanings in the aspect of water resource conservation and sustainable water use. So, it will be more significant that the indicators should reflect the intrinsic meanings of them. The problem is that the aspect of an overall water flow in the agro-ecosystem and recycling of water use not considered in the assessment of agricultural water use needed for calculation of these water use indicators. Namely, regional or meteorological characteristics and site-specific farming practices were not considered in the calculation of these indicators. In this paper, we tried to calculate water use indicators suggested in OECD and to modify some other indicators considering our situation because water use pattern and water cycling in Korea where paddy rice farming is dominant in the monsoon region are quite different from those of semi-arid regions. In the calculation of water use intensity, we excluded the amount of water restored through the ground from the total agricultural water use because a large amount of water supplied to the farm was discharged into the stream or the ground water. The resultant water use intensity was 22.9% in 2001. As for water stress indicator, Korea has not defined nor monitored reference levels of minimum flow rate for rivers subject to diversion of water for irrigation. So, we calculated the water stress indicator in a different way from OECD method. The water stress indicator was calculated using data on the degree of water storage in agricultural water reservoirs because 87% of water for irrigation was taken from the agricultural water reservoirs. Water use technical efficiency was calculated as the reverse of the ratio of irrigation water to a standard water requirement of the paddy rice. The efficiency in 2001 was better than in 1990 and 1998. As for the economic efficiency for water use, we think that there are a lot of things to be taken into considerations to make a useful indicator to reflect socio-economic values of agricultural products resulted from the water use. Conclusively, site-specific, regional or meteorogical characteristics as in Korea were not considered in the calculation of water use indicators by methods suggested in OECD(Volume 3, 2001). So, it is needed to develop a new indicators for the indicators to be more widely applicable in the world.