• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.41 no.4 s.115
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• pp.457-469
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• 2006

This study aims to understand the characteristics of spatial distribution of snowfall and to analyze its development mechanism in Honam province in Korea. The areas of snowfall in Honan area can be divided into the seven sub-area by snowfall pattern. In the west coastal area of heavy snowfall and the southwest coastal area of heavy snowfall, snowfall develops over reason of ocean by Siberian High while in the northern inland area of heavy snowfall and the southern inland area of heavy snowfall, it develops when a strong Siberian High affects to inland. Then, much snowfall is by a forced ascending due to topography in Namwon, Imsil and Gwangju of the northwestward of the Noryung and Sobaek mountain ranges while it is weak in Jeonju and Suncheon of the low plains and the southeastward. In the mountainous area of heavy snowfall and the south coastal area of light snowfall, cyclone is also one of causes of snowfall. In the southwest coastal area, snowfall is meager than the southwest coastal area of heavy snowfall because this area is far from the west coast. It is confirmed that the snowfall difference of the coast, inland and mountainous area appears by temperature difference of sea surface and 850hPa temperature, wind speed of Siberian High.

• Atmosphere
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.33-48
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• 2006

A classification of snowfall type based on development mechanism is proposed using previous snowfall studies, operational experiences, etc. Five types are proposed: snowfall caused by 1) airmass transformation (AT type), 2) terrain effects in a situation of expanding Siberian High (TE type), 3) precipitation systems associated with extratropical cyclones (EC type), 4) indirect effects of extratropical cyclones passing over the sea to the south of the Korean peninsula (ECS type), and 5) combined effects of TE and ECS types (COM type). Snowfall events during 1981-2001 are classified according to the 5 types mentioned above. For this, 118 events, with at least one station with daily snowfall depth greater than 20 cm, are selected. For the classification, synoptic weather charts, satellite images, and precipitation data are used. For TE and COM types, local sea-level pressure chart is also used to confirm the presence of condition for TE type (this is done for events in 1990 and thereafter). The classification shows that 109 out of 118 events can be classified as one of the 5 types. In the remaining 8 events, heavy snowfall occurred only in Ullung Island. Its occurrence may be due to one or more of the following mechanism: airmass transformation, mesoscale cyclones and/or mesoscale convergence over the East Sea, etc. Each type shows different characteristics in location of snowfall and composition of precipitation (i.e., dry snow, rain, and mixed precipitation). The AT-type snowfall occurs mostly in the west coast, Jeju and Ullung Islands whereas the TE-type snowfall occurs in the East coast especially over the Young Dong area. The ECS-type snowfall occurs mostly over the southern part of the peninsula and some east cost area (sometimes, whole south Korea depending on the location of cyclones). The EC- and COM-type snowfalls occur in wider area, often whole south Korea. Precipitation composition also varies with the type. The AT-type has a snow ratio (SR) higher than the mean value. The TE- and EC-type have SR similar to the mean. The ECS- and COM-type have SR values smaller than the mean. Generally the SR values at high latitude and mountainous areas are higher than those at the other areas. The SR value informs the characteristics of the precipitation composition. An SR value larger than 10 means that all precipitation is composed of snow whereas a zero SR value means that all precipitation is composed of rain.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1439-1449
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• 2007

Heavy snowfall was occurred over the south-western part of the Korean Peninsula called as Honam Districts, on two days from 21 December 2005. The development mechanism of snowfall and its characteristics were analysed using observation and numerical data provided by Korea Meteorological Administration. In comparison with other years Arctic air mass developed and maintained during all December 2005 due to active planetary waves with three branches. And jet streams at lower and higher levels make easy development of snow convection cells. Especially thermal low induced by mesoscale heat and dynamic sources, also help the developments of convection cells in strong ascension. The understanding the relation between synoptic and mesoscale circumstance, therefore, is also important to predict the heavy snowfall and to prevent the disaster.

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
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• v.10 no.S_1
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• pp.29-33
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• 2001

A numerical simulation was carried out to investigate the mechanism of snowfall around the Seoul region during a cold air-outbreak in the winter season. A particular case was selected for this study(Dec. 19, 1999). The inflow directions of the synoptic flow in the upper and lower levels were westerly and north-westerly, respectively. Plus, there was a deep trough and thermal ridge at a level of 500/700/850 hPa over the Bal-Hae region, in the northern part of the Korean peninsula. According to the model results, snowfall occurred around the Seoul region with the simultaneous existence of a strong static instability in the lower atmosphere, northerly or westerly dry air advection, and strong thermal advection toward the Seoul region. There was a strong convergence thereby indicating the existence of convective rolls in the clouds. The main energy source of convection over the Yellow sea was a sensible heat flux. The main moisture source was convection. Radiative cooling in the cloud layer intensified the static instability in the lower atmosphere.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.645-661
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• 2013

The synoptic, thermodynamic, and dynamic characteristics of a heavy snowfall event that occurred in Seoul metropolitan area on 27 to 28 December 2010 was investigated. During this period there was a distinctive case that was identified as a polar low. We analyzed surface and upper level weather charts, snowfall amount, sea surface temperature, satellite imagery, sounding, and the National Center for Environmental Prediction global $1^{\circ}{\times}1^{\circ}$ reanalysis data. The polar low developed in an area where there was strong baroclinicity in the lower level aided by strong conditional instability due to 925 hPa warm air advection and 700 hPa cold air advection. The development mechanism of polar low is due, in part, to the tropopause folding, which advected stratospheric air increasing potential vorticity in mid-level and inducing cyclonic vorticity and convergence in low-level. Eventually clouds developed and there were snowfall total of 10 cm in Seoul metropolitan area and as much as 20 cm in southern parts of Korea. During the snowfall development, there was a $-45^{\circ}C$ cold core at 500 hPa and shortwave maintained $3-5^{\circ}$ separation with surface trough, which favored the development of polar low located in the warm sector and cyclonic advection area. The height of the dynamical tropopause lowered to 700 hPa during the peak development and increase in potential vorticity allowed strong vertical motion to occur. Overall, there was a close relationship between the development of snowfall and tropopause undulation. The heaviest snowfall occurred east of the tropopause folding where strong cyclonic vorticity, vertical motion, and moisture advection all coincided while the polar low was passing through the Korean peninsula.

• Atmosphere
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.53-67
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• 2018

This study examined the lake effect of the Yellow Sea which was induced by the Siberian High pressure system moving over the open waters. The development mechanism of the convective cells over the ocean was studied in detail using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. Numerical experiments consist of the control experiment (CTL) and an experiment changing the yellow sea to dry land (EXP). The CTL simulation result showed distinct high area of relative vorticity, convergence and low-level atmospheric instability than that of the EXP. The result indicates that large surface vorticity and convergence induced vertical motion and low level instability over the ocean when the arctic Siberian air mass moved south over the Yellow Sea. The sensible heat flux at the sea surface gradually decreased while latent heat flux gradually increased. At the beginning stage of air mass modification, sensible heat was the main energy source for convective cell generation. However, in the later stage, latent heat became the main energy source for the development of convective cells. In conclusion, the mechanism of the west coast heavy snowfall caused by modification of the Siberian air mass over the Yellow Sea can be explained by air-sea interaction instability in the following order: (a) cyclonic vorticity caused by diabatic heating induce Ekman pumping and convergence at the surface, (b) sensible heat at the sea surface produce convection, and (c) this leads to latent heat release, and the development of convective cells. The overall process is a manifestation of air-sea interaction and enhancement of convection from positive feedback mechanism.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.699-709
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• 2008

To understand the development mechanism of the aerosols in the surface boundary layer, the variation in the aerosol number concentration due to the divergence and convergence of the wind fields was investigated. The aerosol number concentration was measured in the size ranges of $0.3{\sim}10.0{\mu}m$ using a laser particle counter(LPC) from 0000 LST on 03 Feb. to 0600 LST on 07 Feb. 2004 at Mokpo in Korea during snowfall. The Velocity Azimuth Display(VAD) technique was used to retrieve the radar wind fields such as the horizontal wind field, divergence, and deformations including the vertical air velocity from a single Doppler radar. As a result, the distribution of the aerosol number concentration is apparently different for particles larger than $1{\mu}m$ during snowfall, and it has a tendency to increase at the beginning of the snowfall. The increase and decrease in the aerosol concentration due to the convergence and divergence of the wind fields corresponded to the particles with diameters greater than $1{\mu}m$. It is found that the fluctuations in the aerosol number concentration are well correlated with the development and dissipation of snowfall radar echoes due to the convergence and divergence of horizontal wind fields near the surface boundary layer in the inland during the snowfall.

• Atmosphere
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.461-472
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• 2021

Yeongdong has frequently suffered from severe snowstorms, which generally give rise to societal and economic damages to the region in winter. In order to understand its mechanism, there has been a long-term measurement campaign, based on the rawinsonde measurements for every snowfall event at Gangneung since 2014. The previous observations showed that a typical heavy snowfall is generally accompanied with northerly or northeasterly flow below the snow clouds, generated by cold air outbreak over the relatively warmer East Sea. An intensive and multi-institutional measurement campaign has been launched in 2019 mainly in collaboration with Gangwon Regional Office of Meteorology and National Institute of Meteorological Studies of Korean Meteorological Administration, with a special emphasis on winter snowfall and spring windstorm altogether. The experiment spanned largely from February to April with comprehensive measurements of frequent rawinsonde measurements at a super site (Gangneung) with continuous remote sensings of wind profiler, microwave radiometers and weather radar etc. Additional measurements were added to the campaign, such as aircraft dropsonde measurements and shipboard rawinsonde soundings. One of the fruitful outcomes is, so far, to identify a couple of cold air damming occurrences, featuring lowest temperature below 1 km, which hamper the convergence zone and snow clouds from penetrating inland, and eventually make it harder to forecast snowfall in terms of its location and timing. This kind of comprehensive observation campaign with continuous remote sensings and intensive additional measurement platforms should be conducted to understand various orographic precipitation in the complex terrain like Yeongdong.

• Proceedings of the KGS Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.53-53
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• 2004

• Atmosphere
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.9-36
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• 2009

Two heavy snowfall events occurred in Yeongnam and Yeongdong regions of the Korean Peninsula during the period from 4 to 6 March 2005 are analyzed. The events were developed by two different meso-scale snow clouds associated with an extratropical low passing over the Western Pacific. Based on synoptic data, GOES-9 satellite images, and precipitation amount data, the events were named as Sokcho and Busan cases, respectively. We analyzed the development mechanism of the events using meterological variables from the NCEP(National Centers for Environmental Prediction) /NCAR(National Centers for Atmospheric Research) reanalysis data such as potential vorticity(PV), divergence, tropopause undulation, static stability, and meridional wind circulation. The present analyses show that in the case of Sokcho, the cyclonic circulation in the lower atmosphere in the strong baroclinic region induced the cyclonic circulation in the upper atmosphere. The cyclonic circulation in the lower and upper atmosphere caused a heavy snowfall in the Sokcho region. In the case of Busan, the strong cyclonic circulation in the upper atmosphere was initiated by the stratospheric air intrusion with the high positive PV into the troposphere during the tropopause folding. The upper strong cyclonic circulation enhanced the cyclonic circulation in the lower disturbed atmosphere due to the extratropical low. This lower cyclonic circulation in turn, intensified the upper cyclonic circulation, that caused a heavy snowfall in the Busan region.