• Atmosphere
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.401-413
• /
• 2012

In this study, an investigation has been carried out to understand 1) temporal variation of rainfall amount in summer over south Korea during the 30-year period of 1979-2008 and 2) the relationship between the variation of rainfall amount and the change of large-scale monsoon circulation around 1993/1994 over East Asia. The analysis of rainfall amount is carried out separately for whole summer (June-August), climatological Changma period of 23 June-23 July, and August to consider variations within summer. To relate the variation of rainfall amount with the change of large-scale circulation, we have considered two 15-year periods of 1979-1993 and 1994-2008. This study has used observations at 58 stations in South Korea and NCEP-NCAR $2.5^{\circ}{\times}2.5^{\circ}$ reanalysis data. The major change in synoptic environment for the Changma period is characterized by the intensified anticyclone over Mongolia during 1994-2008, which results in a weak meridional oscillation of Changma front. As a result, rainfall amount for the Changma period and the frequency of extreme events have significantly increased after 1993/1994. A major change of synoptic environment for August is the significant westward extension of the western Pacific subtropical high, which allows not only more moisture transports but also stronger cyclonic circulation over the Korean peninsula. Rainfall amount for August and frequency of extreme events have also increased after 1993/1994. However, variability of rainfall amount is larger for August than that for the Changma period, with some years showing very dry August (monthly rainfall amount less than 150 mm).

• Journal of Climate Change Research
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.49-57
• /
• 2016

In the present study, the time series of the number of days on which temperatures were not higher than $-5^{\circ}C$ in winter in Seoul was analyzed. The results showed a decreasing tendency until recently. Statistical change-point analysis was conducted to examine whether climate regime shifts existed in this time series. According to the results, the number of days on which temperatures were not higher than $-5^{\circ}C$ in winter in Seoul drastically decreased since 1988. Therefore, to find out the reason for the recent decrease in the number of days, differences between the means of large-scale environments in winder during 1988~2010 and those during 1974~1987 were analyzed. In all layers of the troposphere, anomalous anticyclones developed in regions around the Korean Peninsula and thus the Korean Peninsula was affected by westerlies or south-westerlies. This was associated with the recent a little further northward development of western North Pacific subtropical high. Therefore, environments good for warm and humid air to flow into the Korean Peninsula were formed. To examine whether relatively warm and humid air actually flowed into the Korean Peninsula recently, temperatures and specific humidity in all layers in the troposphere were analyzed and according to the results the Korean Peninsula showed warm and humid anomalies. In the analyses of sensible heat net flux and maximum temperatures at a height of 2 m that can be felt by humans, the East Asia Continent including the Korean Peninsula showed positive anomalies.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.563-576
• /
• 2021

The performance of East Asian summer monsoon is assessed for GC2 and GC3.1, which are climate change models of the current and next climate prediction system in the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), GloSea5 and GloSea6. The most pronounced characteristics of GC models are strong monsoon trough and the weakening of the Western North Pacific Subtropical High (WNPSH). These are related to the weakening of the southwesterly wind and resulting weak monsoon band toward the Korean Peninsula. The GC3.1 is known to have improved the model configuration version compared to GC2, such as cloud physics and ocean parameters. We can confirm that the overall improvements of GC3.1 against GC2, especially in pressure, 850 hPa wind fields, and vertical wind shear. Also, the precipitation band stagnant in the south of 30°N in late spring is improved, therefore the biases of rainy onset and withdrawal on the Korean Peninsula are reduced by 2~4 pentad. We also investigate the impact of initialization in comparison with GloSea5 hindcast. Compared with GCs, hindcast results show better simulation within 1 month lead time, especially in pressure and 850 hPa wind fields, which can be expected to the improvement of WNPSH. Therefore, it is expected that the simulation performance of WNPSH will be improved in the result of applying the initialization of GloSea6.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.83-95
• /
• 2024

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are closely related to local precipitation which can be both beneficial and destructive. Although several studies have evaluated their predictability, there is a lack of studies on East Asian ARs. This study evaluates the prediction skill of East Asian ARs in the Korean Integrated Model (KIM) for 2020~2022 summer. The spatial distribution of AR frequency in KIM is qualitatively similar to the observation but overestimated. In particular, the model errors greatly increase along the boundary of the western North Pacific subtropical high as the forecast lead time increases. When the prediction skills are quantitatively verified by computing the Anomaly Correlation Coefficient and Mean Square Skill Score, the useful prediction skill of daily AR around the Korean Peninsula is found up to 5 days. Such prediction limit is primarily set by the wind field errors with a minor contribution of moisture distribution errors. This result suggests that the improved prediction of atmospheric circulation field can improve the prediction of East Asian summer ARs and the associated precipitation.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.24 no.1 s.61
• /
• pp.67-80
• /
• 2006

The effect of environmental forcing on picophytoplankton distribution pattern was investigated in the tropical and subtropical western Pacific (TSWP) and the East Sea in September, 2002, and the continental shelf of the East China Sea (C-ECS) in August, 2003. The abundance of picophytoplankton populations, Synechococcus, Prochlorococcus and picoeukaryotes were determined by flow cytometry analyses. Picophytoplankton vertical profiles and integrated abundance $(0\sim100\;m)$ were compared with these three physiochemically different regions. Variation patterns of integrated cell abundance of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus in these three regions showed contrasting results. Synechococcus showed average abundance of $84.5X10^{10}\;cells\;m^{-2}$, in the TSWP, $305.6X10^{10}\;cells\;m^{-2}$ in the C-ECS, and $125.4X10^{10}\;cells\; m^{-2}$ in the East Sea where increasing cell concentrations were observed in the region with abundant nutrient. On the other hand, Prochlorococcus showed average abundance of $504.5X10^{10}\;cells\;m^{-2}$ in the TSWP, $33.2x10^{10}\;cells\;m^{-2}$ in the C-ECS, and $130.2X10^{10}\;cells\;m^{-2}$ in the East Sea exhibiting a distinctive pattern of increasing cell abundance in oligotrophic warm water. Although picoeukaryotes showed a similar pattern to Synechococcus, the abundance was 1/10 of Synechococcus. Synechococcus and picoeukaryotes showed ubiquitous distribution whereas Prochlorococcus generally did not appear in the C-ECS and the East Sea with low salinity environment. The average depth profiles for Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus displayed uniform abundance in the surface mixed layer with a rapid decrease below the surface mixed layer. for Prochlorococcus, a similar rapid decreasing trend was not observed below the surface mixed layer of the TSWP, but Prochlorococcus continued to show high cell abundance even down to 100 m depth. Picoeukaryotes showed uniform abundance along $0\sim100\;m$ depth in the C-ECS, and abundance maximum layer appeared in the East Sea at $20\sim30\;m$ depth.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.1-21
• /
• 1995

The characteristics of the Asian summer monsoon have been investigated for the periods of 1993/1994, the contrasting years in a view of the summer monsoon precipitation. In order to investigate the monsoon features over the eastern Asian monsoon region, the cloudiness(using the extensive data derived by the geostationary meteorological satellite), the condition of underlying surface including sea-surface temperature, and the summer rainfall are analyzed and some comparisons with 1993 and 1994 are also made and the characteristic differences are discussed. An analysis of the 2-degree latitude-longitude gridded 5-day mean high cloud amount data shows the detailed movement and persistence of the convective activities. In order to describe the spatial and temporal structures of the intraseasonal oscillation for the movement and evolution of the monsoon cloud, the extended empirical orthogonal fnction analysis with the twenty-day window size is used for the each year. Also, in order to find out the periodicity of the equatorial convective cluster, Fourier harmonic analysis is applied to the each year. The most prevailing intraseasonal oscillations of high cloud amount are 61 day mode and 15day mode in the equatorial and the subtropical oceans. However it was found that the most prevailing modes over the equatorial western Pacific and Indian Ocean were different for each year, hence raising the possibillity that the contrasting monsoon presipitation may be more fundamentally related to the interaction of intraseasonal oscillations and seasonal variation of convective activities over the lower latitude ocean.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.305-315
• /
• 2018

This study investigates the characteristic spatial patterns and dynamic processes associated with the summertime extreme temperature events in South Korea during the last 20 years (1995~2014) using Self-Organizing Map (SOM). The classified SOM patterns commonly have high temperature and anticyclonic circulation anomalies over South Korea. The two major teleconnection patterns are identified: one is from the subtropical western North Pacific (WNP) affecting to the north and the other is from the North Atlantic (NA) affecting downstream region. The meridional teleconnection pattern is related to the forcing of positive sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly over the WNP. The northward propagating Rossby wave generates the East Asia-Pacific (EAP) pattern to form an anticyclonic circulation anomaly over South Korea. On the other hand, NA SST anomalies generate an eastward Rossby wave train across the Eurasian continent, leading to the development of an anticyclonic circulation anomaly over South Korea. The EAP pattern occurs more frequently in July and August, whereas the midlatitude teleconnection pattern associated with NA SST anomalies develops more frequently in early summer (June).

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.171-180
• /
• 2015

Regarding the tropical cyclone (TC) genesis frequency, TCs between 1999 and 2013 were generated more frequently in the northwest waters of the tropical- and subtropical western North Pacific than TCs between 1977 and 1998. TCs over the period from 1977-1998 showed a northward track trend generated mostly from the distant sea in east of the Philippines via the mainland of the Philippines and the South China Sea to the west toward Indochina or from the distant sea in east of the Philippines to the distance sea in east of Japan. TCS over the period from 1999-2013 showed a northward shift pattern to the mid-latitude region mostly in East Asia. Therefore, TCs over the period from 1999-2013 tended to move to much higher latitudes than TCs over the period from 1977-1998, which also resulted in the high possibility of maximum TC intensity occurred in higher latitudes during the former period than the latter period. In the difference of 500 hPa streamline between two periods, the anomalous anticyclonic circulations were strengthened in $30-50^{\circ}N$ whereas the anomalous monsoon trough was placed in north of the South China Sea, which was extended to the east up to $145^{\circ}E$. The mid-latitude in East Asia is affected by the anomalous southeasterlies due to the above anomalous anticyclonic circulations and anomalous monsoon trough. The anomalous southeasterlies play a role in anomalous steering flows that directed TCs to the mid-latitude regions in East Asia, which made the latitudes of the maximum intensities in TCs over the period from 1999 - 2013 further to the north than those in TCs over the period from 1977-1998.