• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.393-408
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• 2014

In this study, the spatio-temporal characteristics of summer extreme precipitation events in the Republic of Korea are examined based on the daily precipitation data observed at approximately 360 sites of both Automatic Weather Station (AWS) and Automated Synoptic Observation System (ASOS) networks by the Korea Meteorological Administration for the recent decade(2002~2011). During the summer Changma period(late June~mid July), both the frequency of extreme precipitation events exceeding 80mm of daily precipitation and their decadal maximum values are greatest at most of weather stations. In contrast, during the Changma pause period (late July~early August), these patterns are observed only in the northern regions of Geyeonggi province and western Kangwon province as such patterns are detected around Mt. Sobaek and Mt. Halla as well as in the southern regions of Geyeonggi province and western Kangwon province during the late Changma period (mid August~early September) due to north-south oscillation of the Changma front. Investigation of their regional patterns confirms that not only migration of the Changma front but also topological components in response to the advection of moistures such as elevation and aspect of major mountain ridges are detrimental to spatio-temporal patterns of extreme precipitation events. These results indicate that each local administration needs differentiated strategies to mitigate the potential damages by extreme precipitation events due to the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of their frequency and intensity during each Changma period.

• Atmosphere
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.31-46
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• 2020

The aircraft observation campaign was performed to investigate thermodynamic conditions of snowfall cloud over the East Sea of Korean peninsula from 2 February to 16 March 2018. During this period, four snowfall events occurred in the Yeongdong region and three cases were analyzed using dropsonde data. Snowfall cases were associated with the passage of southern low-pressure (maritime warm air mass) and expansion of northern high-pressure (continental polar air mass). Case 1 and Case 2a were related to low-pressure systems, and Case 2b and Case 3 were connected with high-pressure systems, respectively. And their thermodynamic properties and horizontal distribution of snowfall cloud were differed according to the influence of the synoptic condition. In Case 1 and Case 2a, atmospheric layers between sea surface and 350 hPa contained moisture more than 15 mm of TPW with multiple inversion layers detected by dropsonde data, while the vertical atmosphere of Case 2b and Case 3 were dry as TPW 5 mm or less with a single inversion inversion layer around 750~850 hPa. However, the vertical distributions of equivalent potential temperature (θ_e) were similar as moist-adiabatically neutral condition regardless of the case. But, their values below 900 hPa were about 10 K higher in Case 1 and Case 2a (285~290 K) than in Case 2b and Case 3 (275~280 K). The difference in these values is related to the characteristics of the incoming air mass and the location of the snowfall cloud.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.5_2
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• pp.1317-1328
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• 2021

This study analyzes the early satellite mission marine fog detection results from Geostationary Ocean Color Imager-II (GOCI-II). We investigate optical characteristics of the GOCI-II spectral bands for marine fog between October 2020 and March 2021 during the overlapping mission period of Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) and GOCI-II. For Rayleigh-corrected reflection (R_rc) at 412 nm band available for the input of the GOCI-II marine fog algorithm, the inter-comparison between GOCI and GOCI-II data showed a small Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) value (0.01) with a high correlation coefficient (0.988). Another input variable, Normalized Localization Standard (NLSD), also shows a reasonable correlation (0.798) between the GOCI and GOCI-II data with a small RMSE value (0.007). We also found distinctive optical characteristics between marine fog and clouds by the GOCI-II observations, showing the narrower distribution of all bands' R_rc values centered at high values for cloud compared to marine fog. The GOCI-II marine fog detection distribution for actual cases is similar to the GOCI but more detailed due to the improved spatial resolution from 500 m to 250 m. The validation with the automated synoptic observing system (ASOS) visibility data confirms the initial reliability of the GOCI-II marine fog detection. Also, it is expected to improve the performance of the GOCI-II marine fog detection algorithm by adding sufficient samples to verify stable performance, improving the post-processing process by replacing real-time available cloud input data and reducing false alarm by adding aerosol information.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.6_2
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• pp.1837-1847
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• 2021

This study investigated wind corridors for the entire Suwon-city area using a geographic information system and a computational fluid dynamics model. We conducted numerical simulations for 16 inflow wind directions using the average wind speeds measured at the Suwon automated synoptic observation system (ASOS) for recent ten years. We analyzed the westerly (dominant wind direction) and easterly cases (not dominant but strong wind speed) in detail and investigated the characteristics of a wind speed distribution averaged using the frequencies of 16 wind directions as weighting factors. The characteristics of the wind corridors in Suwon city can be summarized as; (1) In the northern part of Suwon, complicated flows were formed by the high mountainous terrain, and strong (weak) winds and updrafts (downdrafts) were simulated on the windward (leeward) mountain slope. (2) On the leeward mountain slope, a wind corridor was formed along a valley, and relatively strong airflow flowed into the residential area. (3) The strong winds were simulated in a wide and flat area in the west and south part of Suwon city. (4) Due to the friction and flow blocking by buildings, wind speeds decreased, and airflows became complicated in the downtown area. (5) Wind corridors in residential areas were formed along wide roads and areas with few obstacles, such as rivers, lakes, and reservoirs.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.101-113
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• 2005

The seasonal variation and frequency of precipitation phenomenon of the Honam region in summer show strong local weather phenomena because of its topographical and geographical factors in southwestern area of Korea. The propose of this treatise is to induce variation patterns over a period 10 days of summer precipitation(that is one of the important elements of the precipitation characteristics), clarify the variations of their space scales, and study the subdivision of precipitation regions in Honam according to the combinations of precipitation amounts and variation pattern over a period of a 10 days of summer precipitation, using the mean values during the years 1994$\sim$2003 at 79 stations(the surface synoptic stations 16 AWS 63) of Honam region. The classified precipitation of a period of 10 days summer precipitation, and the principal component vector and the amplitude coefficient by the principal component analysis were used for this study. The characteristics of variation pattern over a period of 10 days of summer precipitation can be chiefly divided into four categories and the accumulated contributory rate of these is 78.0%. And the change patterns of summer precipitation during a period of 10 days in honam region are classified into 11 types from A to K And regional divisions of summer precipitation in Honam region can be classified into 18 types.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.227-236
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• 2009

This study investigates the characteristics of cloud top brightness temperature (CTBT) of WV and IR1 from MTSAT-1R when lightning strikes in South Korea. For temporal and spatial collocations, lightnings, occurred only within ${\pm}5$ minutes from the six minutes added official satellite observation time (e.g., not 0600 UTC but 0606 UTC, considering the real scan time over South Korea), were selected. And the CTBTs corresponding to lightning spots were determined using the nearest pixel within 5 km. The brightness temperature difference (BTD, defined as WV - IR1) between two channels is negatively large when no lightning occurrs, whereas it increases up to positive values (sometimes, +5 K) and the largest frequency distributes around 225 K and 205 K in lightning cases. The probablistic approach for lightning frequency forecast, presented by Machado et al. (2008) in Southern America, was applied over South Korea and new exponential equations, with high coefficients of determination around 0.95 to 0.99, were developed using two channels' BTDs when lightning strikes. Moreover, a case study on 10th June, 2006, the largest number of lightning occurred between 2002 and 2006, was made. The major finding is that lightning activity is closely related to the dramatic decreases in BT and the increases in BTD (esp., equal to or larger than 0 K). Lightning frequency increases exponentially when BTD increases up to 0 K. Therefore, lightning forecast skill will be improved when the integrated strategy (synoptic background and satellite-based CTBT and BTD) is applied. It is believed that this study contributes to the application of the Korean first geostationary satellite (COMS), scheduled to launch at the end of this year, to severe weather detections.

• Atmosphere
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.247-257
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• 2006

The Yeong-dong heavy snowfall forecast supporting system has been developed during the last several years. In order to construct the conceptual model, we have examined the characteristics of heavy snowfalls in the Yeong-dong region classified into three precipitation patterns. This system is divided into two parts: forecast and observation. The main purpose of the forecast part is to produce value-added data and to display the geography based features reprocessing the numerical model results associated with a heavy snowfall. The forecast part consists of four submenus: synoptic fields, regional fields, precipitation and snowfall, and verification. Each offers guidance tips and data related with the prediction of heavy snowfalls, which helps weather forecasters understand better their meteorological conditions. The observation portion shows data of wind profiler and snow monitoring for application to nowcasting. The heavy snowfall forecast supporting system was applied and tested to the heavy snowfall event on 28 February 2006. In the beginning stage, this event showed the characteristics of warm precipitation pattern in the wind and surface pressure fields. However, we expected later on the weak warm precipitation pattern because the center of low pressure passing through the Straits of Korea was becoming weak. It was appeared that Gangwon Short Range Prediction System simulated a small amount of precipitation in the Yeong-dong region and this result generally agrees with the observations.

• 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.

• Atmosphere
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2011

We investigated characteristics of new particle formation and growth events observed at Gosan climate observatory using Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) measurements of particle number size distribution with 54 size ranges from 10 to 487 nm in October 2009. Four days (17~20 October) and five days (22~26 October) were classified into strong new particle formation and growth event ($N_S$) and weak particle formation and growth event ($N_W$), respectively. $N_S$ and $N_W$ divided by increase of aerosol number concentration in nucleation mode and continuity of growth from nucleation to Aitken mode. Particle growth rates of $N_S$ (5.34~$9.19nm\;h^{-1}$) were greater than that of $N_W$ (2.15~$3.53nm\;h^{-1}$). $N_S$ and $N_W$ were analyzed with synoptic pattern over East Asia, meteorological elements, and sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$) measured at Gosan. We found that $N_S$ was characterized by a fast and northwesterly wind accompanied cold and dry airmass, but $N_W$ was affected airmass originated from South China and come through the Korea Peninsula. The events ($N_S$ and $N_W$) occurred at conditions of high solar flux ($&gt;700W\;m^{-2}$) and low relative humidity (< 60%). The $SO_2$ concentration on $N_S$ and $N_W$ was higher than that on case of non observed new particle formation.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.999-1009
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• 2021

As the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events due to climate change are increasing in recent years, it is very important to evaluate and analyze climate conditions to manage and respond to the negative effects of climate change in advance. In this study, the trends and characteristics of regional climate change were analyzed by calculating the climate indices for the Chungcheong Province. Annual and monthly UNEP-MP, UNEP-PM and MDM indices were calculated using daily data from 1973-2020 collected from 10 synoptic meteorological stations operated by the Korea Meteorological Administration. The normality of climate data was analyzed through the KS test, and the climate change trend was analyzed by applying the Spearman and Pearson methods. The Chungcheongnam-do region had a relatively humid climate than the Chungcheongbuk-do region, and the annual climate indices showed a dry climate trend in Cheongju and Chungju, while the climate of Seosan and Buyeo was becoming humid. Based on the monthly trend change analysis, a humid climate trend was observed in summer and autumn, while a dry climate trend was observed in spring and winter. Comparison of climate indices during the past (2001-2010) and the recent (2011-2020) years showed a higher decrease in the average climate indices during the last 10 years and a gradually drying climate change trend was recorded.