• Atmosphere
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.159-183
• /
• 2016

On 31 July 2014, there was a localized torrential rainfall ($58.5mm\;hr^{-1}$) caused by a strong convective cell with thunder showers over Daegwallyeong. In the surface synoptic chart, a typhoon was positioned in the East China Sea and the subtropical high was expanded to the Korean peninsula. A WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) numerical simulation with a resolution of 1 km was performed for a detailed analysis. The simulation result showed a similar pattern in a reflectivity distribution particularly over the Gangwon-do region, compared with the radar reflectivity. According to the results of the WRF simulation, the process and mechanism of the localized heavy rainfall over Daegwallyeong are as follows: (1) a convective instability over the middle part of the Korean peninsula was enhanced due to the low level advection of warm and humid air from the North Pacific high. (2) There was easterly flow from the coast to the mountainous regions around Daegwallyeong, which was generated by the differential heating of the insolation among Daegwallyeong and the Yeongdong coastal plain, and nearby coastal waters. (3) In addition, westerly flow from the western part of Daegwallyeong caused a strong convergence in this region, generating a strong upward motion combined by an orographic effect. (4) This brought about a new convective cell over Daegwallyeong. And this cell was more developed by the outflow from another thunderstorm cell to the south, and finally these two cells were merged to develop as a strong convective cell with thunder showers, leading to the record breaking maximum rainfall per hour ($58.5mm\;hr^{-1}$) in July.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.159-171
• /
• 2014

This study investigated the temporal and spatial characteristics of summertime (June-August) precipitation over Korean peninsula, using Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA)is Automated Synoptic Observing System (ASOS) data for the period of 1973-2010 and Automatic Weather System (AWS) data for the period of 1998-2010.The authors looked through climatological features of the summertime precipitation, then examined the degree of locality of the precipitation, and probable precipitation amount and its return period of 100 years (i.e., an extreme precipitation event). The amount of monthly total precipitation showed increasing trends for all the summer months during the investigated 38-year period. In particular, the increasing trends were more significant for the months of July and August. The increasing trend of July was seen to be more attributable to the increase of precipitation intensity than that of frequency, while the increasing trend of August was seen to be played more importantly by the increase of the precipitation frequency. The e-folding distance, which is calculated using the correlation of the precipitation at the reference station with those at all other stations, revealed that it is August that has the highest locality of hourly precipitation, indicating higher potential of localized heavy rainfall in August compared to other summer months. More localized precipitation was observed over the western parts of the Korean peninsula where terrain is relatively smooth. Using the 38-years long series of maximum daily and hourly precipitation as input for FARD2006 (Frequency Analysis of Rainfall Data Program 2006), it was revealed that precipitation events with either 360 mm $day^{-1}$ or 80 mm $h^{-1}$ can occur with the return period of 100 years over the Korean Peninsula.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.39 no.5
• /
• pp.403-418
• /
• 2018

This study conducted synoptic and mesoscale analyses to understand the cause of Japan Tsukuba tornado development, which occurred at 0340 UTC 6 May 2012. Prior to the tornado occurrence, there was a circular jet stream over Japan, and the surface was moist due to overnight precipitation. The circular jet stream brought cold and dry air to the upper-level atmosphere which let strong solar radiation heat the ground with clearing of sky cover. A tornadic supercell developed in the area of potentially unstable atmosphere. Sounding data at Tateno showed a capping inversion at 900 hPa at 0000 UTC 6 May. Strong insolation in early morning hours and removal of the inversion instigated vigorous updraft with rotation due to vertical shear in the upper-level atmosphere. This caused multiple tornadoes to occur from 0220 to 0340 UTC 6 May 2012. When comparing Tateno's climatological temperature and dew-point temperature profile on the day of event, the mid-level atmosphere was moister than typical sounding in the region. This study showed that tornado development in Tsukuba was caused by a combination of (a) topography and potential vorticity anomaly, which increased vorticity over the Kanto Plain; (b) vertical shear, which produced horizontal vortex line; and c) thermal instability, which triggered supercell and tilted the vortex line in the vertical.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2023.05a
• /
• pp.163-163
• /
• 2023

Flooding has become an increasing event which is one of the major natural disasters responsible for direct economic damage in South Korea. Driven by climate change, precipitation extremes play significant role on the flood damage and its further increase is expected to exacerbate the socioeconomic impact in the country. However, the empirical evidence associating changes in precipitation extremes to the historical flood damage is limited. Thus, there is a need to assess the causal relationship between changes in precipitation extremes and flood damage, especially in agricultural region like Chungcheong region in South Korea. The spatial and temporal changes of precipitation extremes from 10 synoptic stations based on daily precipitation data were analyzed using the ClimPACT2 tool and Mann-Kendall test. The four precipitation extreme indices consisting of consecutive wet days (CWD), number of very heavy precipitation wet days (R30 mm), maximum 1-day precipitation amount (Rx1day), and simple daily precipitation intensity (SDII), which represent changes in intensity, frequency, and duration, respectively, and the time series data on flooded area and flood damage from 1985 to 2020 were used to investigate the causal relationship in the ARDL-ECM framework and pairwise Granger causality analysis. The trend results showed that majority of the precipitation indices indicated positive trends, however, CWD showed no significant changes. ARDL-ECM framework showed that there was a long-run relationship among the variables. Further analysis on the empirical results showed that flooded area and Rx1day have significant positive impacts on the flood damage in both short and long-runs while R30 mm only indicated significant positive impact in the short-run, both in the current period, which implies that an increase in flooded area, Rx1day, and R30 mm will cause an increase in the flood damage. The pairwise Granger analysis showed unidirectional causality from the flooded area, R30 mm, Rx1day, and SDII to flood damage. Thus, these precipitation indices could be useful as indicators of pluvial flood damage in Chungcheong region of South Korea.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.247-257
• /
• 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
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.35-44
• /
• 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 the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.42 no.5
• /
• pp.479-495
• /
• 2021

This study investigates the synoptic (patterns of southern highs, northern lows, and lows rapidly developed by tropopause folding), thermodynamic, and kinematic characteristics of a strong wind that occurred in the Yeongdong region of South Korea on March 18-20, 2020. To do so, we analyzed data from an automatic weather station (AWS), weather charts, the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis, rawinsonde, and windprofiler radars. The daily maximum instantaneous wind speed, exceeding 20 m s^-1, was observed at five weather stations during the analysis period. The strongest instantaneous wind speed (27.7 m s^-1) appeared in the Daegwallyeong area. According to the analysis of weather charts, along with the arrangement of the north-south low-pressure line, the isobars were moved to the Yeongdong area. It showed a sine wave shape, and a strong wind developed owing to the strong pressure gradient. On March 19, in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, with a drop in atmospheric pressure of 19 hPa or more within one day, a continuous strong wind was developed by the synoptic structure of the developing polar low. In the adiabatic chart observed in Bukgangneung, the altitude of the inversion layer was located at an altitude of approximately 1-3 km above the mountaintop, along with the maximum wind speed. We confirmed that this is consistent with the results of the vertical wind field analysis of the rawinsonde and windprofiler data. In particular, based on the thermodynamic and kinematic vertical analyses, we suggest that strong winds due to the vertical gradient of potential temperature in the lower layer and the development of potential vorticity due to tropopause folding play a significant role in the occurrence of strong winds in the Yeongdong region.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.423-441
• /
• 2013

On 21 September 2010, one of Chuseok holidays in Korea, localized heavy rainfalls occurred over the midwestern region of the Korean peninsula. In this study MTSAT-2 infrared and water vapor channel imagery are examined to find out some features which are obvious in each stage of the life cycle of convective cell for this heavy rain event. Also the kinematic and thermodynamic features probably associated with them are investigated. The first clouds related with the Chuseok heavy rain are detected as low-level multicell cloud (brightness temperature: $-15{\sim}0^{\circ}C$) in the middle of the Yellow sea at 1630~1900 UTC on 20 Sept., which are probably associated with the convergence at 1000 hPa. Convective cells are initiated in the vicinity of Shantung peninsula at 1933 UTC 20, which have developed around the edge of the dark region in water vapor images. At two times of 0033 and 0433 UTC 21 the merging of two convective cells happens near midwestern coast of the peninsula and then they have developed rapidly. From 0430 to 1000 UTC 21, key features of convective cell include repeated formation of secondary cell, slow horizontal cloud motion, persistence of lower brightness temperature ($-75{\sim}-65^{\circ}C$), and relatively small cloud size (${\leq}-50^{\circ}C$) of about $30,000km^2$. Radar analysis showed that this heavy rain is featured by a narrow line-shaped rainband with locally heavy rainrate (${\geq}50$ mm/hr), which is located in the south-western edge of the convective cell. However there are no distinct features in the associated synoptic-scale dynamic forcing. After 1000 UTC 21 the convective cell grows up quickly in cloud size and then is dissipated. These satellite features may be employed for very short range forecast and nowcasting of mesoscale heavy rain system.

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

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.50 no.10
• /
• pp.691-701
• /
• 2017

The objective of this study is to evaluate the long-term drought outlook information based on long-term forecast data for the 2015 drought event. In order to estimate the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for different durations (3-, 6-, 9-, 12-months), we used the observation precipitation of 59 Automated Synoptic Observing System (ASOS) sites, forecast and hindcast data of GloSea5. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis and statistical analysis (Correlation Coefficient, CC; Root Mean Square Error, RMSE) were used to evaluate the utilization of drought outlook information for the forecast lead-times (1~6months). As a result of ROC analysis, ROC scores of SPI(3), SPI(6), SPI(9) and SPI(12) were estimated to be over 0.70 until the 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-months. The CC and RMSE values of SPI(3), SPI(6), SPI(9) and SPI(12) for forecast lead-time were estimated as (0.60, 0.87), (0.72, 0.95), (0.75, 0.95) and (0.77, 0.89) until the 2-, 4-, 5- and 6-months respectively.