• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.170-170
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• 2018

In some case studies, the heavy precipitation events and rapid cyclogenesis in the extratropics can be caused by moist and warm tropical air masses. Tropical Moisture Exports (TME) correspond to the meridional transport of moist air masses, primarily born in tropical oceanic areas, to higher latitudes; and are closely related to flood events, especially in the mid-latitudes. The TME for the region of interest is mostly estimated by the back tracking approach using Lagrangian Analysis Tools (LAGRANTO) from ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA) data. In this study, we aim to estimate the TME that are related to rainfall in Korea. The major moisture sources of the TME that contribute to heavy rainfall and extreme floods in Korea are identified. The TME is found to have significant connection with extreme events in Korea such as heavy rainfall and extreme flood events. The results show the most of the moisture sources comes from the west Pacific during the warm half of the year and it contributes significantly to the annual TME and is linked to the East Asian monsoon.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.302-310
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• 2016

The loss and degradation in tropical forest region are some of the current global concern. Hence, these issues elevated the role of rehabilitated forests in providing ecological products and services. The information on the carbon stock is important in relation to global carbon and biomass use, but lacking from the tropical region. This paper reports the assessment of tree and soil carbon stock in a chronosequence rehabilitated tropical forest stands in Malaysia. The study site was at the UPM-Mitsubishi Forest Rehabilitation Project, UPMKB. $20{\times}20m$ plot was established each and assessed in 2009 at 1-, 10- and 19-year-old sites while an adjacent ${\pm}23-year-old$ natural regenerating secondary forest plot was established for comparison. The overall total carbon stock was in the order of 19-year-old>${\pm}23-year-old$>10-year-old>1-year-old. When forest carbon stock is low, the soil component plays an important role in the carbon storage. The forest carbon recovery is crucial to increase soil carbon stock. The variations in the carbon stock showed the different stages of the forest recovery. Species survived after 19-years of planting are potential species for carbon sequestration activities in rehabilitated forest. Human intervention in rehabilitating degraded forest areas through tree planting initiatives is crucial towards recovering the forest ecological role especially in forest carbon stock capacity.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.113-125
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• 2012

The estimations of the surface rain intensity and rain-related physical variables derived from two independent Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite sensors, TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR), were compared over four different oceans. The precipitating clouds developed most frequently in the warmest sea surface temperature (SST) region of the west Pacific, which is 1.5 times more frequent than in the east Pacific and the tropical Atlantic oceans. However, the east Pacific exhibited the most intense rain intensity for the convective and mixed rain types while the tropical Atlantic showed the most intense rain intensity for all TMI rainy pixels. It was found that the deviation of TMI-derived rain rate yielded a big difference in region-to-region and rain type-to-type if the PR rain intensity value is assumed to be closer to the truth. Furthermore, the deviation by rain types showed opposite signs between convective and non-convective rain types. It was found that the region-to-region deviation differences reached more than 200% even though the selected tropical oceans have relatively similar geophysical environments. Therefore, the validation for the microwave rain estimation needs to be performed according to both rain types and climate regimes, and it also requires more sophisticated TMI algorithm which reflects the locality of rainfall characteristics.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.551-558
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• 2020

The flaviviruses are small single-stranded RNA viruses that are typically transmitted by mosquitoes or tick vectors and are etiological agents of acute zoonotic infections. The viruses are found around the world and account for significant cases of human diseases. We investigated population of culicine mosquitoes in central region of Korean Peninsula, Incheon Metropolitan City and Hwaseong-si. Aedes vexans nipponii was the most frequently collected mosquitoes (56.5%), followed by Ochlerotatus dorsalis (23.6%), Anopheles spp. (10.9%), and Culex pipiens complex (5.9%). In rural regions of Hwaseong, Aedes vexans nipponii was the highest population (62.9%), followed by Ochlerotatus dorsalis (23.9%) and Anopheles spp. (12.0%). In another rural region of Incheon (habitat of migratory birds), Culex pipiens complex was the highest population (31.4%), followed by Ochlerotatus dorsalis (30.5%), and Aedes vexans vexans (27.5%). Culex pipiens complex was the predominant species in the urban region (84.7%). Culicine mosquitoes were identified at the species level, pooled up to 30 mosquitoes each, and tested for flaviviral RNA using the SYBR Green-based RT-PCR and confirmed by cDNA sequencing. Three of the assayed 2,683 pools (989 pools without Anopheles spp.) were positive for Culex flaviviruses, an insect-specific virus, from Culex pipiens pallens collected at the habitats for migratory birds in Incheon. The maximum likelihood estimation (the estimated number) for Culex pipiens pallens positive for Culex flavivirus was 25. Although viruses responsible for mosquito-borne diseases were not identified, we encourage intensified monitoring and long-term surveillance of both vector and viruses in the interest of global public health.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.330-341
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• 2024

The Trichinella spiralis novel cystatin (TsCstN) inhibits cathepsin L (CatL) activity and inflammation of macrophages during lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induction. To identify the protease inhibitory region, this study applied an in silico modeling approach to simulate truncation sites of TsCstN (Ts01), which created four truncated forms, including TsCstN^∆1-39 (Ts02), TsCstN^∆1-71 (Ts03), TsCstN^{∆1-20, ∆73-117} (Ts04), and TsCstN^{∆1-20, ∆42-117} (Ts05). The superimposition of these truncates modeled with AlphaFold Colab indicated that their structures were more akin to Ts01 than those modeled with I-TASSER. Moreover, Ts04 exhibited the closest resemblance to the structure of Ts01. The recombinant Ts01 (rTs01) and truncated proteins (rTs02, rTs03, and rTs04) were successfully expressed in a prokaryotic expression system while Ts05 was synthesized, with sizes of approximately 14, 12, 8, 10, and 2.5 kDa, respectively. When determining the inhibition of CatL activity, both rTs01 and rTs04 effectively reduced CatL activity in vitro. Thus, the combination of the α1 and L1 regions may be sufficient to inhibit CatL. This study provides comprehensive insights into TsCstN, particularly regarding its protein function and inhibitory domains against CatL.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.259-272
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• 2013

One of the factors influencing the climate around Korea is the oceanic-atmospheric variability in the tropical region between the eastern Indian and the western Pacific Oceans. Lack of knowledge about the air-sea interaction in the tropical Indo-Pacific region continues to make it problematic forecasting the ocean climate in the East Asia. The 'Tropical Indo-Pacific water transport and ecosystem monitoring EXperiment (TIPEX)' is a program for monitoring the ocean circulation variability between Pacific and Indian Oceans and for improving the accuracy of future climate forecasting. The main goal of the TIPEX program is to quantify the climate and ocean circulation change between the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. The contents of the program are 1) to observe the mixing process of different water masses and water transport in the eastern Indian and the western Pacific, 2) to understand the large-scale oceanic-climatic variation including El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)/Warm Pool/Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)/Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), and 3) to monitor the biogeochemical processes, material flux, and biological changes due to the climate change. In order to effectively carry out the monitoring program, close international cooperation and the proper co-work sharing of tasks between China, Japan, Indonesia, and India as well as USA is required.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.34 no.15
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• pp.6335-6353
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• 2021

This study examines the temporal evolution of the extratropically forced tropical response in an idealized aquaplanet model under equinox condition. We apply a surface thermal forcing in the northern extratropics that oscillates periodically in time. It is shown that tropical precipitation is unaltered by sufficiently high-frequency extratropical forcing. This sensitivity to the extratropical forcing periodicity arises from the critical time required for sea surface temperature (SST) adjustment. Low-frequency extratropical forcing grants sufficient time for atmospheric transient eddies to diffuse moist static energy to perturb the midlatitude SSTs outside the forcing region, as demonstrated by a one-dimensional energy balance model with a fixed diffusivity. As the transient eddies weaken in the subtropics, a further equatorward advection is accomplished by the Hadley circulation. The essential role of Hadley cell advection in connecting the subtropical signal to the equatorial region is supported by an idealized thermodynamical-advective model. Associated with the SST changes in the tropics is a meridional shift of the intertropical convergence zone. Since the time needed for SST adjustment increases with increasing mixed layer depth, the critical forcing period at which the extratropical forcing can affect the tropics scales linearly with the mixed layer depth. Our results highlight the important role of decadal-and-longer extratropical climate variability in shaping the tropical climate system. We also raise the possibility that the transient behavior of a tropical response forced by extratropical variability may be strongly dependent on cloud radiative effects.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.322-334
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• 2010

Spatiotemporal characteristics of precipitation in Korea, associated with the weakening of Tropical Cyclones (TCs) around the Korean Peninsula ($32-36^{\circ}N$, $122-132^{\circ}E$) over the last 30 years (1979-2008), were investigated. Weakened TCs are classified as WEC (Weakened to Extratropical Cyclone) and WTD (Weakened to Tropical Depression). In WEC, precipitation was evenly distributed all over the Korean Peninsula and the greater precipitation was recorded in the southern coast. In WTD, the most precipitation was recorded in the southern coast but low precipitation was recorded in the central and inland areas of Korea. The difference of precipitation between WEC and WTD was not statistically significant in Region 2 (Jeollanam-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, southeastern part of Gyeongsangbuk-do, Jeju-do); however, the precipitation resulting from WEC was greater than that resulting from WTD in Region 1 (central area of Korea, Jeollabuk-do, inland of Gyeongsangbuk-do). In WEC, the developed upper-level potential vorticity (PV) and low-level temperature trough shifted to the northwest of TCs approaching Korea. In addition, an upper-level jet stream and strong divergence field were observed to the northeast of the TCs. It was assumed that these meteorological factors had induced baroclinic instability and diabatic process, which created a large precipitation area around the TCs. However, the intense PV, temperature trough, jet stream were not observed in WTD, which created a small precipitation area around the TCs.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.95-104
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• 2015

To discuss whether we have credible estimations about historical surface temperature evolution since industrial revolution or not, present study investigates consistencies and differences of averaged surface air temperature since 1900 between the multiple data sources: Hadley Center Climate Research Unit (HadCRU4) surface air temperature data, ECMWF 20 Century Reanalysis data (ERA20CR), and NCEP 20 Century Reanalysis data (NCEP20CR). Averaged surface temperatures are obtained for the global, polar (90S~60S, 60N~0N), midlatitude (60S~30S, 30N~60N), tropical (30S~30N) region, separately. From the analysis, we show that: 1) spatio-temporal inhomogenity and scarcity of HadCRU4 data are not major obstacles in the reliable estimation of global surface air temperature. 2) Globally averaged temperature variability is largely contributed by those of tropical and midlatitude, which occupy more than 70% of earth surface in area. 3) Both data show consistent temperature variability in tropical region. 4) ERA20CR does not capture warm period over Arctic region in early 1900s, which is obvious feature in HadCRU4 data. Discrepancies among datasets suggest that high-level caution is needed especially in the interpretation of large Arctic warming in the early 1900s, which is often regarded as a natural variability in the Arctic region.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.345-358
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• 2015

Southeast Asia, a typical tropical region, plays an important role in exporting a variety of fruits worldwide. The market for fresh fruits has been growing consistently, and this is a chance for Southeast Asian countries to increase their national income. However, export of tropical fruits has limitations such as a short shelf life and difficulty in maintaining the quality because of tropical climate conditions and undeveloped postharvest technologies in Southeast Asia. An important objective for developing postharvest technologies is to extend the shelf life of fresh fruits without deterioration in fruit quality. Therefore, it is essential to determine factors that affect the shelf life of fruits. The shelf life of tropical fruits is significantly dependent on the inherent properties of the fruits, extrinsic conditions, postharvest treatment, and microbial contamination. Recently, Southeast Asian countries have supported agricultural research groups for developing new postharvest technologies and minimizing postharvest losses and maintaining export fruit quality so that the total sales of tropical fruit farms can increase. This review introduces how the primary factors for extending the shelf life of tropical fruits can be determined and discusses the development of postharvest technologies for tropical fruits in Southeast Asian countries.