• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.43 no.6
• /
• pp.883-896
• /
• 2023

As human activities in Korea are spread throughout the mountains, forest fires often affect residential areas, infrastructure, and other facilities. Hence, it is necessary to detect fire-damaged areas quickly to enable support and recovery. Remote sensing is the most efficient tool for this purpose. Fire damage detection experiments were conducted on the east coast of Korea. Because this area comprises a mixture of forest and artificial land cover, data with low resolution are not suitable. We used Sentinel-2 multispectral instrument (MSI) data, which provide adequate temporal and spatial resolution, and the k-nearest neighbor (kNN) algorithm in this study. Six bands of Sentinel-2 MSI and two indices of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and normalized burn ratio (NBR) were used as features for kNN classification. The kNN classifier was trained using 2,000 randomly selected samples in the fire-damaged and undamaged areas. Outliers were removed and a forest type map was used to improve classification performance. Numerous experiments for various neighbors for kNN and feature combinations have been conducted using bi-temporal and uni-temporal approaches. The bi-temporal classification performed better than the uni-temporal classification. However, the uni-temporal classification was able to detect severely damaged areas.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.61-77
• /
• 2024

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for rapidly diagnosing urban thermal comfort using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based data. The research was conducted at Changwon National University's College of Engineering site and Yongji Park, both located in Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do. Baseline data were collected using field measurements and UAVs. Specifically, the study calculated field measurement-based thermal comfort indices PET and UTCI, and used UAVs to create and analyze vegetation index (NDVI), sky view factor (SVF), and land surface temperature (LST) images. The results showed that UAV-predicted PET and UTCI had high correlations of 0.662 and 0.721, respectively, within a 1% significance level. The explanatory power of the prediction model was 43.8% for PET and 52.6% for UTCI, with RMSE values of 6.32℃ for PET and 3.16℃ for UTCI, indicating that UTCI is more suitable for UAV-based thermal comfort evaluation. The developed method offers significant time-saving advantages over traditional approaches and can be utilized for real-time urban thermal comfort assessment and mitigation planning

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.33 no.5_1
• /
• pp.571-585
• /
• 2017

The number of spaceborne optical sensors including red-edge band has been increasing since red-edge band is known to be effective to enhance the information content on biophysical characteristics of vegetation. Considering that the Agriculture and Forestry Satellite is planning to carry an imaging sensor having red-edge band, we tried to analyze the current status and potential of red-edge band. As a case study, we analyzed the effect of using red-edge band and tried to find the optimum band width and wavelength region of the red-edge band to estimate leaf area index (LAI) of very dense tree canopy. Field spectral measurements were conducted from April to October over two tree species (white oak and pitch pine) having high LAI. Using the spectral measurement data, total 355 red-edge bands reflectance were simulated by varying five band width (10 nm, 20 nm, 30 nm, 40 nm, 50 nm) and 71 central wavelength. Two red-edge based spectral indices(NDRE, CIRE) were derived using the simulated red-edge band and compared with the LAI of two tree species. Both NDRE and CIRE showed higher correlation coefficients with the LAI than NDVI. This would be an alternative to overcome the limitation of the NDVI saturation problem that NDVI has not been effective to estimate LAI over very dense canopy situation. There was no significant difference among five band widths of red-edge band in relation to LAI. The highest correlation coefficients were obtained at the red-edge band of center wavelength near the 720 nm for the white oak and 710 nm for the pitch pine. To select the optimum band width and wavelength region of the red-edge band, further studies are necessary to examine the relationship with other biophysical variables, such as chlorophyll, nitrogen, water content, and biomass.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.309-319
• /
• 2008

Roads are an indicator of anthropogenic activity causing ecosystem disturbances and often lead to habitat fragmentation, habitat loss, and habitat isolation. The Hallasan National Park(153.4$km^2$) on Jeju Island being distinguished for its unique geology, topography, and biota has also been designated as a core area of UNESCO Man and the Biosphere(MAB) Reserve. Although the high conservation value of this park has contributed to a rapid growth of tourists and road construction, landscape changes due to roads have not been examined yet. We used GIS systems to examine the fragmentation pattern caused by roads, in relation to its zonation, elevation, and vegetation. When a buffer was applied to roads(112m width for paved roads and 60m width for both legal and illegal trails), the park consisted of 100 fragments. The ten fragments generated after applying buffer to only paved roads and legal trails ranged from $0.002km^2$ to $38.2km^2$ with a mean of $14.2km^2$, and about 7% of both nature conservation zone and nature environment zone of the park were edge. Fragments in both east and west ends of the park and around the summit exhibited relatively high shape indices with means of 5.19(for 100 fragments) and 7.22(for 10 fragments). All five legal trails are connected to the pit crater of the mountain and vegetation changed from broadleaf forests and conifer forests to grasslands with elevation, consequently resulting in dramatic fragment size reduction in grasslands at high elevation, in particular above 1,400m, where endemic and alpine plants are abundant. These results show that in Hallasan National Park the risks of habitat deterioration and habitat loss due to fragmentation may be more severe in the nature conservation zone dominated by Baengnokdam than in the nature environment zone. Therefore, current road networks of the park appear to fall short of the goal of the national park for ecosystem conservation and protection. Considering that the entire Hallasan National Park also serves as a MAB core area, conservation efforts should focus, first of all, on park rezoning and road management to mitigate habitat fragmentation.

• Journal of Plant Biology
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.305-317
• /
• 1995

The bryophyte communities on the forest floor of the mixed coniferous, deciduous broad-leaf forest and the evergreen coniferous forest of cool temperate and subalpine zones in Chiri Mountains with the highest peak (Cheonwangbong 1915 m) in south-central part of the Korean Peninsula were investigated from the phytosociology viewpoint. As a result, five bryophyte communities were recognized, considering the species composition of vascular vegetation; A. Sasamorpha borealis-Abies koreana/Dicranum scoparium-Plagiothecium silvaticum community, B. Bosta minor-Abies koreana/Anomodon rugelii-Plagiomnium cuspidatum community, C. Abies koreana/Hylocomiopsis ovicarpa-Entodon rubicundus community, D. Abies koreana-Picea jezoensis/Hylocomiopsis ovicarpa-Thuidium kanedae community, E. Abies koreana-Pieea jezoensis/Hylocomium splendens-Pleurozium sehreberi community. Among these, the communities A, B, C and D were distributed in the mixed coniferous and deciduous broad-leaf forest of lower altitudes (1200 to 1700 m) and characterized by the elements of the cool temperate zone. They were confimled as synusies belonging to the Fraxino-Abietetum koreanae Song 1988. The community E was distributed in higher altitudes (1700 m to near the summit) and characterized by the species group of the holarctic elements, e.g. Hyloeomium splendens, Pleurozium sehreberi, Dieranum majus, etc. limited in subarctic; subalpine and arctic; alpine zones. The community E was confirmed as a synusie of the Abieti koreanae-Piceetum jezoensis Song 1991 belonging the Vaecinio-Pieeetea Br.-BI. 1939. Up to date many investigator have described the coniferous forest distibuted above 1200 m in Chiri mountauns as the forest vegetation of subalpine zone. However, from the results of the present study, the boundary of the mixed forest and the true subalpine coniferous forest was elucidated to be ca. 1700 m phytosociologically. Species richness was highest in the community E, and the other four communities showed a similar species richness. Among the species diversity indices, H' and D were high in the communities Band E, low in the communities A and C, and medium in the community D. The values of J' decreased with the increase in altitudes and the community E showed the lowest value. The result of Bray-Curtis ordination revealed that the diversity analysis and the division of the above two forest zones are justifiable. The taxa of the bryophyte communities were composed of 25 families, 46 genera, 73 species, 1 subspecies and 2 varieties.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.36 no.5_3
• /
• pp.1109-1123
• /
• 2020

In South Korea with forest as a major land cover class (over 60% of the country), many wildfires occur every year. Wildfires weaken the shear strength of the soil, forming a layer of soil that is vulnerable to landslides. It is important to identify the severity of a wildfire as well as the burned area to sustainably manage the forest. Although satellite remote sensing has been widely used to map wildfire severity, it is often difficult to determine the severity using only the temporal change of satellite-derived indices such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR). In this study, we proposed an approach for determining wildfire severity based on machine learning through the synergistic use of Sentinel-1A Synthetic Aperture Radar-C data and Sentinel-2A Multi Spectral Instrument data. Three wildfire cases-Samcheok in May 2017, Gangreung·Donghae in April 2019, and Gosung·Sokcho in April 2019-were used for developing wildfire severity mapping models with three machine learning algorithms (i.e., Random Forest, Logistic Regression, and Support Vector Machine). The results showed that the random forest model yielded the best performance, resulting in an overall accuracy of 82.3%. The cross-site validation to examine the spatiotemporal transferability of the machine learning models showed that the models were highly sensitive to temporal differences between the training and validation sites, especially in the early growing season. This implies that a more robust model with high spatiotemporal transferability can be developed when more wildfire cases with different seasons and areas are added in the future.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.105-115
• /
• 2016

This study was carried out to establish the optimum forest management plan for the Cryptomeria japonica plantations in southern inland and Jeju island in Korea. Sixty seven circular sample plots of 0.04ha were established and we surveyed vegetation structure and growth characteristics from three layers(upper, middle, and lower). As a result of cluster analysis obtained by importance values of each tree species, the community type of C. japonica stands were classified into C. japonica group(C1) and C. japonica-C obtusa group. C. obtusa community were also sbudivided into P. thunbergii-Q. serrata group(C2) and Q. serrata-C obtusa group(C3). In tree layers importance value(IV) of C. japonica were 97.2% in C1, 80.7% in C2, and 47.6% in C3 and in sub-tree layers IV were 8.9% in C1, 15.2% in C2, and 5.7% in C3. Especially in C3 there are bamboo species (Smilacina japonica var. lutecarpa and Pseudosasa japonica) it is necessary for us to control them. In shrub layers C. japonica were found in C1(9.2%) and C2(7.0%), but except for C3. In tree layer species diversity indices of each community ranged from the lowest 0.059 in C1 to the highest 0.548 in C3. Dominance ranged from 0.958 in C1 to 0.393 in C3 which may caused by interspecific competition. Current annual increment of diameter growth ranged from 7.01mm/yr to 8.04mm/yr. As a result of our study we recommend the application of proper thinning and pruning for C1 and C2.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.81-99
• /
• 2015

The acceleration of global warming has required better understanding of carbon cycles over local and regional areas such as the Korean peninsula. Since forests serve as a carbon sink, which stores a large amount of terrestrial carbon, there has been a demand to accurately estimate such forest carbon sequestration. In Korea, the National Forest Inventory(NFI) has been used to estimate the forest carbon stocks based on the amount of growing stocks per hectare measured at sampled location. However, as such data are based on point(i.e., plot) measurements, it is difficult to identify spatial distribution of forest carbon stocks. This study focuses on urban areas, which have limited number of NFI samples and have shown rapid land cover change, to estimate grid-based forest carbon stocks based on UNFCCC Approach 3 and Tier 3. Land cover change and forest carbon stocks were estimated using Landsat 5 TM data acquired in 1991, 1992, 2010, and 2011, high resolution airborne images, and the 3rd, 5th~6th NFI data. Machine learning techniques(i.e., random forest and support vector machines/regression) were used for land cover change classification and forest carbon stock estimation. Forest carbon stocks were estimated using reflectance, band ratios, vegetation indices, and topographical indices. Results showed that 33.23tonC/ha of carbon was sequestrated on the unchanged forest areas between 1991 and 2010, while 36.83 tonC/ha of carbon was sequestrated on the areas changed from other land-use types to forests. A total of 7.35 tonC/ha of carbon was released on the areas changed from forests to other land-use types. This study was a good chance to understand the quantitative forest carbon stock change according to the land cover change. Moreover the result of this study can contribute to the effective forest management.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.103-112
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this study is to specify the prior eco-preserve zone by establishing the eco-landscape unit on the stream corridor and evaluating the stream ecosystem in the dam basin. The fundamental ecological data was surveyed and collected through "the ecosystem project on Yongdam multipurpose dam watershed" from 2008 to 2009. The Yongdam Dam Watershed has several streams, Jujacheon, Jeongjacheon and Guryangcheon, of which the area is $930km^2$, stretching to Jinangun, Jangsugun and Mujugun Jellabukdo. In spite of being used for drinking purpose, the dam water quality and ecosystem is threatened by in-watershed pollution produced by development, golf course grounds and sports complex, etc. The landscape unit of stream corridor was zoned across by 250m, 500m, and 750m from the vicinity line of stream, which was decided to the accuracy of mapping and surveying. Types of evaluation are the Stream Corridor Evaluation(SCE) and the Vegetated Area Evaluation(VAE). In the process of SCE, several indices were analysed, fish species diversity, species peculiarity, and stream naturality. Indices for VAE were forest stand map, vegetation protection grade, species diversity and peculiarity for wild bird and mammal life. The importance of the ecological items is categorized into three levels and overlapped for specifying the prior preserve zone. The area at which legally protecting species appeared is categorized as absolute preserve area. This study might be meaningful for proposing the evaluation process of a stream corridor ecosystem, which can synthesize a lot of individual ecological surveys. We hope further research will be actively performed about the ecotope mapping which is based on a individual wildlife territory and habitats and also their relationships.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.99-105
• /
• 2005

The Mansugol valley forest in Woraksan National Park was studied to investigate forest structure in relation to altitude and part of the slope. Forty eight quadrats were set up in the valley forest along altitude of 380m to 915m and part of the slope, and vegetation analysis for the woody species in the tree and subtree layers were carried out. With increasing elevation belt, tree density and basal area of the tree layer decreased while basal area of the subtree layer increased. As elevation increased, the importance percentages of Quercus mongolica, Fraxinus rhynchophylla, Lindera obtusiloba and Acer mono increased while those of Pinus densiflora, Quercus variablias Quercus serrata and Styrax obassia decreased. Species diversities of the elevation belts including the top of the valley ranged from 0.351 to 0.903, and those of the parts of the slope ranged from 0.780 to 1.064. The range of similarity indices between elevation belts were $36.0\~67.3\%$, and the range of similarity indices between parts of the slope were $66.8\~75.1\%$. According to importance percentage and cluster analysis, the studied valley forest was classified into three forest communities of Pinus densiflora-Quecus species community in the low elevation belt and the middle part of the slope at the middle elevation belt, Quercus mongolica-broad-leaved tree species community in the high elevation belt and the lower and upper parts at the middle elevation belt, and Quercus mongolica community in the top area of the valley. The importace percentage of Quercus mongolica was significantly and negatively correlated with those of Pinus desiflora and Quercus serrata. There were significantly positive correlation among Pinus densiflora, Quercuss serata and Rhus trichocarpa.