• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.136-147
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• 2013

This study examined the effect of the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) in June on the June rainfall in Korea by using a correlational statistical analysis. Results showed that there is a highly positive correlation between the two variables. In other words, the June rainfall in Korea is influenced by the Mascarene High and Australian High that are strengthened in the Southern Hemisphere, which is a typical positive AAO pattern. When these two anomalous pressure systems strengthen, the cold cross-equatorial flows in the direction from the region around Australia to the equator are intensified, which in turn, force a western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH) to develop northward. This pressure development eventually drives the rain belt to head north. As a result, the Changma begins early in the positive AAO phase and the June rainfall increases in Korea. In addition, a WNPSH that develops more northward increases the landfall (or affecting) frequency of tropical cyclones in Korea, which plays an important role in increasing the June rainfall.

• Atmosphere
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.449-454
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• 2012

This study presents the long-term variability of spring precipitation over the Korean peninsula. It is found that the significant interdecadal change in the spring precipitation has occurred around year 1991. Over the Korean peninsula the precipitation for the post-1991 period increased by about 30 mm per year in CMAP and station-measured data compared to the precipitation prior to year 1991. Due to an increased baroclinicity during the later period, the low-level negative pressure anomaly has developed with its center over northern Japan. Korea is situated at the western end of the negative pressure anomaly, receiving moisture from westerly winds and producing more precipitation. Also, we estimate the change in the near future (years 2020~2040) spring precipitation using six best performing Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 3 (CMIP3) models. These best model ensemble mean shows that spring precipitation is anticipated to increase by about 4% due to the strengthened westerlies accompanied by the northwestern enhancement of the North Pacific subtropical high.

• Atmosphere
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.189-196
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• 2014

The definition of onset date of Changma is revisited in this study using a quality controlled Ieodo ocean research station data. The Ieodo station has great importance in terms of its southwest location from Korean Peninsula and, hence, makes it possible to predict Changma period in advance with less impact of continents. The onset date of Changma using the Ieodo station data is defined by the time that meridional wind direction changes and maintains from northerly to southerly, and then the zonal wind changes from easterly to westerly after first June. This definition comes from a recognition that the establishment and movement of the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH) cause Changma through southwesterly flow. The onset data of Changma has been determined by large-scale dynamic-thermodynamic characteristics or various meteorological station data. However, even the definition based on circulation data at the Ieodo station has a potential for the improved prediction skill of the onset date of Changma. The differences between before and after Changma, defined as Ieodo station data, are also found in synoptic chart. The convective instability and conspicuous circulations, corresponding low-level southwesterly flow related to WNPSH and strong upper-level zonal wind, are represented during Changma.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 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
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.563-576
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• 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
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.83-95
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• 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.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.1719-1729
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• 2014

This study is carried out in order to bridge the gap to understand the relationships between South Asian and East Asian monsoon systems by comparing the summer (June-September) precipitation of Nepal and South Korea. Summer monsoon precipitation data from Nepal and South Korea during 30 years (1981-2010) are used in this research to investigate the association. NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data are also used to see the nature of large scale phenomena. Statistical applications are used to analyze these data. The analyzed results show that summer monsoon precipitation is higher over Nepal ($1513.98{\pm}159.29mm\;y^{-1}$) than that of South Korea ($907.80{\pm}204.71mm\;y^{-1}$) and the wettest period in both the countries is July. However, the coefficient of variation shows that amplitude of interannual variation of summer monsoon over South Korea (22.55%) is larger in comparison to that of Nepal (10.52%). Summer monsoon precipitation of Nepal is found to be significantly correlated to that of South Korea with a correlation coefficient of 0.52 (99% confidence level). Large-scale circulations are studied to further investigate the relationship between the two countries. wind and specific humidity at 850 hPa show a strong westerly from Arabian Sea to BOB and from BOB, wind moves towards Nepal in a northwestward direction during the positive rainfall years. In case of East Asia, strong northward displacement of wind can be observed from Pacific to South Korea and strong anticyclone over the northwestern Pacific Ocean. However, during the negative rainfall years, in the South Asian region we can find weak westerly from the Arabian Sea to BOB, wind is blowing in a southerly direction from Nepal and Bangladesh to BOB.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.851-864
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• 2015

This study analyzed the climate regime shift using statistical change-point analysis on the time-series tropical cyclone (TC) frequency that affected Japan in July to September. The result showed that there was a significant change in 1995 and since then, it showed a trend of rapidly decreasing frequency. To determine the reason for this, differences between 1995 to 2012 (9512) period and 1978 to 1994 (7894) period were analayzed. First, regarding TC genesis, TCs during the 9512 period showed a characteristic of genesis from the southeast quadrant of the tropical and subtropical western North Pacific and TCs during the 7894 period showed their genesis from the northwest quadrant. Regarding a TC track, TCs in the 7894 period had a strong trend of moving from the far east sea of the Philippines via the East China Sea to the mid-latitude region in East Asia while TCs in the 9512 period showed a trend of moving from the Philippines toward the southern part of China westward. Thus, TC intensity in the 7894 period, which can absorb sufficient energy from the sea as they moved a long distance over the sea, was stronger than that of 9512. Large-scale environments were analyzed to determine the cause of such difference in TC activity occurred between two periods. During the 9512 period, anomalous cold and dry anticyclones were developed strongly in the East Asia continent. As a result, Korea and Japan were affected by the anomalous northerlies thereby preventing TCs in this period from moving toward the mid-latitude region in East Asia. Instead, anomalous easterlies (anomalous trade wind) were developed in the tropical western Pacific so that a high passage frequency from the Philippine to the south China region along the anomalous steering flows was revealed. The characteristics of the anomalous cold and dry anticyclone developed in the East Asia continent were also confirmed by the analysis of air temperature, relative humidity and sensible heat net flux showing that most regions in East Asia had negative values.

• Atmosphere
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.305-315
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• 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
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.171-180
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• 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.