Conceptual models to analyze both typhoon and Changma using products extracted by the GEO-KOMPSAT-2A (GK-2A) are suggested in this study. The GK-2A which is scheduled to be launched in 2018 has a high resolution, 16 channels, and 52 products. This means GK-2A is expected to obtain high quality images and products, which can detect severe weather earlier than the Communications, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS). Since there are not enough conceptual models for typhoon and Changma using satellite images and products, our conceptual model can increase both the applicability of satellite data and the accuracy of analysis. In the conceptual model, typhoons are classified as three types by prevailing factors; 1) heavy-rainfall type, 2) wind type, and 3) complex type. For Changma, two types are divided by the characteristics; band type and heavy-rainfall type. Among the high resolution 52 products, each type of typhoon and Changma are selected. In addition, the numerical products and dynamic factors are considered in order to improve conceptual models.

This study investigated the cause of the heavy snowfall that occurred in the East Coast of Korea from 6 February to 14 February 2014. The synoptic conditions were analyzed using blocking index, equivalent potential temperature, potential vorticity, maritime temperature difference, temperature advection, and ground convergence. During the case period, a large blocking pattern developed over the Western Pacific causing the flow to be stagnant, and there was a North-South oriented High-to-Low pressure system over the Korean Peninsula because of this arrangement. The case period was divided into three parts based on the synoptic forcing that was responsible for the heavy snowfall; detailed analyses were conducted for the first and last period. In the first period, a heavy snowfall occurred over the entire Korean Peninsula due to strong updrafts from baroclinic instability and a low pressure caused by potential vorticity located at the mid-troposphere. In the lower atmosphere, a North-South oriented High-to-Low pressure system over the Eastern Korea intensified the easterly airflow and created a convergence zone near the ground which strengthened the upslope effect of the Taebaek Mountain range with a cumulative fresh snowfall amount of 41 cm in the East Coast region. In the last period, the cold air nestled in the Maritime Province of Siberia and Manchuria strengthened much more than that in the first half and extended to the East Sea. The temperature difference between the 850 hPa air and the SST was large and convective clouds developed over the sea. The highest cumulative fresh snow amount of 39.7 cm was recorded in the coastal area during this period. During the entire period, vertically oriented equivalent potential temperature showed neutral stability layer that helped the cloud formation and development in the East Coast. The 2014 heavy snowfall case over the East Coast provinces of Korea were due to: 1) stagnation of the system by blocking pattern, 2) the dynamic effect of mid-level potential vorticity of 1.6 PVU, 3) the easterly air flow from North-South oriented High-to-Low pressure system, 4) the existence of vertically oriented neutral stable layer, and 5) the expansion of strong cold air into the East Sea which created a large temperature difference between the air and the ocean.

Total number concentration of aerosols larger than 10 nm ($N_{CN10}$), 3 nm ($N_{CN3}$), and cloud condensation nuclei ($N_{CCN}$) were measured during four different ship cruises over the Yellow Sea. Average values of $N_{CN10}$ and $N_{CCN}$ at 0.6% supersaturation were 6914 and $3353cm^{-3}$, respectively, and the minimum value of $N_{CN10}$ was $2000cm^{-3}$, suggesting significant anthropogenic influence even at relatively clean marine environment. Although $N_{CN10}$ and $N_{CN3}$ increased near the coast due to anthropogenic influence, $N_{CCN}$ was relatively constant and therefore $N_{CCN}/N_{CN10}$ ratio tended to decrease, suggesting that coastal aerosols were relatively less hygroscopic. In general $N_{CN10}$, $N_{CN3}$, and $N_{CCN}$ during the cruises seemed to be significantly influenced by wet scavenging effects (e.g. fog) and boundary layer height variation. Only one new particle formation (NPF) event was observed during the measurement period. Interestingly, the NPF event occurred during a dust storm event and spatial scale of the NPF event was estimated to be larger than 100 km. These results demonstrate that aerosol and CCN concentration over the Yellow Sea can vary due to various different factors.

Asian dust is a seasonal meteorological phenomenon influencing most East Asia, irregularly occurring during spring. Unusual heavy Asian dust event in winter was observed in Seoul, Korea, with up to $1,044{\mu}g\;m^{-3}$ of hourly mean $PM_{10}$, in 22~23 February 2015. Causes of such infrequent event has been studied using both ground based and spaceborne observations, as well as numerical simulations including ECMWF ERA Interim reanalysis, NOAA HYSPLIT backward trajectory analysis, and ADAM2-Haze simulation. Analysis showed that southern Mongolia and northern China, one of the areas for dust origins, had been warm and dry condition, i.e. no snow depth, soil temperature of ${\sim}0^{\circ}C$, and cumulative rainfall of 1 mm in February, along with strong surface winds higher than critical wind speed of $6{\sim}7.5m\;s^{-1}$ during 20~21 February. While Jurihe, China, ($42^{\circ}23^{\prime}56^{{\prime}{\prime}}N$, $112^{\circ}53^{\prime}58^{{\prime}{\prime}}E$) experienced $9,308{\mu}g\;m^{-3}$ of hourly mean surface $PM_{10}$ during the period, the Asian dust had affected the Korean Peninsula within 24 hours traveling through strong north-westerly wind at ~2 km altitude. KMA issued Asian dust alert from 1100 KST on 22nd to 2200 KST on 23rd since above $400{\mu}g\;m^{-3}$ of hourly mean surface $PM_{10}$. It is also important to note that, previously to arrival of the Asian dust, the Korean Peninsula was affected by anthropogenic air pollutants ($NO_3^-$, $SO_4^{2-}$, and $NH_4^+$) originated from the megacities and large industrial areas in northeast China. In addition, this study suggests using various data sets from modeling and observations as well as improving predictability of the ADAM2-Haze model itself, in order to more accurately predict the occurrence and impacts of the Asian dust over the Korean peninsula.

Polar lows are intense mesoscale cyclones that mainly occur over the sea in polar regions. Owing to their small spatial scale of a diameter less than 1000 km, simulating polar lows is a challenging task. At King Sejong station in West Antartica, polar lows are often observed. Despite the recent significant climatic changes observed over West Antarctica, adequate validation of regional simulations of extreme weather events such as polar lows are rare for this region. To address this gap, simulation results from a recent version of the Polar Weather Research and Forecasting model (Polar WRF) covering Antartic Peninsula at a high horizontal resolution of 3 km are validated against near-surface meteorological observations. We selected a case of high wind speed event on 7 January 2013 recorded at Automatic Meteorological Observation Station (AMOS) in King Sejong station, Antarctica. It is revealed by in situ observations, numerical weather prediction, and reanalysis fields that the synoptic and mesoscale environment of the strong wind event was due to the passage of a strong mesoscale polar low of center pressure 950 hPa. Verifying model results from 3 km grid resolution simulation against AMOS observation showed that high skill in simulating wind speed and surface pressure with a bias of $-1.1m\;s^{-1}$ and -1.2 hPa, respectively. Our evaluation suggests that the Polar WRF can be used as a useful dynamic downscaling tool for the simulation of Antartic weather systems and the near-surface meteorological instruments installed in King Sejong station can provide invaluable data for polar low studies over West Antartica.

Optical properties of aerosols associated with haze events over Seoul were examined using ground-based skyradiometer and satellite-borne CALIOP and MODIS measurements over the 2009~2010 period. It is shown that aerosol optical thickness (AOT), ${\AA}ngstr{\ddot{o}}m$ exponents (${\alpha}$), and fine-mode particles increase during the haze events. The CALIOP-measured vertical profiles of aerosol during the haze events revealed that most of aerosols are loaded within layers below 4 km altitude. A large portion of these events appear to be related to the long-range transport of aerosols from China; about 35% and 18% of the haze events observed over Seoul were traced back to northern China and southern China, respectively. Compared with optical properties for locally-induced haze events (25%), these long-range transported aerosols are found to have relatively higher AOTs.

The evolutionary process of the polar low, which caused the heavy snowfall in the East Coast area on 11~12 February 2011, was investigated to describe in detail using synoptic weather charts, satellite imageries, and ERA (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis) -Interim reanalysis data. It was revealed that 1) the polar low was generated over the sea near Busan where a large cyclonic shear in the inverted trough branched from the parent low existed, 2) during the developing and mature stages, there was a convectively unstable region in the lower layer around the polar low and its south side, 3) the polar low was developed in the region where the static stability in the 500~850 hPa layer was the lowest, 4) the result from the budget analysis of the vorticity equation indicated that the increase in the vorticity at the lower atmosphere, where the polar low was located, was dominated mainly by the stretching term, 5) the warm core structure of the polar low was identified in the surface-700 hPa layer during the mature stage, 6) there was a close inverse relationship between a development of the polar low and the height of the dynamic tropopause over the polar low, and 7) for generation and development of the polar low, large-scale circulation systems, such as upper cold low and its combined short wave trough, major low (parent low), and polar air outbreak, should be presented, indicating that the polar low has the nature of the baroclinic disturbance.

Damages caused by torrential rain occur every year in Korea and summer time convection can cause strong thunderstorms to develop which bring dangerous weather such as torrential rain, gusts, and flash flooding. On 6 August 2013 a sudden torrential rain concentrated over the inland of Southern Korean Peninsula occurred. This was an event characterized as a mesoscale multicellular convection. The purpose of this study is to analyze the conditions of the multicellular convection and the synoptic and mesoscale nature of the system development. To this end, dynamical and thermodynamic analyses of surface and upper-level weather charts, satellite images, soundings, reanalysis data and WRF model simulations are performed. At the beginning stage there was a cool, dry air intrusion in the upper-level of the Korean Peninsula, and a warm humid air flow from the southwest in the lower-level creating atmospheric instability. This produced a single cell cumulonimbus cloud in the vicinity of Baengnyeongdo, and due to baroclinic instability, shear and cyclonic vorticity the cloud further developed into a multicellular convection. The cloud system moved southeast towards Seoul metropolitan area accompanied by lightning, heavy precipitation and strong wind gusts. In addition, atmospheric instability due to daytime insolation caused new convective cells to develop in the upstream part of the Sobaek Mountain which merged with existing multicellular convection creating a larger system. This case was unusual because the system was affected little by the upper-level jet stream which is typical in Korea. The development and propagation of the multicellular convection showed strong mesoscale characteristics and was not governed by large synoptic-scale dynamics. In particular, the system moved southeast crossing the Peninsula diagonally from northwest to southeast and did not follow the upper-level westerly pattern. The analysis result shows that the movement of the system can be determined by the vertical wind shear.

This paper is to assess the state of climate over East Asia and Korea during 2015/16 winter. There was a distinct intraseasonal climate variation during the period: the record-breaking warmth in December 2015 vs. strong cold surge outbreaks in January 2016. It is suggested that the anomalous warming in December 2015 was contributed by an intensification of Kuroshio anticyclone associated with 2015/16 El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ and polar vortex intensification. In January 2016, a strong cold surge outbroke over East Asia bringing severe cold more than two weeks. The cold surge was a blocking-type one which followed extremely negative AO developed from early January. It was suggested that the intensification of cold surge might be contributed indirectly by a strong Arctic warming and MJO activity during the period.

Radiosonde is an observation equipment that measures pressure (geopotential height), temperature, relative humidity and wind by being launched up from the ground. Radiosonde data which serves as an important element of weather forecast and research often causes a bias in a model output due to accuracy and sensitivity between the different manufacturers. Although Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) and several institutes have conducted routine and intensive radiosonde observations, very few studies have been done before on the characteristics of radiosonde performance. Analyzing radiosonde observation data without proper understanding of the unique nature of those sensors may lead to a significant bias in the analysis of results. To evaluate performance and reliability of radiosonde, we analyzed the differences between two sensors made by the different manufacturers, which have been used in the campaign of Experiment on Snow Storm At Yeongdong (ESSAY). We improved a couple of methods to launch the balloon being attached with the sensors. Further we examined cloud-layer impacts on temperature and humidity differences for the analysis of both sensors' performance among various weather conditions, and also compared daytime and nighttime profiles to understand temporal dependence of meteorological sensors. The overall results showed that there are small but consistent biases in both temperature and humidity between different manufactured sensors, which could eventually secure reliable precisions of both sensors, irrespective of accuracy. This study would contribute to an improved sounding of atmospheric vertical states through development and improvement of the meteorological sensors.