• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.257-276
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• 2011

This study aimed to analyze the changes of extreme temperature indices in order to investigate impacts of urbanization on changes of extreme temperature. It was analyzed 16 indices related to extreme temperature indices to 60 weather stations in South Korea. Extreme temperature indices-related summer mostly increased, and its related to winter decreased. Percentile-based indices were clearly increased more than fixed-based indices as a tropical night. Decreasing trend of extreme temperature indices related to winter had more clear than increasing trend of extreme temperature indices related to summer. It was similar to trend that urban temperature was more clearly increased in winter than summer. Decreasing trend of indices-related daily minimum temperature had more clear than increasing trend of indices-related daily maximum temperature. Also, it was similar to increasing trend of minimum temperature had more clear than maximum temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.1-21
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• 2015

The present study aims to characterize the synoptic climatic patterns of winter extreme low temperature events occurred in different regions of Korea based on daily temperature data observed at 61 weather stations under the supervision of the Korea Meteorological Administation and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis I data for the recent 40 years (1973~2012) period. Analyses of daily maximum and minimum temperatures below 10th percentile thresholds show that high frequencies of winter extreme low temperature events appear across the entire regions of Korea or in either the western or eastern half region divided by major mountain ridges at the 2~7 dayintervals particularly in the first half of the winter period (before mid-January). Composite analyses of surface synoptic climatic data including sea level pressure and wind vector reveal that 13 regional types of winter extreme low temperature events in Korea are closely associated with the relative location and intensity of both the Siberian high pressure and the Aleutian low pressure systems as well as major mountain ridges. Investigations of mid-troposphere (500 hPa) synoptic climatic charts demonstrate that the blocking-like upper troposphere low pressure system advecting the cold air from the Arctic toward the Korean Peninsula may provide favorable synoptic conditions for the outbreaks of winter extreme low temperature events in Korea. These results indicate that the monitoring of synoptic scale climatic systems in East Asia including the Siberian high pressure system, the Aleutian low pressure system and upper level blocking system is critical to the improvement of the predictability of winter extreme low temperature events in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.459-470
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• 2012

This study attempts to estimate the economic effects of extreme climate events on agriculture with the case of Gangwon-do, drawing upon the Ricardian approach based upon the panel data on extreme climate events, soil and geography, farmland prices, and economic and social variables for the 11 municipal units of Gangwon-do during the period of 1993-2010. Our empirical analysis shows that the heavy rainfall-related extreme climate variable negatively affects the prices of rice paddy and dry farm field. The summer-related extreme temperature variables have negative economic impacts on the land values of both farmlands, while the winter-related ones positively affect them except for the extreme cold wave variable.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1B
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• pp.41-53
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• 2008

Unprecedented weather phenomena are occurring because of climate change: extreme heavy rains, heat waves, and severe rain storms after the rainy season. Recently, the frequency of these abnormal phenomena has increased. However, regular pattern or cycles cannot be found. Analysis of annual data or annual average data, which has been established a research method of climate change, should be applied to find frequency and tendencies of extreme climate events. In this paper, extreme indicators of precipitation and temperature marked by objectivity and consistency were established to analyze data collected by 66 observatories throughout Korea operated by the Meteorological Administration. To assess the statistical significance of the data, linear regression and Kendall-Tau method were applied for statistical diagnosis. The indicators were analyzed to find tendencies. The analysis revealed that an increase of precipitation along with a decrease of the number of rainy days. A seasonal trend was also found: precipitation rate and the heavy rainfall threshold increased to a greater extent in the summer(June-August) than in the winter (September-November). In the meanwhile, a tendency of temperature increase was more prominent in the winter (December-February) than in the summer (June-August). In general, this phenomenon was more widespread in inland areas than in coastal areas. Furthermore, the number of winter frost days diminished throughout Korea. As was mentioned in the literature, the progression of climate change has influenced the increase of temperature in the winter.