• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.584-599
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• 2010

The variation of atmospheric conditions including subrefraction, normal refraction, superrefraction, and ducting is an important factor that affects the quality of radar data by controling the propagation of radar beams. The occurrence frequency of the conditions is statistically analyzed using the atmospheric soundings from seven radiosonde stations in South Korea over two years. The occurrence of superrefraction and ducting at Baengnyeongdo is significantly higher than the others. Osan and Kwangju show significant variation in time. Among the different duct conditions, the surface duct is dominant at most stations except for Gosan. The elevated duct is dominant at Heuksando and Gosan. Duct is more frequent in summer than in winter at all stations. Baengnyeongdo shows the most frequent duct in spring, fall, and winter while Pohang had the highest frequency in summer. Osan and Kwangju show least duct during all seasons. The difference of variation of monthly duct occurrence between 00 UTC and 12 UTC is insignificant at all stations except for Osan and Kwangju. Kwangju, Heuksando and Gosan show relatively low frequency of duct with the monthly maximum barely reaching 60%. The highest number of elevation angles that are affected by duct was four at Osungsan radar (KSN). The maximum elevation angle is around $1.0^{\circ}$ at all stations and Jindo radar (JNI) shows the maximum value of $1.2^{\circ}$.