• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2012

Digital Forecast of the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) represents 5 km gridded weather forecast over the Korean Peninsula and the surrounding oceanic regions in Korean territory. Digital Forecast provides 12 weather forecast elements such as three-hour interval temperature, sky condition, wind direction, wind speed, relative humidity, wave height, probability of precipitation, 12 hour accumulated rain and snow, as well as daily minimum and maximum temperatures. These forecast elements are updated every three-hour for the next 48 hours regularly. The objective of this study was to construct Forest Fire Danger Rating Systems on the Korean Peninsula (FFDRS_KORP) based on the daily weather index (DWI) and to improve the accuracy using the digital forecast data. We produced the thematic maps of temperature, humidity, and wind speed over the Korean Peninsula to analyze DWI. To calculate DWI of the Korean Peninsula it was applied forest fire occurrence probability model by logistic regression analysis, i.e. $[1+{\exp}\{-(2.494+(0.004{\times}T_{max})-(0.008{\times}EF))\}]^{-1}$. The result of verification test among the real-time observatory data, digital forecast and RDAPS data showed that predicting values of the digital forecast advanced more than those of RDAPS data. The results of the comparison with the average forest fire danger rating index (sampled at 233 administrative districts) and those with the digital weather showed higher relative accuracy than those with the RDAPS data. The coefficient of determination of forest fire danger rating was shown as $R^2$=0.854. There was a difference of 0.5 between the national mean fire danger rating index (70) with the application of the real-time observatory data and that with the digital forecast (70.5).

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.6_3
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• pp.1847-1859
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• 2022

Wildfires in North Korea can have a directly or indirectly affect South Korea if they go south to the Demilitarized Zone. Therefore, this study calculates the regional optimized Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) based on Local Data Assessment and Prediction System (LDAPS) weather data to obtain forest fire risk in North Korea, and applied it to the cases in Goseong-gun and Cheorwon-gun, North Korea in April 2022. As a result, the suitability was confirmed as the FFDI at the time of ignition corresponded to the risk class Extreme and Severe sections, respectively. In addition, a qualitative comparison of the risk map and the soil moisture map before and after the wildfire, the correlation was grasped. A new forest fire risk index that combines drought factors such as soil moisture, Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) will be needed in the future.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.30-40
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• 2022

Wildfires, which occur sporadically and irregularly worldwide, are distinct natural disturbances in combustible vegetation areas, important parts of the global carbon cycle, and natural disasters that cause severe public emergencies. While many previous studies have investigated the variability and changes in wildfires globally based on fire emissions, burned areas, and fire weather indices, studies on East Asia are still limited. Here, we explore the characteristics of variability and changes in wildfire danger over East Asia by analyzing the fire weather index for the 40 years-1981-2020. The first empirical orthogonal function (EOF) mode of fire weather index variability represents an increasing trend in wildfire danger over most parts of East Asia over the last 40 years, accounting for 29% of the total variance. The major contributor is an increase in the surface temperature in East Asia associated with global warming and multidecadal ocean variations. The effect of temperature was slightly offset by the increase in soil moisture. The second EOF mode exhibits considerable interannual variability associated with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, accounting for 17% of the total variance. The increase (decrease) in precipitation in East Asia during El Nino (La Nina) increases (decreases) soil moisture, which in turn reduces (increases) wildfire danger. This dominant soil moisture effect was slightly offset by the temperature increase (decrease) during El Nino (La Nina). Improving the understanding of variability and changes in wildfire danger will have important implications for reducing social, economic, and ecological losses associated with wildfire occurrences.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.348-356
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• 2018

Most of fires were human-caused fires in Korea, but meteorological factors are also big contributors to fire behavior and its spread. Thus, meteorological factors as well as topographical and forest factors were considered in the fire danger rating systems. This study aims to develop an advanced national integrated daily weather index(DWI) using weather data in the spring and fall to support forest fire prevention strategy in South Korea. DWI represents the meteorological characteristics, such as humidity (relative and effective), temperature and wind speed, and we integrated nine logistic regression models of the past into one national model. One national integrated model of the spring and fall is respectively $[1+{\exp}\{-(2.706+(0.088^*T_{mean})-(0.055^*Rh)-(0.023^*Eh)-(0.014^*W_{mean}))\}^{-1}]^{-1}$, $[1+{\exp}\{-(1.099+(0.117^*T_{mean})-(0.069^*Rh)-(0.182^*W_{mean}))\}^{-1}]^{-1}$ and all weather variables significantly (p<0.01) affected the probability of forest fire occurrence in the overall regions. The accuracy of the model in the spring and fall is respectively 71.7% and 86.9%. One integrated national model showed 10% higher accuracy than nine logistic regression models when it is applied weather data with 66 random sampling in forest fire event days. These findings would be necessary for the policy makers in the Republic of Korea for the prevention of forest fires.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.337-342
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• 2019

This letter describes the development of WRI (Wildfire Risk Index) using GDAPS (Global Data Assimilation and Prediction System) and satellite data, and its application to the Goseong-Sokcho and Gangneung-Donghae wildfires in April 4, 2019. We made sure that the proposed WRI represented the change of wildfire risk of around March 19 and April 4 very well. Our approach can be a viable option for wildfire risk monitoring, and future works will be necessary for the utilization of GK-2A products and the coupling with the wildfire prediction model of the Korea Forest Service.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.2 no.2 s.5
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• pp.40-44
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• 2002

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.19 no.4 s.60
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• pp.75-79
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• 2005

This study has developed Forest Fire Occurrence Danger Index (FFODI) using fuel and topographical characteristics for the practical purposes of forecasting forest fire occurrence danger rating. This was made on the basis of the 126 forest fire site according to field survey. The result of fire frequency analysis showed 87 sites on conifer $(69\%)$, 21 on mixed $(16.7\%)$ and 18 $(14.3\%)$ on non-conifer. The scale for Fuel Model Index(FMI) ranges from 1 to 10 and Topography Model Index(TMI) from 1 to 5. FMI is 10 on the conifer, 3 on the mixed and 2 on the non-conifer. In case of topographical analysis, it was estimated that 90 site $(71.4\%)$ of ignition point was bottom foot hill and 22 site $(17.5\%)$ was on the southwest. TMI in southwest direction is 5.0, 4.5 in the northwest and the northeast, 4.0 in the southeast and the south, 2.5 in the north and the west and 1.5 in the east. TMI in the bottom foot hill is 5 in the bottom foot hill, 1.5 in the upper foot hill, 1.0 in the bottom middle slope and 0.5 in the upper middle slope and bottom ridge.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.37-46
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• 2004

In order to decrease the area damaged by forest fires and to prevent the occurrence of forest fires, we are making an effort to improve prevention measures for forest fires. The objective of this study is to classify hazard regions where forest fires occur based on the factors that contribute to the occurrence of forest fires. Forest fire sites in the Uiseong-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do were surveyed according to the factors of forest type and topographic characteristics where the forest fires occurred. We used a correlation analysis to determine the forest fire occurrence factors and a conditional probability analysis and GIS to determine a forest fire danger index. The resulting forest fire danger index was used in the classification of forest fire occurrence risk regions.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.35 no.6_3
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• pp.1197-1208
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• 2019

Wildfire is a major natural disaster affecting socioeconomics and ecology. Remote sensing data have been widely used to estimate the wildfire danger with an advantage of higher spatial resolution. Among the several wildfire related indices using remote sensing data, Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) assesses wildfire danger based on both Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST). Although TVDI has physical advantages by considering both weather and vegetation condition, previous studies have shown TVDI does not performed well compare to other wildfire related indices over the Korean Peninsula. In this study we have attempted multiple modification to improve TVDI performance over the study region. In-situ measured air temperature was employed to increase accuracy, regression line was generated using monthly data to include seasonal effect, and TVDI was calculated at each province level to consider vegetation type and local climate. The modified TVDI calculation method was evaluated in wildfire cases and showed significant improvement in wildfire danger estimation.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.69-78
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• 2010

Haines index which include the rating of atmosphere instability and dryness indicated the potential of the forest fire danger. In this study, the relationships between forest fire occurrence and Haines index were analyzed. The probability of forest fire occurrence was the highest in April and HI 5, 6 and the dryness of atmosphere was higher than the atmosphere instability. Therefore, It was proved that HI affected on the forest fire occurrence and propagation.