• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.40-55
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• 2023

Arbor Day is a day that encourages people to plant trees and symbolizes the timing of planting. Arbor Day has been honored on April 5th in Korea, but it often does not agree to actual planting time due to global warming. This study confirmed the discrepancy between Arbor Day and regional soil-thawing times and reviewed alternative dates for tree planting using satellite-based soil-thaw data (FT-ESDR) from 1991 to 2020. Study results showed that the start time of planting on the Korean Peninsula, which was indicated by soil-thaw dates, was March 24 during 1991-2000, and it progressively changed to March 17 during 2011-2020. Should Arbor Day be changed based on soil-thaw periods, mid-March would be the most comprehensive, suitable alternative period considering the number of governmental administration units (cities and counties) and the land area of soil-thaw. Tree-Planting Day (March 14) and International Day of Forests (March 21) were found suitable for alternative dates to Arbor Day because they were close to the average soil-thaw time of Korean Peninsula (March 19) and land area whose soil-thaw time was within 10 days from those two dates ranged from 52.5% to 58.8% centered geographically on the mid-section of the peninsula. Since the periods of soil-thaw will continue to change due to climate change, it is necessary to reflect the trend of advancing planting periods in the future if Arbor Day is changed to an earlier date.