• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.45 no.5
• /
• pp.541-552
• /
• 2010

Geochemical and physical investigations such as ${\delta}^{13}C$ isotope ratio, carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio, magnetic susceptibility (MS), and particle size analyses were carried out on the estuarine tidal flat sediments from the west coast of Korea in order to reconstruct the East Asian summer monsoon variability during the late Pleistocene and Holocene Our results indicated that the summer monsoon probably peaked around 7,700-7,800 yr BP and then started to decline about 7,400 yr BP in the Korean peninsular, and that the monsoon was relatively weak between 24,000-24,500 yr BP but relatively strong between 18,500-19,500 yr BP during the Last Glacial Maximum. Our estuarine geochemical data have proven to be valuable as a new proxy for detecting the shifts in monsoon strength. This new evidence will be helpful, especially for Korean paleoenvironmental studies with few proxy data archives.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.122-131
• /
• 2017

Remotely sensed satellite data is easier to collect and better to represent local phenomenon than a site data. So they can contribute to the activation and development of many research. However, it is necessary to improve spatial resolution suitable for application in the area of complex topography such as the Korean Peninsula. In this study, finer resolution Land Surface Temperature (LST) was downscaled from 4 km to 500 m by combining GOCI with MI data of Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS). It was then statistically analyzed with LST data observed from the ASOS sites to validate its applicability. As a result, it was found that the errors decreased and correlation increased at the most validation sites, also the spatial distribution analysis showed a similar tendency but it expressed the complicated terrain better. This study suggests possibility of expanding the application range of COMS by producing finer resolution data available in various studies.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.89-95
• /
• 2005

Understanding of routes of migratory birds are important subject for conservation of avifauna. Korea Demilitarized zone (DMZ) is considered as one of the most important stopover for migratory birds that pass in the Korean peninsula. This region has been known internationally as an excellent nature preservation areas since 1953. Rare and endangered animal species such as leopards (Pathera pardus) and Siberian tigers (Panthera tigris) have increased in population. Furthermore this areas provide home for endangered migratory birds including white-naped (Grus vipio) and red-crowned cranes (G. japonensis). Recent satellite-tracked crane species has shown the importance and linkages between a small number of habitat sites in DMZ. White-naped cranes were satellite tracked 9 individuals spent 27-78% of their time in Panmunjum and 10-75% in Cheolwon. This signifies the rich feeding sites with relatively little disturbance thus making the DMZ extremely valuable as a stopover.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.330-337
• /
• 2015

Pre-monsoon dynamics of zooplankton community were investigated in Yongwol West River tributary; wetland shaped Korean Peninsula. Zooplankters were collected at three sites (stn 1: Yongwol West River, stn 2: Pyungchang River, stn 3: Jucheon River) monthly during the period between March and July 2014 except April. Totally 58 taxa of zooplankton occurred, consisting of 27 species of rotifer, 18 species of cladoceran, eight species of copepod, four kinds of aquatic insect larvae and one nematod. Lotic cladocerans of Alona spp. belonging to Chydoridae occurred frequently while typical lentic ones of Bosmina spp. and Daphnia spp. were not distributed, then sampling sites may be located in lotic waters. Zooplankton abundance recorded as $4,451-8,011indiv{\cdot}m^{-3}$ in Jucheon River but never exceeded $500indiv{\cdot}m^{-3}$ in other rivers. In Yongwol West River, dominant taxa were aquatic insect larvae from March through June and succeeded to cladocerans and copepods in July. Similar succession was observed in Jucheon River where aquatic insect larvae dominated in March and changed to cladocerans and copepods from May with high abundance. No such succession of zooplankton community was detected in Pyunchang River. Species diversity indices were the highest in Yongwol West River except in March. High values of dissolved oxygen ($9.0-11.0 mg{\cdot}liter^{-1}$) may show the characteristics of mountain streams. Water temperature increased gradually from $10.1^{\circ}C$ to $27.9^{\circ}C$ and pH varied within generally high range between 7.9-8.9, respectively. High value of pH seems to be derived from lime stone mines and cement factories around the studied area.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.224-238
• /
• 2022

North Korea has actively participated in the international community related to environmental agreements. It has proposed various environmental policies internally since the Kim Jong-un regime. In particular, it emphasizes activities related to climate change response, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the conservation of ecosystems including forests and wetlands. In this study, a new security cooperation plan was proposed with an understanding of the climate crisis and environmental regime as a starting point. To this end, trends and recent activities for climate-environment cooperation in the international community and on the Korean Peninsula were analyzed. In addition, North Korea's conditions for cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, technology demand, and the projected future environment of the Korean Peninsula were dealt with. Ultimately, through advice of experts, we were able to discover cooperation agendas by sector and propose short-term and long-term environmental cooperation strategies for the Korean Peninsula based on them. In this study, conditions and directions for cooperation in fields of climate technology, biological resources, air/weather, water environment, biodiversity, renewable energy, bioenergy, and so on were considered comprehensively. Among 21 cooperation agendas discovered in this study, energy showed the largest number of areas. Renewable energy, forest resources, and environmental and meteorological information stood out as agendas that could be cooperated in the short term. As representative initiatives, joint promotion of 'renewable energy' that could contribute to North Korea's energy demand and carbon neutrality and 'forest cooperation' that could be recognized as a source of disaster reduction and greenhouse gas sinks were suggested.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.21 no.spc
• /
• pp.28-38
• /
• 2019

Climate change on the Korean peninsula is progressing faster than the global average. For example, typhoons, extreme rainfall, heavy snow, cold, and heatwave that are occurring frequently. North Korea is particularly vulnerable to climate change-related natural disasters such as flooding and flooding due to long-term food shortages, energy shortages, and reckless deforestation and development. In addition, North Korea is classified as an unmeasured area due to political and social influences, making it difficult to obtain sufficient hydrologic data for hydrological analysis. Also, as interest in climate change has increased, studies on climate change have been actively conducted on the Korean Peninsula in various repair facilities and disaster countermeasures, but there are no cases of research on North Korea. Therefore, this study selects watershed characteristic variables that are easy to acquire in order to apply localization model to North Korea where it is difficult to obtain observed hydrologic data and estimates parameters based on meteorological and topographical characteristics of 16 dam basins in South Korea. Was calculated. In addition, as a result of reviewing the applicability of the parameter estimation equations calculated for the fifty thousand, Gangneungnamdaecheon, Namgang dam, and Yeonggang basins, the applicability of the parameter estimation equations to North Korea was very high.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.132-147
• /
• 2016

In this study the Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS) sensor onboard the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) sensor onboard the Global Change Observation Mission-Water (GCOM-W1) based soil moisture retrievals were revised to obtain better accuracy of soil moisture and higher data acquisition rate over East Asia. These satellite-based soil moisture products are revised against a reference land model data set, called Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS), using Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) matching and regression approach. Since MIRAS sensor is perturbed by radio frequency interferences (RFI), the worst part of soil moisture retrieval, East Asia, constantly have been undergoing loss of data acquisition rate. To overcome this limitation, the threshold of RFI, DQX, and composite days were suggested to increase data acquisition rate while maintaining appropriate data quality through comparison of land surface model data set. The revised MIRAS and AMSR2 products were compared with in-situ soil moisture and land model data set. The results showed that the revising process increased correlation coefficient values of SMOS and AMSR2 averagely 27% 11% and decreased the root mean square deviation (RMSD) decreased 61% and 57% as compared to in-situ data set. In addition, when the revised products' correlation coefficient values are calculated with model data set, about 80% and 90% of pixels' correlation coefficients of SMOS and AMSR2 increased and all pixels' RMSD decreased. Through our CDF-based revising processes, we propose the way of mutual supplementation of MIRAS and AMSR2 soil moisture retrievals.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.348-358
• /
• 2015

Impacts of climate change are being observed in the globe as well as the Korean peninsula. In the past 100 years, the average temperature of the earth rose about 0.75 degree in celsius, while that of Korean peninsula rose about 1.5 degree in celsius. The fifth Assessment Report of IPCC(Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change) predicts that the water pollution will be aggravated by change of hydrologic extremes such as floods and droughts and increase of water temperature (KMA and MOLIT, 2009). In this study, future runoff was calculated by applying climate change scenario to analyze the future water quality for each targe period (Obs : 2001 ~ 2010, Target I : 2011 ~ 2040, Target II : 2041 ~ 2070, Target III : 2071 ~ 2100) in Hongcheon river basin, Korea. In addition, The future water quality was analyzed by using multiple linear regression analysis and artificial neural networks after flow-duration curve analysis. As the results of future water quality prediction in Hongcheon river basin, we have known that BOD, COD and SS will be increased at the end of 21 century. Therefore, we need consider long-term water and water quality management planning and monitoring for the improvement of water quality in the future. For the prediction of more reliable future water quality, we may need consider various social factors with climate components.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.179-189
• /
• 2008

Fauna of Shinpo nuclear powerplant site were surveyed during Feb 27-Mar 4, 2003 as a part of ecological environmental survey. This area is well dominated by coniferous trees (Pinus densiflora) aging 15-50 years. In the shoreline black pine (P. thungergii) is the dominant species and was planted for wind protection. Around Shinpo areas inside 50 km in radius was found 170 bird species (18 orders, 40 families) were recorded. Natural monument in the areas were included white-stork(Cygonia boyciana) estimated 8 species of birds. Although the habitat of Shinpo area is deteriorated due to deforestation, illegal hunting, etc. the fauna seems to be rich in species. Despite the sudden halt of KEDO(Korea Peninsula Energy Development Organization) project the conservation efforts and continuous monitoring are required considering a continuation of the project.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.13-20
• /
• 2007

Fauna of Shinpo nuclear powerplant site were surveyed during Feb 27-Mar 4, 2003 as a part of ecological environmental survey. This area is well dominated by coniferous trees (Pinus densiflora) ranging 15-50 years. In the shoreline black pine (Pinus thungergii) is the dominant species and was planted for wind protection. Around Shinpo areas inside 50 km in radius was found 33 mammal species (3 orders, 15 families), and amphibian-reptiles 6 species (2 orders, 3 families) were recorded. Natural monument in the areas were estimated 6 species of mammals and one species of reptiles. Although the habitat of Shinpo area is deteriorated due to deforestation, illegal hunting, etc. the fauna seems to be rich in species. Despite the sudden halt of KEDO project the conservation efforts and continuous monitoring are required considering a continuation of the project.