• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.159-203
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• 2010

Together with the development of space science outer space law has become one of the most rapidly developing branches of international law. This reflects a general realization that these new activities must be subject to reasonable legal regulation if they are to serve the peaceful purposes of mankind without undue confusion and disorder. The exploration and use of outer space introduces many novel opportunities and dilemmas, and inspired insights are needed in the development of this new resource. In particular, the settlement of space law disputes is a relatively new discussion in international law. However, the significance of the settlement of space law disputes was acknowledged in various colloquia organized by legal academicians and practitioners around the world. Analysis of the dispute settlement provisions in space agreements plainly reveals the degree to which States persist to be mistrustful of any impingement to their sovereignty. They are reluctant to submit disputes to adjudication and binding arbitration, particularly when these provisions are negotiated between States which have dissimilar political, economic and social interests and demography. However, there is a slow but clear shift in this attitude as States realize the contemporary political, economic and technical pressures necessitating the lifting of the veil of State sovereignty. The development of an effective mechanism for the settlement of disputes arising in relation to the development of the exploration and exploitation of outer space has been the subject of global study by highly qualified publicists and international institutions. The 1972 Liability Convention is the space treaty with the most elaborate provisions for dispute settlement. However, it fails to ensure binding decisions. In this point, the 1998 Taipei Final Draft Convention may be a useful instrument for further consideration on whether an independent sectorialized dispute settlement mechanism should be established. Considering these circumstances it seemed essential to take legislative action to implement a system as comprehensive as the relevant legal framework are in the Law of the Sea and International Criminal Law mechanisms for dispute settlement and conflict avoidance from outer space activities.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.35-59
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• 2018

Professor Bin Cheng said that outer space was res extra commercium, while the moon and the other celestial bodies were res nullius before the 1967 Outer Space Treaty(OST). However, Article 2 of the OST made the moon and other celestial bodies have the legal status as res extra commmercium, not appropriated by any country or private enterprises or individual person, but the resources there can be freely available, as those on the high seas. The non-appropriation principle was introduced to corpus juris spatialis internationalis. Whether or not the non-appropriation principle is binding for the non-parties of the OST, many scholars see this principle as an international customary law, even developing into jus cogens. Article 11(2) of the Moon Agreement(MA) reconfirms the nonappropriation principle of Article 2 of the OST, but it has much less effect than the OST because the MA binds only the 18 parties involved. The MA applies only to the moon and celestial bodies other than the Earth in the Solar System, the OST's application scope extends to the Galaxy because the OST has no such substantive enactment. As referred to in the 2015 CSLCA of USA or Luxembourg's Law of Space Resources, allowing individuals and enterprises run by other countries to commercially explore and utilize the space resources, the question may arise whether this violates the non-appropriation principle under Article 2 of the OST and Article 11 of the MA. In the case of the CSLCA, the law explicitly specifies that sovereignty, possessory rights, and judiciary rights to a specific celestial body cannot be claimed, let alone ownership. This author believes that this law respects the legal status of outer space and the celestial bodies as res extra commmercium. As long as any countries or private enterprises or individuals respect the non-appropriation principle of outer space and the celestial bodies, they could use, exploit it. Another question might be raised in the difference between res extra commercium on the high seas and res extra commercium in outer space and the celestial bodies. Collecting resources on the high seas and exploiting space resources should be interpreted differently. On the high seas, resources can be collected without any obstacles like fishing, whereas, in the case of the deep sea-bed area, the Common Heritage of Mankind principles under the UNCLOS should be operated by the International Seabed Authority as an international regime. The nature or form of the sea resources found on the high seas are thus different from that of space resources, which are fixed on the moon and the celestial bodies without water. Thus, if individuals or private enterprises collect these resources from outer space and the celestial bodies, they might secure a certain section and continue collecting or mining works without any limitation. If an American enterprise receives an approval from the U.S. government, secures the best location and collects resources on the moon, can other countries' enterprises access to this area? How large the exploiting place can be allotted on the moon? How long should such a exploiting activity be lasted? Under the current international space law, these matters might be handled according to the principle of "first come, first served." As a consequence, the international community should provide a guideline or a proposal for the settlement of any foreseeable disputes during the space activity to solve plausible space legal questions in the near future.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.477-487
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• 2012

Sea surface winds in the sea off the east coast of Korea were derived from L-band ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite) PALSAR (Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar) data and their characteristics of errors were analyzed. We could retrieve high-resolution wind vectors off the east coast of Korea including the coastal region, which has been substantially unavailable from satellite scatterometers. Retrieved SAR-wind speeds showed a good agreement with in-situ buoy measurement by showing relatively small an root-mean-square (RMS) error of 0.67 m/s. Comparisons of the wind vectors from SAR and scatterometer presented RMS errors of 2.16 m/s and $19.24^{\circ}$, 3.62 m/s and $28.02^{\circ}$ for L-band GMF (Geophysical Model Function) algorithm 2009 and 2007, respectively, which tended to be somewhat higher than the expected limit of satellite scatterometer winds errors. L-band SAR-derived wind field exhibited the characteristic dependence on wind direction and incidence angle. The previous version (L-band GMF 2007) revealed large errors at small incidence angles of less than $21^{\circ}$. By contrast, the L-band GMF 2009, which improved the effect of incidence angle on the model function by considering a quadratic function instead of a linear relationship, greatly enhanced the quality of wind speed from 6.80 m/s to 1.14 m/s at small incident angles. This study addressed that the causes of wind retrieval errors should be intensively studied for diverse applications of L-band SAR-derived winds, especially in terms of the effects of wind direction and incidence angle, and other potential error sources.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.451-463
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• 2018

The empirical/statistical models to estimate the ground Particulate Matter ($PM_{2.5}$) concentration from Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) product were developed and analyzed for the period of 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. In the model construction of AOD-$PM_{2.5}$, two vertical correction methods using the planetary boundary layer height and the vertical ratio of aerosol, and humidity correction method using the hygroscopic growth factor were applied to respective models. The vertical correction for AOD and humidity correction for $PM_{2.5}$ concentration played an important role in improving accuracy of overall estimation. The multiple linear regression (MLR) models with additional meteorological factors (wind speed, visibility, and air temperature) affecting AOD and $PM_{2.5}$ relationships were constructed for the whole year and each season. As a result, determination coefficients of MLR models were significantly increased, compared to those of empirical models. In this study, we analyzed the seasonal, monthly and diurnal characteristics of AOD-$PM_{2.5}$model. when the MLR model is seasonally constructed, underestimation tendency in high $PM_{2.5}$ cases for the whole year were improved. The monthly and diurnal patterns of observed $PM_{2.5}$ and estimated $PM_{2.5}$ were similar. The results of this study, which estimates surface $PM_{2.5}$ concentration using geostationary satellite AOD, are expected to be applicable to the future GK-2A and GK-2B.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.375-387
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• 2013

Accuracy assessment of tide models in polar ocean has to be performed to accurately analyze tidal response of glaciers by using Double-Differential Interferometric SAR (DDInSAR) technique. In this study, we used 120 DDInSAR images generated from 16 one-day tandem COSMO-SkyMed DInSAR pairs obtained for 2 years and in situ tide height for 11 days measured by a pressure type wave recorder to assess the accuracy of tide models such as TPXO7.1, FES2004, CATS2008a and Ross_Inv in Terra Nova Bay, East Antarctica. Firstly, we compared the double-differential tide height (${\Delta}\dot{T}$) for Campbell Glacier Tongue extracted from the DDInSAR images with that predicted by the tide models. Tide height (T) from in situ measurement was compared to that of the tide models. We also compared 24-hours difference of tide height ($\dot{T}$) from in situ tide height with that from the tide models. The root mean square error (RMSE) of ${\Delta}\dot{T}$, T and $\dot{T}$ decreased after the inverse barometer effect (IBE)-correction of the tide models, from which we confirmed that the IBE of tide models should be corrected requisitely. The RMSE of $\dot{T}$ and ${\Delta}\dot{T}$ were smaller than that of T. This was because $\dot{T}$ is the difference of tide height during temporal baseline of the DInSAR pairs (24 hours), in which the errors from mean sea level of the tide models and in situ tide, and the tide constituents of $S_2$, $K_2$, $K_1$ and $P_1$ used in the tide models were canceled. This confirmed that $\dot{T}$ and ${\Delta}\dot{T}$ predicted by the IBE-corrected tide models can be used in DDInSAR technique. It was difficult to select an optimum tide model for DDInSAR in Terra Nova Bay by using in situ tide height measured in a short period. However, we could confirm that Ross_Inv is the optimum tide model as it showed the smallest RMSE of 4.1 cm by accuracy assessment using the DDInSAR images.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.2_2
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• pp.351-363
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• 2020

It is well known that alluvial sediment located in coastal region has been easily affected by geohazard like ground subsidence, marine or meteorological disasters which threaten invaluable lives and properties. The subsidence is a sinking of the ground due to underground material movement that mostly related to soil compaction by water extraction. Thus, continuous monitoring is essential to protect possible damage from the ground subsidence in the coastal region. Radar interferometric application has been widely used to estimate surface displacement from phase information of synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Thanks to advanced SAR technique like the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS), a time-series of surface displacement could be successfully calculated with a large amount of SAR observations (>20). Because the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 L-band observations maintain higher coherence compared with other shorter wavelength like X- or C-band, it has been regarded as one of the best resources for Earth science. However, the number of ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 observations might be not enough for the SBAS application due to its global monitoring observation scenario. Unfortunately, the number of the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap images in area of our interest, Busan which located in the Southeastern Korea, is only 11 which is insufficient to apply the SBAS time-series analysis. Although it is common that the radar interferometry utilizes multiple SAR images collected from same acquisition mode, it has been reported that the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometric application could be possible under specific acquisition mode. In case that we can apply the Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometry with the other 18 ScanSAR observations over Busan, an enhanced time-series surface displacement with better temporal resolution could be estimated. In this study, we evaluated feasibility of the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometric application using Gamma software considering differences of chirp bandwidth and pulse repetition frequency (PRF) between two acquisition modes. In addition, we analyzed the interferograms with respect to spectral shift of radar carrier frequency and common band filtering. Even though it shows similar level of coherence regardless of spectral shift in the radar carrier frequency, we found periodic spectral noises in azimuth direction and significant degradation of coherence in azimuth direction after common band filtering. Therefore, the characteristics of spectral bandwidth in the range and azimuth direction should be considered cautiously for the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometry.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.721-732
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• 2016

The accuracy and error characteristics of microwave Sea Surface Temperature (SST) measurements in the Northwest Pacific were analyzed by utilizing 162,264 collocated matchup data between GCOM-W1/AMSR2 data and oceanic in-situ temperature measurements from July 2012 to August 2016. The AMSR2 SST measurements had a Root-Mean-Square (RMS) error of about $0.63^{\circ}C$ and a bias error of about $0.05^{\circ}C$. The SST differences between AMSR2 and in-situ measurements were caused by various factors, such as wind speed, SST, distance from the coast, and the thermal front. The AMSR2 SST data showed an error due to the diurnal effect, which was much higher than the in-situ temperature measurements at low wind speed (<6 m/s) during the daytime. In addition, the RMS error tended to be large in the winter because the emissivity of the sea surface was increased by high wind speeds and it could induce positive deviation in the SST retrieval. Low sensitivity at colder temperature and land contamination also affected an increase in the error of AMSR2 SST. An analysis of the effect of the thermal front on satellite SST error indicated that SST error increased as the magnitude of the spatial gradient of the SST increased and the distance from the front decreased. The purpose of this study was to provide a basis for further research applying microwave SST in the Northwest Pacific. In addition, the results suggested that analyzing the errors related to the environmental factors in the study area must precede any further analysis in order to obtain more accurate satellite SST measurements.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.5_3
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• pp.1037-1051
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• 2020

The accurate monitoring and forecasting of the intensity of tropical cyclones (TCs) are able to effectively reduce the overall costs of disaster management. In this study, we proposed a multi-task learning (MTL) based deep learning model for real-time TC intensity estimation and forecasting with the lead time of 6-12 hours following the event, based on the fusion of geostationary satellite images and numerical forecast model output. A total of 142 TCs which developed in the Northwest Pacific from 2011 to 2016 were used in this study. The Communications system, the Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS) Meteorological Imager (MI) data were used to extract the images of typhoons, and the Climate Forecast System version 2 (CFSv2) provided by the National Center of Environmental Prediction (NCEP) was employed to extract air and ocean forecasting data. This study suggested two schemes with different input variables to the MTL models. Scheme 1 used only satellite-based input data while scheme 2 used both satellite images and numerical forecast modeling. As a result of real-time TC intensity estimation, Both schemes exhibited similar performance. For TC intensity forecasting with the lead time of 6 and 12 hours, scheme 2 improved the performance by 13% and 16%, respectively, in terms of the root mean squared error (RMSE) when compared to scheme 1. Relative root mean squared errors(rRMSE) for most intensity levels were lessthan 30%. The lower mean absolute error (MAE) and RMSE were found for the lower intensity levels of TCs. In the test results of the typhoon HALONG in 2014, scheme 1 tended to overestimate the intensity by about 20 kts at the early development stage. Scheme 2 slightly reduced the error, resulting in an overestimation by about 5 kts. The MTL models reduced the computational cost about 300% when compared to the single-tasking model, which suggested the feasibility of the rapid production of TC intensity forecasts.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.191-202
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• 2007

To identify the detailed attenuation structure in the southern Korean Peninsula, a numerical test was conducted for the Q tomography inversion to be applied to the accumulated dataset until 2005. In particular, the stochastic pointsource ground-motion model (STGM model; Boore, 2003) was adopted for the 2D Q tomography inversion for direct application to simulating the strong ground-motion. Simultaneous inversion of the STGM model parameters with a regional single Q model was performed to evaluate the source and site effects which were necessary to generate an artificial dataset for the numerical test. The artificial dataset consists of simulated Fourier spectra that resemble the real data in the magnitude-distance-frequency-error distribution except replacement of the regional single Q model with a checkerboard type of high and low values of laterally varying Q models. The total number of Q blocks used for the checkerboard test was 75 (grid size of $35{\times}44km^2$ for Q blocks); Q functional form of $Q_0f^{\eta}$ ($Q_0$=100 or 500, 0.0 < ${\eta}$ < 1.0) was assigned to each Q block for the checkerboard test. The checkerboard test has been implemented in three steps. At the first step, the initial values of Q-values for 75 blocks were estimated. At the second step, the site amplification function was estimated by using the initial guess of A(f) which is the mean site amplification functions (Yun and Suh, 2007) for the site class. The last step is to invert the tomographic Q-values of 75 blocks based on the results of the first and second steps. As a result of the checkerboard test, it was demonstrated that Q-values could be robustly estimated by using the 2D Q tomography inversion method even in the presence of perturbed source and site effects from the true input model.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.501-512
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• 2015

Landfast sea ice (LFI) in Terra Nova Bay, East Antarctica where the Jangbogo Antarctic Research Station is located, has significant influences on marine ecosystem and the sailing of an icebreaker. Therefore, it is essential to analyze the spatio-temporal variation of the LFI in Terra Nova Bay. In this study, we chose interferometric pairs with the temporal baseline from 1 to 9 days out of a total of 62 COSMO-SkyMed synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images over Terra Nova Bay obtained from December 2010 to January 2012, and then constructed the coherence image of each pair. The LFI showed coherence values higher than 0.3 even in the interferometric SAR (InSAR) pairs of up to 9-days of temporal baseline. This was because the LFI was fixed at coastline and thus showed low temporal phase decorrelation. Based on the characteristics of the coherence on LFI, We defined the areas of LFI that show spatially homogeneous coherence values higher than 0.5. Pack ice (PI) and open water showed low coherence values due to large temporal phase decorreation caused by current and wind. Distinguishing PI from open water in the coherence images was difficult due to their similarly low coherence values. PI was identified in SAR amplitude images by investigating cracks on the ice. The extents of the LFI and PI were estimated from the coherence and SAR amplitude images and their temporal variations were analyzed. The extent of the LFI increased from March to July (maximum extent of $170.7km^2$) and decreased from October. The extent of the PI increased from February to May and decreased from May to July when the LFI increases dramatically. The extent of the LFI and air temperature showed an inverse correlation with a time lag of about 2 months, i.e., the extent of the LFI decreases after 2 months of the increase in the air temperature. Meanwhile the correlation between wind speed and the extent of the LFI was very low. This represents that the extent of LFI in Terra Nova Bay are influenced more by the air temperature than wind speed.