• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.329-339
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• 2019

Arctic warming is a global issue. The sea ice in the Arctic plays a crucial role in the climate system. We thought that a recent abnormality in many countries in the northern hemisphere could be related to the effects of shrinking sea ice in the Arctic. Many research groups monitor sea ice in the Arctic for climate research. Satellite remote sensing is an integral part of Arctic sea ice research due to the Arctic's large size, making it difficult to observe with general research equipment, and its extreme environment that is difficult for humans to access. Along with monitoring recent weather changes, Korea scientists are conducting polar remote sensing using a Korean satellite series to actively cope with environmental changes in the Arctic. The Korean satellite series is known as KOMPSAT (Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite, Korean name is Arirang) series, and it carries optical and imaging radar. Since the organization of the Satellite Remote Sensing and Cryosphere Information Center in Korea in 2016, Korean research on and monitoring of Arctic sea ice has accelerated rapidly. Moreover, a community of researchers studying Arctic sea ice by satellite remote sensing increased in Korea. In this article, we review advances in Korea's remote sensing research for the polar cryosphere over the last several years. In addition to satellite remote sensing, interdisciplinary studies are needed to resolve the current limitations on research on climate change.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.328-333
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• 2019

During the winter of 2017/2018, significantly low water temperatures were detected around the western and southern coasts of Korea (WSCK). In this period, sea surface temperature (SST) in the Korea Waters was about $2^{\circ}C$ lower than mean temperature. Using the real-time observation system, we analyzed the temporal variation of SST during this period around the western and southern coasts. Low water temperature usually manifested over a period of about 10 ~ 20 days. The daily Arctic oscillation index was also similarly detectable with the variation of SST. From the cross-correlation function, we compared two periodic variations, which were SST around the WSCK and the Arctic oscillation index. The cross correlation coefficients between both variations were approximately 0.3 ~ 0.4. The time lag of the two time series was about 6 to 7 days. Therefore, significantly low water temperatures during winter in the Korean coastal areas usually became detectable 6 to 7 days after the negative peak of Arctic oscillation.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.321-349
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• 2016

According to the recent observation by NOAA(US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), 2015 is the warmest year based on global average temperature since 1880. The air temperatures in the Arctic have been rising at almost twice the global average and the extent and thickness of sea ice in the Arctic have declined. And the warming process in the Arctic is accelerating rapidly. These impacts of drastic change in sea ice caused by climate change in the Arctic threaten the eco-system service and biodiversity in the Arctic. This study intends to estimate the economic value on changes in eco-system services and biodiversity of the Arctic caused by climate change. The result of the valuation indicates that the total benefit from improvement of ecosystem in the Arctic ranges from 318.6 billion won to 715.9 billion won per annum. Replication scenarios can be explored into two broad categories in future studies: scenarios in consideration of conflicts of different stakeholders and scenarios based on wider or narrower definition of biodiversity in the Arctic.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.73-84
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• 2021

Recently, interest in environmental issues is increasing worldwide due to abnormal climate phenomena caused by global warming. Global efforts are continuing to actively respond to climate change, but the dependence on fossil fuels is still high. In particular, a huge amount of fossil fuels and mineral resources are buried in the Arctic Circle, so development and construction projects are being actively pursued. Participation and cooperation in the development of Arctic resources (oil and gas resources) is one of the alternatives to domestic energy supply. Resource development in the Arctic Circle requires close review(Poor development environment and technical limitations due to extreme climate, environmental problems due to resource development, social impact, etc.) in advance compared to general resource development. In this pater, the laws and guidelines related to climate change to be considered were reviewed. when developing Arctic resources. In addition, the countermeasures against climate change applied in large-scale resource development projects in the Arctic were reviewed. It is expected that the results of the research and analysis of this study will be used to establish strategies to respond to new risk factors that influence the successful promotion and operation of the Arctic region resource development project.

• Atmosphere
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.131-140
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• 2014

The "Barents Oscillation (BO)", first designated by Paul Skeie (2000), is an anomalous recurring atmospheric circulation pattern of high relevance for the climate of the Nordic Seas and Siberia, which is defined as the second Emperical Orthogonal Function (EOF) of monthly winter sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies, where the leading EOF is the Arctic Oscillation (AO). BO, however, did not attracted much interest. In recent two decades, variability of BO tends to increase. In this study, we analyzed the spatio-temporal structures of Atmospheric internal modes such as Arctic Oscillation (AO) and Barents Oscillation (BO) and examined how these are related with Arctic warming in recent decade. We identified various aspects of BO, not dealt in Skeie (2000), such as upper-level circulation and surface characteristics for extended period including recent decade and examined link with other surface variables such as sea-ice and sea surface temperature. From the results, it was shown that the BO showed more regionally confined spatial pattern compared to AO and has intensified during recent decade. The regional dipolelar structure centered at Barents sea and Siberia was revealed in both sea-level pressure and 500 hPa geopotential height. Also, BO showed a stronger link (correlation) with sea-ice and sea surface temperature especially over Barents-Kara seas suggesting it is playing an important role for recent Arctic amplification. BO also showed high correlation with Ural Blocking Index (UBI), which measures seasonal activity of Ural blocking. Since Ural blocking is known as a major component of Eurasian winter monsoon and can be linked to extreme weathers, we suggest deeper understanding of BO can provide a missing link between recent Arctic amplification and increase in extreme weathers in midlatitude in recent decades.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.95-104
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• 2015

To discuss whether we have credible estimations about historical surface temperature evolution since industrial revolution or not, present study investigates consistencies and differences of averaged surface air temperature since 1900 between the multiple data sources: Hadley Center Climate Research Unit (HadCRU4) surface air temperature data, ECMWF 20 Century Reanalysis data (ERA20CR), and NCEP 20 Century Reanalysis data (NCEP20CR). Averaged surface temperatures are obtained for the global, polar (90S~60S, 60N~0N), midlatitude (60S~30S, 30N~60N), tropical (30S~30N) region, separately. From the analysis, we show that: 1) spatio-temporal inhomogenity and scarcity of HadCRU4 data are not major obstacles in the reliable estimation of global surface air temperature. 2) Globally averaged temperature variability is largely contributed by those of tropical and midlatitude, which occupy more than 70% of earth surface in area. 3) Both data show consistent temperature variability in tropical region. 4) ERA20CR does not capture warm period over Arctic region in early 1900s, which is obvious feature in HadCRU4 data. Discrepancies among datasets suggest that high-level caution is needed especially in the interpretation of large Arctic warming in the early 1900s, which is often regarded as a natural variability in the Arctic region.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.787-813
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• 2009

Because of global warming, the thawing of the Arctic ice cap is slowly accelerating. That is the hot issue nowadays. According to the each country's climate change policy, it is boom in the world to lessen the consuming of the fossil fuel those are oil, coal and natural gas. But on the contrary the thawing of the Arctic ice cap is the chance to make the natural gas producing unit cost lower. The purpose of this paper is to search the Arctic policy of each country under the contradictory relationship between promoting the climate change policy and exploiting the natural gas on the Arctic. Specially, there are huge natural gas reserves in Russia on the Arctic region, Russia's exploiting the natural gas on the Arctic will affect on the natural gas supply-demand balance of world natural gas market strongly in the future. Therefore it needs to prepare the future energy alternative policy for Korea's energy security. Russia has Yamal Peninsular where is abundant on natural gas reserver, and she can supply natural gas by LNG ship all over the world via the Arctic route. This means that the structure of world natural gas market be changed gradually. It will be possible in 2030~2040. And such a change is very important because new natural gas trading type can do it through not only overcoming the geological restriction but also shifting the main trading type from PNG(Pipeline Natural Gas) to LNG(Liquified Natural Gas). Therefore it is necessary that we should let this be a good lesson to ourselves through the government action of other countries (China, Japan) those also have no sovereignty over the Arctic as Korea.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.390-397
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• 2022

Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) is the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council. CAFF conducts Monitoring, Assessment, Policy, and expert group activities to preserve Arctic biodiversity and ensure the sustainability of biological resources and communicates the results to governments and indigenous peoples. The main tasks of CAFF consist of monitoring (Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program), assessment (Arctic Biodiversity Assessment) and strategic projects(Arctic Migratory Bird Initiative, AMBI). Korea has been directly participating in the AMBI since 2015 after acquiring observer status of the Arctic Council in 2013. The AMBI aims to preserve habitats on migration routes used by breeding birds in the Arctic and prevent illegal hunting. Thus, observer countries on migratory routes are directly participating in the project. When selecting priorities for participation in Arctic cooperation projects by 2030, Korea should consider continuing participation in AMBI and participating in the "CAFF Youth Program" in connection with the Arctic Academy program operated by Korea's public institutes.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.379-386
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• 2010

This study examines changes in the Arctic sea ice associated with global warming by analyzing the climate coupled general circulation models (CGCMs) provided in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We selected nine models for better performance under 20th century climate conditions based on two different criteria, and then estimated the changes in sea ice extent under global warming conditions. Under projected 21st century climate conditions, all models, with the exception of the GISS-AOM model, project a reduction in sea ice extent in all seasons. The mean reduction in summer (-63%) is almost four times larger than that in winter (-16%), resulting an enhancement of seasonal variations in sea ice extent. The difference between the models, however, becomes larger under the 21st century climate conditions than under 20th century conditions, thus limiting the reliability of sea-ice projections derived from the current CGCMs.

• Atmosphere
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.393-402
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• 2018

This study investigated future changes in the Arctic permafrost features and related biogeochemical alterations under global warming. The Community Land Model (CLM) with biogeochemistry (BGC) was run for the period 2005 to 2099 with projected future climate based on the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 scenario. Under global warming, over the Arctic land except for the permafrost region, the rise in soil temperature led to an increase in soil liquid and decrease in soil ice. Also, the Arctic ground obtained carbon dioxide from the atmosphere due to the increase in photosynthesis of vegetation. On the other hand, over the permafrost region, the microbial respiration was increased due to thawing permafrost, resulting in increased carbon dioxide emissions. Methane emissions associated with total water storage have increased over most of Arctic land, especially in the permafrost region. Methane releases were predicted to be greatly increased especially near the rivers and lakes associated with an increased chance of flooding. In conclusion, at the end of $21^{st}$ century, except for permafrost region, the Arctic ground is projected to be the sink of carbon dioxide, and only permafrost region the source of carbon dioxide. This study suggests that thawing permafrost can further to accelerate global warming significantly.