• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.121-133
• /
• 2019

Natural variability associated with a variety of large-scale climate modes causes regional differences in sea level rise (SLR), which is particularly remarkable in the Pacific Ocean. Because the superposition of the natural variability and the background anthropogenic trend in sea level can potentially threaten to inundate low-lying and heavily populated coastal regions, it is important to quantify sea level variability associated with internal climate variability and understand their interaction when projecting future SLR impacts. This study seeks to identify the dominant modes of sea level variability in the tropical Pacific and quantify how these modes contribute to regional sea level changes, particularly on the two strong El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ events that occurred in the winter of 1997/1998 and 2015/2016. To do so, an adaptive data analysis approach, Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD), was undertaken with regard to two datasets of altimetry-based and in situ-based steric sea levels. Using this EEMD analysis, we identified distinct internal modes associated with El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) varying from 1.5 to 7 years and low-frequency variability with a period of ~12 years that were clearly distinct from the secular trend. The ENSO-scale frequencies strongly impact on an east-west dipole of sea levels across the tropical Pacific, while the low-frequency (i.e., decadal) mode is predominant in the North Pacific with a horseshoe shape connecting tropical and extratropical sea levels. Of particular interest is that the low-frequency mode resulted in different responses in regional SLR to ENSO events. The low-frequency mode contributed to a sharp increase (decrease) of sea level in the eastern (western) tropical Pacific in the 2015/2016 El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ but made a negative contribution to the sea level signals in the 1997/1998 El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$. This indicates that the SLR signals of the ENSO can be amplified or depressed at times of transition in the low-frequency mode in the tropical Pacific.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
• /
• 2003.11a
• /
• pp.219-225
• /
• 2003

The present study intends to assess the long-term steric sea-level change and its prediction, and potential impacts to the sea-level rise due to the 21st global warming in the coastal zone of the Korea in which much socioeconomic activities have been occurred. The analysis of the 23 tide-gauge data near Korea reveals the overall mean sea-level trend of 2.31 mm/yr.In the satellite altimeter data (Topex/Poseidon and ERS), the sea-level trend in the East Sea is 4.6mm/yr. Both are larger than those of the global average value. However, it is quite questionable that the sea-level trends with the tide-gauge data on the neighboring seas of Korea relate to global warming because of the relatively short observation period and large spatial variability. It is also not clear whether the high trend of altimeter data in the East Sea is related to the acceleration of sea level rise in the Sea, short response time of the Sea, natural variability such as decadal variability, short duration of the altimeter. The coastal zone of Korea appears to be quite vulnerable to the 21st sea level rise such that for the I-m sea level rise with high tide and storm surge, the inundation area is 2,643 km2, which is about $1.2\%$ of total area and the population in the risk areas of inundation is 1.255 million, about $2.6\%$ of total population. The coastal zone west of Korea is appeared to be the most vulnerable area compared to the east and south. In the west of the Korea, the North Korea appears to be more vulnerable than South Korea. In order to cope with the future possible impact of sea-level rise to the coastal zone of Korea effectively, it is essential to improve scientific information in the sea-level rise trend, regional prediction, and vulnerability assessment near Korean coast.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.183-198
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study is to summarize the tropical cyclone (TC) activity of 2008 over the western North Pacific including the verification of the official track and intensity forecast errors of these TCs. The TC activity - frequency, Normalized Typhoon Activity (NTA), and life span - was lower than 58-year (1951-2008) average. 22 tropical cyclones of tropical storm (TS) intensity or higher formed in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea in 2008. The total number is less than 58-year average frequency of 26.4. Out of 22 tropical cyclones, 11 TCs reached typhoon (TY) intensity, while the rest 11 TCs only reached severe tropical storm (STS) and tropical storm (TS) intensity - six STS and five TS storms. One typhoon KALMAEGI (0807) among them affected the Korea peninsula. However, no significant impact - casualty or property damage - was reported. On average of 22 TCs in 2008, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) official track forecast error for 48 hours was 229 km. There was a big challenge for individual cyclones such as 0806 FENGSHEN and 0817 HIGOS presenting significant forecast error, with both intricate tracks and irregular moving speed. The tropical cyclone season in 2008 began in April with the formation of NEOGURI (0801). In May, four TCs formed in the western North Pacific in response to enhanced convective activity. On the other hand, the TC activity was very weak from June to August. It is found that the unusual anti-cyclonic circulation in the lower level and weak convection near the Philippines are dominant during summertime. The convection and atmospheric circulation in the western North Pacific contributed unfavorable condition for TC activity in the 2008 summertime. The 2008 TC activity has continued the below normal state since mid 1990s which is apparent the decadal variability in TC activity.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.259-272
• /
• 2013

One of the factors influencing the climate around Korea is the oceanic-atmospheric variability in the tropical region between the eastern Indian and the western Pacific Oceans. Lack of knowledge about the air-sea interaction in the tropical Indo-Pacific region continues to make it problematic forecasting the ocean climate in the East Asia. The 'Tropical Indo-Pacific water transport and ecosystem monitoring EXperiment (TIPEX)' is a program for monitoring the ocean circulation variability between Pacific and Indian Oceans and for improving the accuracy of future climate forecasting. The main goal of the TIPEX program is to quantify the climate and ocean circulation change between the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. The contents of the program are 1) to observe the mixing process of different water masses and water transport in the eastern Indian and the western Pacific, 2) to understand the large-scale oceanic-climatic variation including El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)/Warm Pool/Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)/Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), and 3) to monitor the biogeochemical processes, material flux, and biological changes due to the climate change. In order to effectively carry out the monitoring program, close international cooperation and the proper co-work sharing of tasks between China, Japan, Indonesia, and India as well as USA is required.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
• /
• 2008.10a
• /
• pp.289-292
• /
• 2008

Recently, several satellite data analyses projects and numerical weather prediction (NWP) reanalysis projects have produced the ocean surface Latent Heat Flux (LHF) data sets in the global coverage. Comparisons of these LHF data sets showed substantial discrepancies in the LHF values. Recently, the increase of LHF in during 1970s-1990s over the global ocean is shown by the LHF data that have been developed at the Objective Analyzed Air-Sea Fluxes (OAFlux) project. It is interesting to investigate the existence of the increase of LHF over a global ocean in the other LHF products. It is interesting to investigate the existence of the increase of LHF over a global ocean in the other LHF products. In this study, we assessed the consistencies and discrepancies of the inter-annual variability and decadal trend for the period 1988-2005 among six LHF products ((J-OFURO2, HOAPS3, IFREMER, NCEP1,2 and OAFlux) over the global ocean. As results, all LHF products showed a positive trend. In particular, the positive trend in satellite-based data analyses (J-OFURO2, HOAPS3, IFREMER) is larger than that in reanalysis products (NCEP1/2). Also, the consistencies and discrepancies are shown on the spatial patterns of the LHF trends across the six data sets. The positive trend of LHF is remarkable in the regions of western boundary currents such as the Kuroshio and the Gulf Stream in all LHF data sets. But, the discrepancies are shown on the spatial patterns of the LHF trends in tropics and subtropics. These discrepancies are primarily caused by the differences of the input meteorological state variables, particularly for the air specific humidity, used to calculate LHF.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.36 no.7
• /
• pp.611-616
• /
• 2015

El Nino and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) presents a broad band (2-8 year) variability and slowly changing amplitude and period, which are respectively referred to as ENSO irregularity and ENSO modulation. In this study, we developed a nonlinear low-order climate model by combining the Lorenz-63 model of nonlinear atmospheric variability and a simple ENSO model with recharge oscillator characteristics. The model successfully reproduced the ENSO-like variations in the sea surface temperature of eastern Pacific, such as the peak period, wide periodicity, and decadal modulations. The results show that the chaotic atmospheric forcing can lead to ENSO irregularity and ENSO modulation. It is also suggested the high probability of La Nina development could be associated with strong convection of the western warm pool. Although it is simple, this model is expected to be used in research on long-term climate change because it well captures the nonlinear air-sea interactions in the equatorial Pacific.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2019

Although recent reports suggest that the negative correlation between the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) has been strengthened, it is not clear whether this intermittent relationship is an intrinsic oscillation in the climate system. We investigate the oscillating behavior of the AO-EAWM relationship at decadal time scales using the long-term (500-yr) climate model simulation. The results show that ice cover over the East Siberian Seas is responsible for the change in the coupling strength between AO and EAWM. We found that increased ice cover over these seas strengthens the AO-EAWM linkage, subsequently enhancing cold advection over the East Asia due to anomalous northerly flow via a weakened jet stream. Thus, this strengthened relationship favors more frequent occurrences of cold surges in the EAWM region. Results also indicate that the oscillating relationship between AO and EAWM is a natural variability without anthropogenic drivers, which may help us understand the AO-EAWM linkage under climate change.

• Ocean Science Journal
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2008

Physical and biological environmental variations in the East Sea were investigated by analysing time-series of oceanographic data and meteorological indices. From 1971 to 2000, dominant periodicity in water temperature variations had two apparent periods of 3 to 4 years and of decades, especially in the southwestern part of the East Sea affected by the influence of inflowing Tsushima warm current. Fluctuating water temperature within a certain period appears to respond to El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ events with a time lag. It was found that there was a strong correlation between water temperature and El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ events with a time lag of 1.5 and 5.5 years for periods of 3 to 6 years and of decades, respectively. Corresponding with El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ events, water temperature variability also showed strong correlation with shift and/or changes in biological and chemical environments of nutrient concentrations, zooplankton biomass, and fisheries. However, there also occurred a short-term periodicity of water temperature variations. Within a period of 1 to 4 years, a relatively short-term cycle of water temperature variation had strong correlation with other climate indices such as Pacific Decadal Oscillation and monsoon index. After comparing coherence and phase spectrum between water temperature and different climate indices, we found that there was a shift of coherent periods to another climate index during the years when climate regime shift was reported.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.305-323
• /
• 2012

The ocean's response to the Pinatubo and 1259 volcanic eruptions was investigated using an ocean general circulation model equipped with an energy balance model. Volcanic eruptions release gases into the atmosphere which increases the aerosol optical depth and acts to reduce the incoming short-wave radiation. For example, there was a huge volcanic eruption (Pinatubo) in 1991 which reduced the global mean radiative forcing by about 3 W $m^{-2}$. Two numerical experiments were simulated. The first experiment features the Pinatubo eruption and the second experiment simulates the much larger volcanic eruption that occurred in 1259 when the radiative forcing was reduced by 7 times compared to the Pinatubo event. With the reduced radiative forcing due to the Pinatubo eruption at about 3 W $m^{-2}$ and 1259 eruption at about 21 W $m^{-2}$, the global mean sea surface temperature (SST) decreased to its lowest in the second year after each event by about $0.4^{\circ}C$ and $1.6^{\circ}C$, respectively. Sea surface salinity (SSS) increased substantially in the northern North Pacific, northern North Atlantic, and the Southern Ocean. The reduced SST together with SSS increased ocean convection, which yielded an increase in North Atlantic Deep Water, Antarctic Bottom Water, and North Pacific Intermediate Water production and their outflows. The increase in overturning circulation eventually increased the pole-ward ocean heat fluxes. In conclusion, huge volcanic eruptions perturb the ocean substantially and their hallmarks last for more than a decade, confirming the importance of volcanic eruptions in illustrating the decadal-climate variability recorded in the paleoclimate proxy data for the past million years.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.221-233
• /
• 2022

A sediment trap had been deployed at 1250 m depth in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) from September 2009 to July 2010, with the aim of understanding the temporal and vertical variability of particle flux. During the monitoring period, total particle flux varied from 12.4 to 101.0 mg m^-2day^-1, with the higher fluxes in January-March 2010. Biogenic particle flux varied in phase with the total particle flux. The increase in total particle flux during January-March 2010 was attributed to the enhanced biological production in the surface layer caused by wind-driven mixing in response to the seasonal shifts in the location of the Intertropical convergence zone. The export ratio (e-ratio) was estimated using the particulate organic carbon flux and satellite-derived net primary production data. The estimated e-ratios changed between 0.8% and 2.8% (1.4±0.6% on average). The ratio recorded in the negative phase of Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) was similar to the previous results obtained from the ETP during the 1992/93 periods in the positive phase of PDO. This suggests that the regime shift of the PDO is not related to the carbon export ratio.