• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.185-205
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• 2010

Climate change vulnerability assessment based on local conditions is a prerequisite for establishment of climate change adaptation policies. While some studies have developed a methodology for vulnerability assessment at the national level using statistical data, few attempts, whether domestic or overseas, have been made to develop methods for local vulnerability assessments that are easily applicable to a single city. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to develop a conceptual framework for climate change vulnerability, and then develop a general methodology for assessment at the regional level applied to a single coastal city, Mokpo, in Jeolla province, Korea. We followed the conceptual framework of climate change vulnerability proposed by the IPCC (1996) which consists of "climate exposure," "systemic sensitivity," and "systemic adaptive capacity." "Climate exposure" was designated as sea level rises of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 meter(s), allowing for a simple scenario for sea level rises. Should more complex forecasts of sea level rises be required later, the methodology developed herein can be easily scaled and transferred to other projects. Mokpo was chosen as a seaside city on the southwest coast of Korea, where all cities have experienced rising sea levels. Mokpo has experienced the largest sea level increases of all, and is a region where abnormal high tide events have become a significant threat; especially subsequent to the construction of an estuary dam and breakwaters. Sensitivity to sea level rises was measured by the percentage of flooded area for each administrative region within Mokpo evaluated via simulations using GIS techniques. Population density, particularly that of senior citizens, was also factored in. Adaptive capacity was considered from both the "hardware" and "software" aspects. "Hardware" adaptive capacity was incorporated by considering the presence (or lack thereof) of breakwaters and seawalls, as well as their height. "Software" adaptive capacity was measured using a survey method. The survey questionnaire included economic status, awareness of climate change impact and adaptation, governance, and policy, and was distributed to 75 governmental officials working for Mokpo. Vulnerability to sea level rises was assessed by subtracting adaptive capacity from the sensitivity index. Application of the methodology to Mokpo indicated vulnerability was high for seven out of 20 administrative districts. The results of our methodology provides significant policy implications for the development of climate change adaptation policy as follows: 1) regions with high priority for climate change adaptation measures can be selected through a correlation diagram between vulnerabilities and records of previous flood damage, and 2) after review of existing short, mid, and long-term plans or projects in high priority areas, appropriate adaptation measures can be taken as per this study. Future studies should focus on expanding analysis of climate change exposure from sea level rises to other adverse climate related events, including heat waves, torrential rain, and drought etc.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.53-69
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• 2020

The increase of the impermeable area due to industrialization and urban development distorts the hydrological circulation system and cause serious stream drying phenomena. In order to manage this, it is necessary to develop a technology for impact assessment of stream drying phenomena, which enables quantitative evaluation and prediction. In this study, the cause of streamflow reduction was assessed for dam and weir watersheds in the five major river basins of South Korea by using distributed hydrological model DrySAT-WFT (Drying Stream Assessment Tool and Water Flow Tracking) and GIS time series data. For the modeling, the 5 influencing factors of stream drying phenomena (soil erosion, forest growth, road-river disconnection, groundwater use, urban development) were selected and prepared as GIS-based time series spatial data from 1976 to 2015. The DrySAT-WFT was calibrated and validated from 2005 to 2015 at 8 multipurpose dam watershed (Chungju, Soyang, Andong, Imha, Hapcheon, Seomjin river, Juam, and Yongdam) and 4 gauging stations (Osucheon, Mihocheon, Maruek, and Chogang) respectively. The calibration results showed that the coefficient of determination (R²) was 0.76 in average (0.66 to 0.84) and the Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency was 0.62 in average (0.52 to 0.72). Based on the 2010s (2006~2015) weather condition for the whole period, the streamflow impact was estimated by applying GIS data for each decade (1980s: 1976~1985, 1990s: 1986~1995, 2000s: 1996~2005, 2010s: 2006~2015). The results showed that the 2010s averaged-wet streamflow (Q95) showed decrease of 4.1~6.3%, the 2010s averaged-normal streamflow (Q185) showed decreased of 6.7~9.1% and the 2010s averaged-drought streamflow (Q355) showed decrease of 8.4~10.4% compared to 1980s streamflows respectively on the whole. During 1975~2015, the increase of groundwater use covered 40.5% contribution and the next was forest growth with 29.0% contribution among the 5 influencing factors.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.51 no.10
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• pp.905-916
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the climate change impact on watershed hydrology and flow duration in Geum River basin ($9,645.5km^2$) especially by extreme scenarios. The rainfall related extreme index, STARDEX (STAtistical and Regional dynamical Downscaling of EXtremes) was adopted to select the future extreme scenario from the 10 GCMs with RCP 8.5 scenarios by four projection periods (Historical: 1975~2005, 2020s: 2011~2040, 2050s: 2041~2070, 2080s: 2071~2100). As a result, the 5 scenarios of wet (CESM1-BGC and HadGEM2-ES), normal (MPI-ESM-MR), and dry (INM-CM4 and FGOALS-s2) were selected and applied to SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) hydrological model. The wet scenarios showed big differences comparing with the normal scenario in 2080s period. The 2080s evapotranspiration (ET) of wet scenarios varied from -3.2 to +3.1 mm, the 2080s total runoff (TR) varied from +5.5 to +128.4 mm. The dry scenarios showed big differences comparing with the normal scenario in 2020s period. The 2020s ET for dry scenarios varied from -16.8 to -13.3 mm and the TR varied from -264.0 to -132.3 mm respectively. For the flow duration change, the CFR (coefficient of flow regime, Q10/Q355) was altered from +4.2 to +10.5 for 2080s wet scenarios and from +1.7 to +2.6 for 2020s dry scenarios. As a result of the flow duration analysis according to the change of the hydrological factors of the Geum River basin applying the extreme climate change scenario, INM-CM4 showed suitable scenario to show extreme dry condition and FGOALS-s2 showed suitable scenario for the analysis of the drought condition with large flow duration variability. HadGEM2-ES was evaluated as a scenario that can be used for maximum flow analysis because the flow duration variability was small and CESM1-BGC was evaluated as a scenario that can be applied to the case of extreme flood analysis with large flow duration variability.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.260-269
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• 2009

Hwabuk Dam has been under construction to reduce flood damage in Nakdong River watershed and to supply stable water for middle area of Gyeongbuk Province. Therefore, fish investigation in up and downstream of the dam was conducted from 2004 to 2008 in order to determine any negative effect on fish community due to dam construction and to use as fundamental data for conserving species diversity and maintaining stream health. According to data analysis on water quality, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, suspended solids, and total E-coli had seasonal variation, but they did not significantly differ in sites. However, biological and chemical oxygen demand, chlorophyll-a, nitrogen, and phosphorus representing organic matter and nutrient concentration were higher in upper site and decreased to lower site so that they differed by site. Concentration of arsenic among the heavy metals was less than 0.05 mg $L^{-1}$, which is regulated for protection of human health in water quality standard, except for 0.092 mg $L^{-1}$ in June 2005. During the study period, the total number of fish caught from the 6 sites was 10,263 representing 7 families 19 species. Among them, dominant and subdominant species were Korean chub (Zacco koreanus, 62.5%) and Chinese minnow (Rhynchocypris oxycephalus, 10.6%) which inhabit mostly in mid and upper streams, Korea. Among the 19 species, Korean endemic species were 9 species (47.4%) including Korean slender gudgeon (Squalidus gracilis majimae), Korean dark sleeper (Odontobutis platycephala), and Korean shiner (Coreoleuciscus splendidus). There was several individuals of the $1^{st}$-class endangered species, Naktong nose loach (Koreocobitis nahtongensis), caught in 2005${\sim}$2007, and no introduced species of fish was found in entire sampling period. According to result of community analysis, dominance index decreased toward lower site, but diversity and richness indices increased toward lower site. The equation of length-weight relationship on the dominant species was TW=0.000003$(TL)^{3.2603}$. The parameter b in the equation was greater than 3.0 indicating good nutritional condition in the populations. Compared to populations of Korean chub in other streams, the population in Hwabuk Dam watershed had higher mean of condition factor by size indicating better growth rate. With fish fauna and multi-metric health assessment model in each sampling attempt, index of biotic integrity (IBI) was evaluated and it resulted mostly in good (26${\sim}$35) and excellent (36${\sim}$40) condition in all sites, and the mean of IBI was the highest in site 5. The results indicate that it is very important to study not only environmental impact assessment with fish composition but also stream health assessment in order to conserve healthy aquatic ecosystem.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.519-534
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• 2019

When the fresh water from the artificial lakes (Ganwolho and Bunamho) were discharged to Cheonsu Bay in summer to prevent the flood over the reclaimed farmland near the lakes, the impact on water qualities (nutrients, organic matters, trace metals) within the bay was investigated through four surveys (June, July, August and October, 2011). Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) increased about as much as 3-4 times over the whole water column when the freshwater was discharged. And the main species composition of DIN changed from ammonia to nitrate. Dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) decreased as much as 2 times in surface waters, but increased as much as 1.5 times in deep waters, and also silicate concentrations increased as much as 3-4 times in deep waters of the inner bay. The N/P ratios in Chunsu bay seawaters were much higher (2 to 7 times) than the Redfield ratio when the freshwaters were discharged, which indicated the phosphorus limiting in the phytoplankton growth. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) increased as much as about 2 times. In addition, particulate organic matters (POC, PON, POP, Bio-Si) increased as much as above 2 times in the surface waters of the inner bay. Trace metals (Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu) increased in the surface waters of the inner bay, but dissolved Cd concentrations decreased as much as 2 times. Therefore, when the contaminated fresh waters from the artificial lakes were discharged into the bay, nutrients, organic matters and trace metals generally increased compared to normal period. Since the phytoplankton bloom occurred in the surface waters of the inner bay, dissolved oxygens at the surface waters were oversaturated and hence hypoxic in the deep waters. Highly enriched nutrients concentrations were found in deep waters of the inner bay, which was accompanied with the hypoxic condition. Finally, the water quality in the inner bay of the Chunsu bay was deteriorated from less than grade 3 in normal periods to grade 5 when the freshwaters from the artificial lakes were discharged in summer.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.101 no.3
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• pp.333-343
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• 2012

In-stream large wood (LW) has a critical impact on the geomorphic characteristics relevant to ecosystem management and disaster prevention, yet relatively little is known about variations in its dynamics and subsequent export on the watershed-scale perspective in Korea. Here we review variations in the dynamics and subsequent export of LW as a function of stream size, which is appropriate for Korean mountain streams. In upstream channels with narrow bankfull widths and low stream discharges, a massive amount of LW, resulting from forest dynamics and hillslope processes, may persist for several decades on valley floor. These pieces, however, are eventually transported during infrequent debris flows from small tributaries, as well as peak hydrology in main-stem channels. During the transport, these pieces suffer fragmentation caused by frictions with boulders, and stream bank and bed. Although infrequent, these events can be dominant processes in the export of significant amounts of LW from upstream channel networks. In downstream channels with wide bankfull widths and high stream discharges, LW is dominantly recruited by forest dynamics and bank erosion only at locations where the channel is adjacent to mature riparian forests. With the LW pieces that are supplied from the upstream, these pieces are continuously transported downstream during rainfall events. This leads to further fragmentation of the LW pieces, which increases their transportability. With decreasing stream-bed slope, these floated LW pieces, however, can be stored and form logjams at various depositional sites, which were developed by interaction between channel forms and floodplains. These pieces may decay for decades and be subsequently transported as particulate or dissolved organic materials, resulting in the limitation of LW fluvial export from the systems. However, in Korea, such depositional sites were developed in the extremely limited streams with a large dimension and no flood history for decades, and thus it does not be expected that the reduction of LW export amount, which can be caused by the long-term storage. Our review presents a generalized view of LW processing and is relevant to ecosystem management and disaster prevention for Korean mountain streams.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.779-797
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• 2016

A calibrated hydrological model is a useful tool for quantifying the impacts of the climate variations and land use/land cover changes on sediment load, water quality and runoff. In the rainy season each year, the Xe Bang Fai river basin is provisionally flooded because of typhoons, the frequency and intensity of which are sensitive to ongoing climate change. Severe heavy rainfall has continuously occurred in this basin area, often causing severe floods at downstream of the Xe Bang Fai river basin. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the climate change impact on river discharge using a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model based on future climate change scenarios. In this study, the simulation of hydrological river discharge is used by SWAT model, covering a total area of $10,064km^2$ in the central part of country. The hydrological model (baseline) is calibrated and validated for two periods: 2001-2005 and 2006-2010, respectively. The monthly simulation outcomes during the calibration and validation model are good results with $R^2$ > 0.9 and ENS > 0.9. Because of ongoing climate change, three climate models (IPSL CM5A-MR 2030, GISS E2-R-CC 2030 and GFDL CM3 2030) indicate that the rainfall in this area is likely to increase up to 10% during the summer monsoon season in the near future, year 2030. As a result of these precipitation increases, the SWAT model predicts rainy season (Jul-Aug-Sep) river discharge at the Xebangfai@bridge station will be about $800m^3/s$ larger than the present. This calibrated model is expected to contribute for preventing flood disaster risk and sustainable development of Laos

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.268-286
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• 2018

The eutrophication and algal blooms by harmful cyanobacteria (CyanoHAs) and freshwater redtide (FRT) that severely experiencing in typical regulated weir system of the Nakdong River are one of the most rapidly expanding water quality problems in Korea and worldwide. To compare with the factors of rainfall, hydrology, and dominant algae, this study explored spatiotemporal variability of the major water environmental factors by weekly intervals in eight weir pools of the Nakdong River from January 2013 to July 2017. There was a distinct difference in rainfall distribution between upstream and downstream regions. Outflow discharge using small-scale hydropower generation, overflow and fish-ways accounted for 37.4%, 60.1% and 2.5%, respectively. Excluding the flood season, the outflow was mainly due to the hydropower release through year-round. These have been associated with the drawdown of water level, water exchange rate, and the significant impact on change of dominant algae. The mean concentration (maximum value) of chlorophyll-a was $17.6mg\;m^{-3}$ ($98.2mg\;m^{-3}$) in the SAJ~GAJ and $29.6mg\;m^{-3}$ ($193.6mg\;m^{-3}$) in the DAS~HAA weir pools reaches, respectively. It has increased significantly in the downstream part where the influence of treated wastewater effluents (TWEs) is high. Indeed, very high values (>50 or $>100mg\;m^{-3}$) of chlorophyll-a concentration were observed at low flow rates and water levels. Algal assemblages that caused the blooms of CyanoHAs and FRT were the cyanobacteria Microcystis and the diatom Stephanodiscus populations, respectively. In conclusion, appropriate hydrological management practices in terms of each weir pool may need to be developed.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.5_2
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• pp.747-763
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• 2022

Ocean salinity affects ocean circulation on a global scale and low salinity water around coastal areas often has an impact on aquaculture and fisheries. Microwave satellite sensors (e.g., Soil Moisture Active Passive [SMAP]) have provided sea surface salinity (SSS) based on the dielectric characteristics of water associated with SSS and sea surface temperature (SST). In this study, a Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM)-based model for generating high resolution SSS from Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) data was proposed, having machine learning-based improved SMAP SSS by Jang et al. (2022) as reference data (SMAP SSS (Jang)). Three schemes with different input variables were tested, and scheme 3 with all variables including Multi-scale Ultra-high Resolution SST yielded the best performance (coefficient of determination = 0.60, root mean square error = 0.91 psu). The proposed LGBM-based GOCI SSS had a similar spatiotemporal pattern with SMAP SSS (Jang), with much higher spatial resolution even in coastal areas, where SMAP SSS (Jang) was not available. In addition, when tested for the great flood occurred in Southern China in August 2020, GOCI SSS well simulated the spatial and temporal change of Changjiang Diluted Water. This research provided a potential that optical satellite data can be used to generate high resolution SSS associated with the improved microwave-based SSS especially in coastal areas.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.603-611
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• 2022

In urban areas, the impermeable area continues to increase due to urbanization, which interferes with the surface penetrating and infiltrating of rainwater, causing most rainwater runoff to the surface, deepening the distortion of water circulation. Distortion of water circulation affects not only flood disasters caused by rainfall and runoff, but also various aspects such as dry stream phenomenon, deterioration of water quality, and destruction of ecosystem balance, and the Ministry of Environment strongly recommends the use of Low Impact development (LID) techniques. In order to apply the LID technique, it is necessary to set a rainwater management target to handle the increase in outflow after the development of the target site, and the current standard sets the rainwater management target using the 10-year daily rainfall. In this study, the difference from the current standards was analyzed through statistical analysis and classification of independent rainfall ideas using inter-event time definition (IETD) in setting the target amount of rainwater management to improve water circulation. Using 30-year rainfall data from 1991 to 2020, methods such as autocorrelation coefficient (AC) analysis, variation coefficient (VC) analysis, and annual average number of rainfall event (NRE) analysis were applied, and IETD was selected according to the target rainfall period. The more samples the population had, the more IETD tended to increase. In addition, by analyzing the duration and time distribution of independent rainfall according to the IETD, a plan was proposed to calculate the standard design rainfall according to the rainwater management target amount. Therefore, it is expected that it will be possible to set an improved rainwater management target amount if sufficient samples of independent rainfall ideas are used through the selection of IETD as in this study.