• Atmosphere
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.471-480
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• 2011

This study investigates the characteristics of surface wind in North Korea using mesoscale model WRF. Hourly wind fields were simulated for one year representing mean characteristics of an 11-years period from 1998 to 2008. The simulations were performed on a nested grid from 27 km to 1 km horizontal resolution. The simulated wind map at 10 m above ground level is verified with 27 surface observations. Statistical verification skill score indicates that wind speed tends to overestimate in surface layer. The average RMSE value of the simulated wind speed is around $2.8ms^{-1}$. Wind map in North Korea showed that strong wind speed is distributed in the mountainous and western coastal region. The results of this wind mapping study contribute for the founding of wind energy potential location.

• Atmosphere
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2005

Land-surface and soil processes significantly affect mesoscale local weather systems as well as global/regional climate. In this study, characteristics of land-surface models (LSMs) and soil models (SMs) that are frequently coupled into mesoscale meteorological models are investigated. In addition, detailed analyses on three LSMs, employed by the PSU/NCAR MM5, are provided. Some impacts of LSMs on heavy rainfall prediction are also discussed.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.249-261
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• 2003

A three-dimensional mesoscale atmospheric dispersion modeling system consisting of the Lagrangian particle dispersion model (LPDM) and the meteorological mesoscale model (MM5) was employed to simulate the transport and dispersion of non-reactive pollutant during the nuclear spill event occurred from Sep. 31 to Oct. 3, 1999 in Tokaimura city, Japan. For the comparative analysis of numerical experiment, two more sets of foreign mesoscale modeling system; NCEP (National Centers for Environmental Prediction) and DWD (Deutscher Wetter Dienst) were also applied to address the applicability of air pollution dispersion predictions. We noticed that the simulated results of horizontal wind direction and wind velocity from three meteorological modeling showed remarkably different spatial variations, mainly due to the different horizontal resolutions. How-ever, the dispersion process by LPDM was well characterized by meteorological wind fields, and the time-dependent dilution factors ($\chi$/Q) were found to be qualitatively simulated in accordance with each mesocale meteorogical wind field, suggesting that LPDM has the potential for the use of the real time control at optimization of the urban air pollution provided detailed meteorological wind fields. This paper mainly pertains to the mesoscale modeling approaches, but the results imply that the resolution of meteorological model and the implementation of the relevant scale of air quality model lead to better prediction capabilities in local or urban scale air pollution modeling.

• Atmosphere
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.359-370
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• 2006

Terrain height variance spectra for the Korean mountain region are calculated in order to determine an adequate grid size required to resolve terrain forcing on mesoscale model simulation. One-dimensional spectral analysis is applied to specifically the central-eastern part of the Korean mountain region, where topographical-scale forcing has an important effect on mesoscale atmospheric flow. It is found that the terrain height variance spectra in this mountain region has a wavelength dependence with the power law exponents of 1.5 at the wavelength near 30 km, but this dependence is steeply changed to 2.5 at the wavelength less than 30 km. For the adequate horizontal grid size selection on mesoscale simulation two-dimensional terrain height spectral analysis is also performed. There is no directionality within 50% of spectral energy region, so one-dimensional spectral analysis can be reasonably applied to the Korea Peninsula. According to the spectral analysis of terrain height variance, the finer grid size which is higher than 6 km is required to resolve a 90% of terrain variance in this region. Numerical simulation using WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting Model) was performed to evaluate the effect of different terrain resolution in accordance with the result of spectral analysis. The simulated results were quantitatively compared to observations and there was a significant improvement in the wind prediction across the mountain region as the grid space decreased from 18 km to 2 km. The results will provide useful guidance of grid size selection on mesoscale topographical simulation over the Korean mountain region.

• Atmosphere
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.237-248
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• 2008

A thermal index which considers metabolic heat generation of human body is proposed for operational forecasting. The new thermal index, Perceived Temperature (PT), is forecasted using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model and validated. Forecasted PT shows the characteristics of diurnal variation and topographic and latitudinal effect. Statistical skill scores such as correlation, bias, and RMSE are employed for objective verification of PT and input meteorological variables which are used for calculating PT. Verification result indicates that the accuracy of air temperature and wind forecast is higher in the initial forecast time, while relative humidity is improved as the forecast time increases. The forecasted PT during 2007 summer is lower than PT calculated by observation data. The predicted PT has a minimum Root-Mean-Square-Error (RMSE) of $7-8^{\circ}C$ at 9-18 hour forecast. Spatial distribution of PT shows that it is overestimated in western region, while PT in middle-eastern region is underestimated due to strong wind and low temperature forecast. Underestimation of wind speed and overestimation of relative humidity have caused higher PT than observation in southern region. The predicted PT from the mesoscale model gives appropriate information as a thermal index forecast. This study suggests that forecasted PT is applicable to the prediction of health warning based on the relationship between PT and mortality.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.11-14
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• 2003

Development pollution control strategies relies on photo-chemical transport models. These models integrate of mesoscale meteorological models with chemical moduls. In this study, the PSU/NCAR mesoscale meteorological model with CAMx is used to investigate the temporal and spatial dynamics of the photochemical air pollution in urban atmosphere of Istanbul for selected high ozone days. The ozone climatology for the selected days and model simulations are presented.

• Atmosphere
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2012

The Atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) derived using infrared (IR) channel imagery of geostationary satellites have been utilized widely for real-time weather analysis and data assimilation into global numerical prediction model. As the horizontal resolution of sensors on-board satellites gets higher, it becomes possible to identify atmospheric motions induced by convective clouds ($meso-{\beta}$ and $meso-{\gamma}$ scales). The National Institute of Meteorological Research (NIMR) developed the high resolution visible (HRV) AMV algorithm to detect mesoscale atmospheric motions including ageostrophic flows. To retrieve atmospheric motions smaller than $meso-{\beta}$ scale effectively, the target size is reduced and the visible channel imagery of geostationary satellite with 1 km resolution is used. For the accurate AMVs, optimal conditions are decided by investigating sensitivity of algorithm to target selection and correction method of height assignment. The results show that the optimal conditions are target size of 32 km ${\times}$ 32 km, the grid interval as same as target size, and the optimal target selection method. The HRV AMVs derived with these conditions depict more effectively tropical cyclone OMAIS than IR AMVs and the mean speed of HRV AMVs in OMAIS is slightly faster than that of IR AMVs. Optimized mesoscale AMVs are derived for 6 months (Feb. 2010-Jun. 2010) and validated with radiosonde observations, which indicates NIMR's HRV AMV algorithm can retrieve successfully mesoscale atmospheric motions.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.105-113
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• 1991

An investigation is carried out for the role of topography in governign the mesoscale distribution of $SO_2$ concentration in Seoul. The three dimensional wind fields computed for a given synoptic meteorological condition by an atmospheric mesoscale model in the terrain following coordinate have been employed to compute the three dimensional mesoscale distributions of $SO_2$ concentration by the diffusion model in Seoul area. Terrain may affect the mesoscale distributions of $SO_2$ concentration through its influence on the mesoscale wind fields. This study discusses only the terrain effect on the concentration through its modification of the wind. This effect is to produce higher concentration in lower area according to the structure of divergence fields derived from and atmospheric mesoscale model.

• Atmosphere
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.195-210
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• 2010

This study uses mesoscale model WRF to investigate characteristics of wind fields in South Korea, a region with a complex terrain. Hourly wind fields were simulated for one year representing mean characteristics of an 11-year period from year 1998 to year 2008. The simulations were performed on a nested grid from 27 km down to 1 km horizontal resolution. Seasonal variation of wind speed indicates that wind is strongest during the spring and winter seasons. Spatial distribution of mean wind speed shows wind energy potential at its peak in mountainous region of Gangwon-do, the east coast, and Jeju Island. Wind speed peaks at night in mountainous and eastern coastal regions, and in the afternoon inland and in the southwestern coastal region. The simulated wind map was verified with four upper-air sounding observations. Wind speed was shown to have a more pronounced overestimation tendency relative to observation in the winter rather than summer. The results of this wind mapping study help identify locations with the highest wind energy potential in South Korea.

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.165-173
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• 2008

In this article, we describe a simple yet effective method for insertion of observational datasets in a mesoscale atmospheric model used in one-dimensional configuration through Nudging. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique, vertical profiles of meteorological parameters obtained from GLASS Sonde launches from a tiny island of Kaashidhoo in the Republic of Maldives are injected in a mesoscale atmospheric model - Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS), and model simulated parameters are compared with the available observational datasets. Analysis of one-time nudging in the model simulations over Kaashidhoo show that incorporation of this technique reasonably improves the model simulations within a time domain of +6 to +12 Hrs, while its impact on +18 Hrs simulations and beyond becomes literally null.