• Atmosphere
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.345-370
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• 2009

Numerical experiments using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model were done to identify the role of the mountain ranges in the northern part of the Peninsula (referred as "the northern mountain complex"), in the occurrence of two heavy snowfall events over the Yeongdong region on 7-8 December 2002 and 20-21 January 2008. To this end, control simulations with the topography of the northern mountain complex and other simulations without the topography of the mountain complex were performed. It was revealed that the amount of snowfall over the Yeongdong region from the control simulation much more exceeded that of the simulation without the topography of the mountain complex. This increase of the snowfall amount over the Yeongdong region can be explained as follows: As the upstream flow approached the northern mountain complex, it deflected around the northern mountain complex due to the blocking effect of the mountains with a low Froude number less than ~0.16. This lead to the strengthening of northeasterly over the East Sea and over the Yeongdong region. The strong northeasterly is accompanied with much more snowfall over the Yeongdong region by intensifying air-mass modification over the sea and the orographic effect of the Taeback mountains. Thus, it was concluded that the topography of the northern mountain complex is one of the main factors in determining the distribution and amount of precipitation in the Yeongdong region when there is an expansion of the Siberian High toward the East Sea.

• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.51-66
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• 2015

This study was conducted to perform various sensitivity experiments using WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model in order to determine the effects of terrains of the Korean Peninsula and the land-sea thermal contrast on the formation and development of the convergent cloud band for the cases of 1 February 2012. The sensitivity experiments consist of the following five ones: CNTL experiment (control experiment), and TMBT experiment, BDMT experiment and ALL experiment that set the terrain altitude of Taeback Mountains and Northern mountain complex as zero, respectively, and the altitude of the above-mentioned two mountains as zero, and LANDSEA experiment that set to change the Korean Peninsula into sea in order to find out the land-sea thermal contrast effect. These experiment results showed that a cold air current stemming from the Siberian high pressure met the group of northern mountains with high topography altitude and was separated into two air currents. These two separated air currents met each other again on the Middle and Northern East Sea, downstream of the group of northern mountains and converged finally, creating the convergent cloud band. And these experiments suggested that the convergent cloud band located on the Middle and Northern East Sea, and the cloud band lying on the southern East sea to the coastal waters of the Japanese Island facing the East Sea, were generated and developed by different dynamical mechanisms. Also it was found that the topography of Taeback Mountains created a warm air advection region due to temperature rise by adiabatic compression near the coastal waters of Yeongdong Region, downstream of the mountains. In conclusion, these experiment results clearly showed that the most essential factor having an effect on the generation and development of the convergent cloud band was the topography effect of the northern mountain complex, and that the land-sea thermal contrast effect was insignificant.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.41 no.3 s.114
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• pp.283-300
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• 2006

Gaesung city of North Korea is meaningful because of the development of Gaesung industrial complex as a peace-building project and economical cooperation works between South Korea and North Korea. This article presents the characteristics of natural landscape of Gaesung through geographical names. This research was studied by literature analysis of North Korea, depth interview of North Korean labour and refugees, and second times fieldwork. The main results of this study are as follows. Firstly, the mountain landscape of Geasung revealed on geographical names characterized mountainousness and round shape. Especially, the places where are enclosed by mountain and streams are foggy and rocky. Next the landscape of stream characterizes sandy, unstable, and tidal river. Thirdly the fauna and flora which are reflected on geographical names are hawk, snake, tiger, homed owl, snapping turtle, chestnut tree, pine tree, pear tree, zelkova tree, and willow etcetera. The environmental conditions of habitation of these are similar to the natural environment of Gaesung. Besides, the geographical names related to soil distributed in northern mountain area of Geasung. The place names implicated cliff located on the riverside. In addition to this, the geographical name of 'Bul' implicated plain distributed in the riverside of 'Seoam' which a branch stream of 'Sacheo'. And the place names related rock located in place enclosed by mountain, river, and village. In cnclusion, Gaesung is more important to us as the Gaesung industrial complex and tourism development. But the fundamental research on Gaesung is a few because Gaesung belongs to North Korea. Therefore, this research will be useful for the control and management of Gaesung in the future.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.46-56
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• 2011

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the wind energy resources with high spatial resolution in Sunghak and Guduck mountains in Busan Metropolitan area under the various atmospheric stabilities. The numerical model used in this research is A2C (Atmosphere to CFD), mainly applied to assess the regional scale and microscale meteorological phenformin. Wind under the strong atmospheric stability moves around mountain side smoothly due to the strong potential energy. On the other hand, the cavity region on the lee side of mountain tends to be created and expanded as the atmospheric stability decrease. Annually the average distribution of wind power density, turbulence kinetic energy, and vertical wind shear help to explain quantitatively that wind resource near the northern side of Guduck mountain top is more suitable to establish wind energy complex than that in any other regions in the target area.

• Atmosphere
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.325-342
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• 2019

Precipitation and no-precipitation events under the influence of the Siberian high pressure system in Yeondong region, were analysed and classified as four types [obvious precipitation event (OP) type, obvious no-precipitation event (ON) type, ambiguous precipitation event (AP) type and ambiguous no-precipitation event (AN) type], according to the easiness in determining whether to have precipitation or not in Yeongdong region, to help in improving the forecast skill. Concerning the synoptic pressure pattern, for OP type, the ridge of Siberian high extends from Lake Baikal toward Northeast China, and there is a northerly wind upstream of the northern mountain complex (located near the Korean-Chinese border). On the other hand, for ON type, the ridge of Siberian high extends southeastward from Lake Baikal, and there is a westerly wind upstream of the northern mountain complex. The pressure pattern of AP type was similar to the OP type and that of AN type was also similar to ON type. Thus it was difficult to differentiate AP type and OP type and AN type and ON type based on the synoptic pressure pattern only. The four types were determined by U (wind speed normal to the Taebaek mountains) and Froude number (FN). That is, for OP type, average FN and U at Yeongdong coast are ~2.0 and ${\sim}6m\;s^{-1}$, and those at Yeongseo region are 0.0 and $0.1m\;s^{-1}$, respectively. On the contrary, for ON type, average FN and U at Yeongdong coast are 0.0 and $0.2m\;s^{-1}$, and those at Yeongseo region are ~1.0 and ${\sim}4m\;s^{-1}$, respectively. For AP type, average FN and U at Yeongdong coast are ~1.0 and ${\sim}4m\;s^{-1}$, and those at Yeongseo region are 0.0 and $0.2m\;s^{-1}$, whereas for AN type, average FN and U at Yeongdong coast are 0.1 and $0.6m\;s^{-1}$ and those at Yeongseo region are ~1.0 and ${\sim}3m\;s^{-1}$, respectively. Based on the result, a schematic diagram for each type was suggested.

• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.577-598
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• 2016

Observational and numerical studies have been carried out to understand the cause and development processes of the heavy rainfall over the middle Korean Peninsula during 0300 LST-1500 LST 29 June 2011 (LST = UTC + 0900). The heavy rainfall event occurred as the synoptic-scale ridge extended from Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) was maintained over East Asia. Observational analysis indicates that the heavy rainfall is mainly due to scattered convective systems, formed over the Yellow Sea, traveling northeastward across the middle peninsula without further organization into larger systems during 0300 LST-0800 LST, and mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) over the Yellow Sea, transformed into a squall line, traveling eastward during 0800 LST-1500 LST. Organization of convective systems into MCSs can be found over the area of mesoscale trough and convergence zone in the northern end of the low-level jet (LLJ) after 0600 LST. Both observational and numerical investigations indicate that a strong LLJ extended from the East China Sea to the Yellow Sea plays an essential role for the occurrence of heavy rainfall. The strong LLJ develops in between the WPSH and a pressure trough over eastern China. Numerical experiments indicate that the land-sea contrast of solar heating of surface and latent heating due to convective developments are the major factors for the development of the pressure trough in eastern China. Numerical study has also revealed that the mountainous terrain including the mountain complex in the northern Korean Peninsula contributes to the increase of rainfall amount in the middle part of the peninsula.