• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.186-194
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• 2001

The operational meso-scale short range NWP system was developed for Cheju Regional Meteorological Office located at Cheju island, Korea. The Central Meteorological Service Center, KMA has reported the information on numerical weather prediction every 12 hours. But this information is not enough to determine the detail forecast for the regional meteorological office because the terrain of the Korean peninsula is very complex and the resolution of the numerical model provided by KMA headquarter is too coarse to resolve the local severe weather system such as heavy rainfall. LAPS and MM5 models were chosen for three-dimentional data assimilation and numerical weather prediction tools respectively. LAPS was designed to provide the initial data to all regional numerical prediction models including MM5. Synoptic observational data from GTS, satellite brightness temperature data from GMS-5 and the composite reflectivity data from 5 radar sites were used in the LAPS data assimilation for producing the initial data. MM5 was performed on PC-cluster based on 16 pentium CPUs which was one of the cheapest distributed parallel computer in these days. We named this system as Halla Short Range Prediction System (HSRPS). HSRPS was verified by heavy rainfall case in July 9, 1999, it showed that HSRPS well resolved local severe weather which was not simulated by 30 km MM5/KMA. Especially, the structure of rainfall amount was very close to the corresponding observation. HSRPS will be operating every 6 hours in the Cheju Regional Meteorological Office from April 2000.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2023

The ionosphere is one of the key components of the near-Earth's space environment and has a practical consequence to the human society as a nearest region of the space environment to the Earth. Therefore, it becomes essential to specify and forecast the state of the ionosphere using both the observations and numerical models. In particular, numerical modeling of the ionosphere is a prerequisite not only for better understanding of the physical processes occurring within the ionosphere but also for the specification and forecast of the space weather. There are several approaches for modeling the ionosphere, including data-based empirical modeling, physics-based theoretical modeling and data assimilation modeling. In this review, these three types of the ionospheric model are briefly introduced with recently available models. And among those approaches, fundamental aspects of the physics-based ionospheric model will be described using the basic equations governing the mid-latitude ionosphere. Then a numerical solution of the equations will be discussed with required boundary conditions.

• Atmosphere
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.197-208
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• 2011

The objective of this study is to describe the short-range forecast system of the Korea Air Force (KAF) and to verificate its performace in 2009 summer. The KAF weather prediction model system, based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model (i.e., the KAF-WRF), is configured with a parent domain overs East Asia and two nested domains with the finest horizontal grid size of 2 km. Each domain covers the Korean peninsula and South Korea, respectively. The model is integrated for 84 hour 4 times a day with the initial and boundary conditions from National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS) data. A quantitative verification system is constructed for the East Asia and Korean peninsula domains. Verification variables for the East Asia domain are 500 hPa temperature, wind and geopotential height fields, and the skill score is calculated using the difference between the analysis data from the NCEP GFS model and the forecast data of the KAF-WRF model results. Accuracy of precipitation for the Korean penisula domain is examined using the contingency table that is made of the KAF-WRF model results and the KMA (Korea Meteorological Administraion) AWS (Automatic Weather Station) data. Using the verification system, the operational model and parallel model with updated version of the WRF model and improved physics process are quantitatively evaluated for the 2009 summer. Over the East Aisa region, the parallel experimental model shows the better performance than the operation model. Errors of the experimental model in 500 hPa geopotential height near the Tibetan plateau are smaller than errors in the operational model. Over the Korean peninsula, verification of precipitation prediction skills shows that the performance of the operational model is better than that of the experimental one in simulating light precipitation. However, performance of experimental one is generally better than that of operational one, in prediction.

• Atmosphere
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.303-318
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• 2006

A parameterization of gravity wave drag induced by cumulus convection (GWDC) proposed by Chun and Baik is implemented in the KMA operational global NWP model (GDAPS), and effects of the GWDC on the forecast for July 2005 by GDAPS are investigated. The forecast result is compared with NCEP final analyses data (FNL) and model's own analysis data. Cloud-top gravity wave stresses are concentrated in the tropical region, and the resultant forcing by the GWDC is strong in the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Nevertheless, the effect of the GWDC is strong in the mid- to high latitudes of Southern Hemisphere and high latitudes of Northern Hemisphere. By examining the effect of the GWDC on the amplitude of the geopotential height perturbation with zonal wavenumbers 1-3, it is found that impact of the GWDC is extended to the high latitudes through the change of planetary wave activity, which is maximum in the winter hemisphere. The GWDC reduces the amplitude of zonal wavenumber 1 but increases wavenumber 2 in the winter hemisphere. This change alleviates model biases in the zonal wind not only in the lower stratosphere where the GWDC is imposed, but also in the whole troposphere, especially in the mid- to high latitudes of Southern Hemisphere. By examining root mean square error, it is found that the GWDC parameterization improves GDAPS forecast skill in the Southern Hemisphere before 7 days and partially in the Northern Hemisphere after about 5 days.

• Atmosphere
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.171-186
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• 2013

Recently, the number of observations used in a data assimilation system is increasing due to the enormous amount of observations, including satellite data. However, it is not clear that all of these observations are always beneficial to the performance of the numerical weather prediction (NWP). Therefore, it is important to evaluate the effect of observations on these forecasts so that the observations can be used more usefully in NWP process. In this study, the adjoint-based Forecast Sensitivity to Observation (FSO) method with the KMA Unified Model (UM) is applied to two high-impact weather events which occurred in summer and winter in Korea in an effort to investigate the effects of observations on the forecasts of these events. The total dry energy norm is used as a response function to calculate the adjoint sensitivity. For the summer case, TEMP observations have the greatest total impact while BOGUS shows the greatest impact per observation for all of the 24-, 36-, and 48-hour forecasts. For the winter case, aircraft, ATOVS, and ESA have the greatest total impact for the 24-, 36-, and 48-hour forecasts respectively, while ESA has the greatest impact per observation. Most of the observation effects are horizontally located upwind or in the vicinity of the Korean peninsula. The fraction of beneficial observations is less than 50%, which is less than the results in previous studies. As an additional experiment, the total moist energy norm is used as a response function to measure the sensitivity of 24-hour forecast error to observations. The characteristics of the observation impact with the moist energy response function are generally similar to those with the dry energy response function. However, the ATOVS observations were found to be sensitive to the response function, showing a positive (a negative) effect on the forecast when using the dry (moist) norm for the summer case. For the winter case, the dry and moist energy norm experiments show very similar results because the adjoint of KMA UM does not calculate the specific humidity of ice properly such that the dry and moist energy norms are very similar except for the humidity in air that is very low in winter.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.158-170
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• 2015

This study evaluates the wind speed forecast near the surface layer using the Weather Research Forecasting with Large Eddy Simulation (WRF-LES) model in order to compare the planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization with the LES model in terms of different spatial resolution. A numerical simulation is conducted with 1-km and 333-m horizontal resolution over the Gangwon Province including complex mountains and coastal region. The numerical experiments with 1-km and 333-m horizontal resolution employ PBL parameterization and LES, respectively. The wind speed forecast in mountainous region shows a better forecast performance in 333-m experiment than in 1-km, while wind speed in coastal region is similar to the observation in 1-km spatial resolution experiment. Therefore, LES experiment, which directly simulates the turbulence process near the surface layer, contributes to more accurate forecast of surface wind speed in mountainous regions.

• Atmosphere
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.299-316
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• 2008

The intensive upper-air observation network was organized over southwestern region of the Korean Peninsula during the Korea Enhanced Observing Program in 2005 (KEOP-2005). In order to examine the effect of additional upper-air observation on the numerical weather forecasting, three Observing System Experiments (OSEs) using Korea Local Analysis and Prediction System (KLAPS) and Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with KEOP-2005 data are conducted. Cold start case with KEOP-2005 data presents a remarkable predictability difference with only conventional observation data in the downstream and along the Changma front area. The sensitivity of the predictability tends to decrease under the stable atmosphere. Our results indicates that the effect of intensive observation plays a role in the forecasting of the sensitive area in the numerical model, especially under the unstable atmospheric conditions. When the intensive upper-air observation data (KEOP-2005 data) are included in the OSEs, the predictability of precipitation is partially improved. Especially, when KEOP-2005 data are assimilated at 6-hour interval, the predictability on the heavy rainfall showing higher Critical Success Index (CSI) is highly improved. Therefore it is found that KEOP-2005 data play an important role in improving the position and intensity of the simulated precipitation system.

• Atmosphere
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.257-267
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• 2019

This study is to assess the applicability of the Extreme Forecast Index (EFI) algorithm of the ECMWF seasonal forecast system to the Global Seasonal Forecasting System version 5 (GloSea5), operational seasonal forecast system of the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). The EFI is based on the difference between Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) curves of the model's climate data and the current ensemble forecast distribution, which is essential to diagnose the predictability in the extreme cases. To investigate its applicability, the experiment was conducted during the heat-wave cases (the year of 1994 and 2003) and compared GloSea5 hindcast data based EFI with anomaly data of ERA-Interim. The data also used to determine quantitative estimates of Probability Of Detection (POD), False Alarm Ratio (FAR), and spatial pattern correlation. The results showed that the area of ERA-Interim indicating above 4-degree temperature corresponded to the area of EFI 0.8 and above. POD showed high ratio (0.7 and 0.9, respectively), when ERA-Interim anomaly data were the highest (on Jul. 11, 1994 (> $5^{\circ}C$) and Aug. 8, 2003 (> $7^{\circ}C$), respectively). The spatial pattern showed a high correlation in the range of 0.5~0.9. However, the correlation decreased as the lead time increased. Furthermore, the case of Korea heat wave in 2018 was conducted using GloSea5 forecast data to validate EFI showed successful prediction for two to three weeks lead time. As a result, the EFI forecasts can be used to predict the probability that an extreme weather event of interest might occur. Overall, we expected these results to be available for extreme weather forecasting.

• Atmosphere
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.411-422
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• 2017

The aim of this research is to review recent trends in weather and climate research in North Korea. We selected North Korean journal 'Weather and Hydrology' for the last 10 years (2007-2016), and identified trends in research subject, researchers, and affiliations. Furthermore, we analyzed the major achievements and trends by research sector. Our main results are same as follows. The largest number of researches on 'modernization and informatization on prediction' have been carried out in North Korea's recent meteorological and climatological research. This could be implicated that the scope of national science policy directly affected the promotion of specific research field. Especially, North Korea was evaluated to be concentrating its efforts on numerical model research and development. The numerical model which enables very short-term (6 hours) rainfall forecast which using ensemble Kalman filter data assimilation method (4D EnKF) was developed. In addition, development of automatic weather system and improvement of the data transfer system were promoted. However, the result reveals that the automated real-time data transfer system was not fully equipped yet. These results could be used as a basic data for meteorological cooperation between South and North Korea.

• Atmosphere
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.419-432
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• 2014

An assessment of typhoon intensity predictability of numerical models was conducted to develop the typhoon intensity forecast guidance comparing with the RSMC-Tokyo best track data. Root mean square error, box plot analysis and time series of wind speed comparison were performed to evaluate the each model error level. One of noticeable fact is that all models have a trend of error increase as typhoon becomes stronger and the Global Forecast System showed the best performance among the models. In the detailed analysis in two typhoon cases [Danas (1324) and Haiyan (1330)], GFS showed good performance in maximum wind speed and intensity trend in the best track, however it could not simulate well the rapid intensity increasing period. On the other hand, ECMWF and Hurricane-WRF overestimated the typhoon intensity but simulated track trend well.