• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.323-336
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• 2020

Owing to climate change, the annual precipitation in Korea has increased since the 20th century, and it is projected to continue increasing in the future. This trend of increasing precipitation will raise the possibility of floods; hence, it is necessary to establish national adaptation plans for floods, based on a reasonable flood risk assessment. Therefore, this study focuses on developing a framework that can assess the flood risk across the country, as well as computing the flood risk index (FRI). The framework, which is based on IPCC AR5, is established as a combination of three indicators: hazard, exposure, and capacity. A data-based approach was used, and the weights of each component were assigned to improve the validity of the FRI. A Spearman correlation analysis between the FRI and flood damage verified that the index was capable of assessing potential flood damage. When predicting scenarios for future assessment using the HadGEM3-RA based on RCP 4.5 and 8.5, the flood risk tends to be lower in the early and mid-21st century, and it becomes higher at the end of the 21st century as compared with the present.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.21 no.spc
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• pp.39-50
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• 2019

This study aims to assess the influence of climate change on the hydrological cycle at a basin level in North Korea. The selected model for this study is MRI-CGCM 3, the one used for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Moreover, this study adopted the Spatial Disaggregation-Quantile Delta Mapping (SDQDM), which is one of the stochastic downscaling techniques, to conduct the bias correction for climate change scenarios. The comparison between the preapplication and postapplication of the SDQDM supported the study's review on the technique's validity. In addition, as this study determined the influence of climate change on the hydrological cycle, it also observed the runoff in North Korea. In predicting such influence, parameters of a runoff model used for the analysis should be optimized. However, North Korea is classified as an ungauged region for its political characteristics, and it was difficult to collect the country's runoff observation data. Hence, the study selected 16 basins with secured high-quality runoff data, and the M-RAT model's optimized parameters were calculated. The study also analyzed the correlation among variables for basin characteristics to consider multicollinearity. Then, based on a phased regression analysis, the study developed an equation to calculate parameters for ungauged basin areas. To verify the equation, the study assumed the Osipcheon River, Namdaecheon Stream, Yongdang Reservoir, and Yonggang Stream as ungauged basin areas and conducted cross-validation. As a result, for all the four basin areas, high efficiency was confirmed with the efficiency coefficients of 0.8 or higher. The study used climate change scenarios and parameters of the estimated runoff model to assess the changes in hydrological cycle processes at a basin level from climate change in the Amnokgang River of North Korea. The results showed that climate change would lead to an increase in precipitation, and the corresponding rise in temperature is predicted to cause elevating evapotranspiration. However, it was found that the storage capacity in the basin decreased. The result of the analysis on flow duration indicated a decrease in flow on the 95th day; an increase in the drought flow during the periods of Future 1 and Future 2; and an increase in both flows for the period of Future 3.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.562-581
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• 2018

This study was designed to predict the changes in species richness of plants under the climate change in South Korea. The target species were selected based on the Plants Adaptable to Climate Change in the Korean Peninsula. Altogether, 89 species including 23 native plants, 30 northern plants, and 36 southern plants. We used the Species Distribution Model to predict the potential habitat of individual species under the climate change. We applied ten single-model algorithms and the pre-evaluation weighted ensemble method. And then, species richness was derived from the results of individual species. Two representative concentration pathways (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) were used to simulate the species richness of plants in 2050 and 2070. The current species richness was predicted to be high in the national parks located in the Baekdudaegan mountain range in Gangwon Province and islands of the South Sea. The future species richness was predicted to be lower in the national park and the Baekdudaegan mountain range in Gangwon Province and to be higher for southern coastal regions. The average value of the current species richness showed that the national park area was higher than the whole area of South Korea. However, predicted species richness were not the difference between the national park area and the whole area of South Korea. The difference between current and future species richness of plants could be the disappearance of a large number of native and northern plants from South Korea. The additional reason could be the expansion of potential habitat of southern plants under climate change. However, if species dispersal to a suitable habitat was not achieved, the species richness will be reduced drastically. The results were different depending on whether species were dispersed or not. This study will be useful for the conservation planning, establishment of the protected area, restoration of biological species and strategies for adaptation of climate change.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.13-29
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• 2018

This study presented evaluation procedure for selecting appropriate GCMs and downscaling method by focusing on the climate extreme indices suitable for climate change adaptation. The procedure includes six stages of processes as follows: 1) exclusion of unsuitable GCM through raw GCM analysis before bias correction; 2) calculation of the climate extreme indices and selection of downscaling method by evaluating reproducibility for the past and distortion rate for the future period; 3) selection of downscaling method based on evaluation of reproducibility of spatial correlation among weather stations; and 4) MME calculation using weight factors and evaluation of uncertainty range depending on number of GCMs. The presented procedure was applied to 60 weather stations where there are observed data for the past 30 year period on Korea Peninsula. First, 22 GCMs were selected through the evaluation of the spatio-temporal reproducibility of 29 GCMs. Between Simple Quantile Mapping (SQM) and Spatial Disaggregation Quantile Delta Mapping (SDQDM) methods, SQM was selected based on the reproducibility of 27 climate extreme indices for the past and reproducibility evaluation of spatial correlation in precipitation and temperature. Total precipitation (prcptot) and annual 1-day maximum precipitation (rx1day), which is respectively related to water supply and floods, were selected and MME-based future projections were estimated for near-future (2010-2039), the mid-future (2040-2069), and the far-future (2070-2099) based on the weight factors by GCM. The prcptot and rx1day increased as time goes farther from the near-future to the far-future and RCP 8.5 showed a higher rate of increase in both indices compared to RCP 4.5 scenario. It was also found that use of 20 GCM out of 22 explains 80% of the overall variation in all combinations of RCP scenarios and future periods. The result of this study is an example of an application in Korea Peninsula and APCC Integrated Modeling Solution (AIMS) can be utilized in various areas and fields if users want to apply the proposed procedure directly to a target area.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2022

Global warming has a major impact on the Earth's precipitation and temperature fluctuations, and significantly affects the habitats and biodiversity of many species. Although the number of alien plants newly introduced in South Korea has recently increased due to the increasing frequency of international exchanges and climate change, studies on how climate change affects the distribution of these alien plants are lacking. This study predicts changes in the distribution of suitable habitats according to RCPs climate change scenarios using the current distribution of the invasive alien plant Conyza sumatrensis and bioclimatic variables. C. sumatrensis has a limited distribution in the southern part of South Korea. Isothermality (bio03), the max temperature of the warmest month (bio05), and the mean temperature of the driest quarter (bio09) were found to influence the distribution of C. sumatrensis. In the future, the suitable habitat for C. sumatrensis is projected to increase under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 climate change scenarios. Changes in the distribution of alien plants can have a significant impact on the survival of native plants and cause ecosystem disturbance. Therefore, studies on changing distribution of invasive species according to climate change scenarios can provide useful information required to plan conservation strategies and restoration plans for various ecosystems.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.313-323
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• 2016

Water temperature affects physical and biological processes in ecologies on river system and is important conditions for growth rate and spawning of fish species. The objective of this study is to compare models for water temperature during the summer season for the Fourchue River (St-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska, Quebec, Canada). For this, three different models, which are CEQUEAU, Auto-regressive Moving Average with eXogenous input and Nonlinear Autoregressive with eXogenous input, were applied and compared. Also, future water temperature in the Fourchue river were simulated and analyzed its result based on the CMIP5 climate models, RCP 2.6, 4.5, 8.5 climate change scenarios. As the result of the study, the water temperature in the Fourchue river are actually changed and median water temperature will increase $0.2{\sim}0.7^{\circ}C$ in June and could decrease by $0.2{\sim}1.1^{\circ}C$ in September. Also, the UILT ($24.9^{\circ}C$) for brook trout are also likely to occurred for several days.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.127-137
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• 2014

The main purpose of this study is to estimate tradial growth response and to predict the potential spatial distribution of major tree species(Pinus densiflora, Quercus mongolica, Quercus spp., Castanea crenata and Larix kaempferi) in South Korea, considering climate and topographic factors. To estimate radial growth response, $5^{th}$ National Forest Inventory data, Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) and climatic data such as temperature and precipitation were used. Also, to predict the potential spatial distribution of major tree species, RCP 8.5 Scenario was applied. By our analysis, it was found that the rising temperature would have negative impacts on radial growth of Pinus densiflora, Castanea crenata and Larix kaempferi, and positive impacts on that of Quercus mongolica, Quercus spp.. Incremental precipitation would have positive effects on radial growth of Pinus densiflora and Quercus mongolica. When radial growth response considered by RCP 8.5 scenario, it was found that the radial growth of Pinus densiflora, Castanea crenata and Larix kaempferi would be more vulnerable than that of Quercus mongolica and Quercus spp. to temperature. According to the climate change scenario, Quercus spp. including Quercus mongolica would be expected to have greater abundance than its present status in South Korea. The result of this study would be helpful for understanding the impact of climatic factors on tree growth and for predicting the distribution of major tree species by climate change in South Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2016

Climate change is the issue that attracts the most attention in the field of environment, as well as the most challenging task faced by the human race. There are various ways to resolve this issue. South Korea has established the primary and secondary national climate change adaptation plans at the national level, and is making it compulsory for each local government (lower and municipal-level) to establish climate change adaptation plans. Climate change vulnerability assessment plays an essential role in establishing climate change adaptation action plans. However, vulnerability assessment has a difficulty performing individual assessments since the results are produced through complex calculations of multiple impact factors. Accordingly, this study developed a web-based supporting tool(VESTAP) for climate change vulnerability assesment that can be used by lower and municipal-level local governments. The VESTAP consists of impact DB and vulnerability assessment and display tool. The index DB includes total 455 impacts of future climate data simulated with RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) 4.5 and 8.5, atmospheric environment data, other humanities and social statistics, and metadata. The display tool has maximized convenience by providing various analytical functions such as spatial distribution, bias and schematization of each vulnerability assessment result. A pilot test of health vulnerability assessment by particulate matters in Sejong Metropolitan Autonomous City was performed using the VESTAP, and Bukang-myeon showed the highest vulnerability. By using the developed tool, each local government is expected to be able to establish climate change adaptation action plans more easily and conveniently based on scientific evidence.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.103 no.1
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• pp.105-112
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• 2014

The main purpose of this study is to measure spatio-temporal variation of forest tree volume based on the RCP(Representative Concentration Pathway) 8.5 scenario, targeting on Pinus densiflora forests which is the main tree species in South Korea. To estimate nationwide scale, $5^{th}$ forest type map and National Forest Inventory data were used. Also, to reflect the impact of change in place and climate on growth of forest trees, growth model reflecting the climate and topography features were applied. The result of the model validation, which compared the result of the model with the forest statistics of different cities and provinces, showed a high suitability. Considering the continuous climate change, volume of Pinus densiflora forest is predicted to increase from $131m^3/ha$ at present to $212.42m^3/ha$ in the year of 2050. If the climate maintains as the present, volume is predicted to increase to $221.92m^3/ha$. With the climate change, it is predicted that most of the region, except for some of the alpine region, will have a decrease in growth rate of Pinus densiflora forest. The growth rate of Pinus densiflora forest will have a greater decline, especially in the coastal area and the southern area. With the result of this study, it will be possible to quantify the effect of climate change on the growth of Pinus densiflora forest according to spatio-temporal is possible. The result of the study can be useful in establishing the forest management practices, considering the adaptation of climate change.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2022

Climate change has increased the average air temperature. Rising air temperature are absorbed by water bodies, leading to increasing water temperature. Increased water temperature will cause eutrophication and excess algal growth, which will reduce water quality. In this study, long-term trends of air and water temperatures in the Han-river basin over the period of 1997-2020 were discussed to assess the impacts of climate change. Future (~2100s) levels of air temperature were predicted based on the climate change scenarios (Representative concentration pathway (RCP) 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5). The results showed that air and water temperatures rose at an average rate of 0.027℃ year^-1 and 0.038℃ year^-1 respectively, over the past 24 years (1997 to 2020). Future air temperatures under RCP 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5 increased up to 0.32℃ 1.18℃, 2.14℃, and 3.51℃, respectively. An increasing water temperature could dissolve more minerals from the surrounding rock and will therefore have a higher electrical conductivity. It is the opposite when considering a gas, such as oxygen, dissolved in the water. Water temperature also governs the kinds of organisms that can live in rivers and lakes. Fish, insects, zooplankton, phytoplankton, and other aquatic species all have a preferred temperature range. As temperatures get too far above or below this preferred range, the number of individuals of the species decreases until finally there are none. Therefore, changes of water temperature that are induced by climate change have important implications on water supplies, water quality, and aquatic ecosystems of a watershed.