• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.45 no.3
• /
• pp.192-202
• /
• 2024

Ocean reanalysis data are extensively used in ocean circulation and climate research by integrating observational data with numerical models. This approach overcomes the spatial and temporal limitations of observational data and provides high-resolution gridded information that considers the physical interactions between ocean variables. In this study, I extended the previously produced 12-year (2011-2022) Northwest Pacific regional ocean reanalysis data to create a long-term reanalysis dataset (K-ORA22E) with a horizontal resolution of 1/24° spanning 30 years (1993-2022). These data were analyzed to diagnose long-term ocean climate change in the Korean marginal seas. Analysis of the K-ORA22E data revealed that the axis of the Kuroshio extension has shifted northward by approximately 6 km per year over the past 30 years, with a significant increase in sea surface temperature north of the Kuroshio axis. Among the waters surrounding the Korean Peninsula, the East Sea exhibited the most significant temperature increase. In the East Sea, the temperature increase was more pronounced in the middle layer than in the surface layer, with the East Korea Warm Current showing a rate two to three times higher than the global average. In the central Yellow Sea, where the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water appears, temperatures increased over the long-term, but decreased along the west and south coasts of the Korean Peninsula. These spatial differences in long-term temperature changes appear to be closely related to the heat transport pathways of warm water from the Kuroshio Current. High-resolution regional ocean reanalysis data, such as the K-ORA22E produced in this study, are essential foundational data for understanding long-term variability in the Korean marginal seas and analyzing the impacts of climate change.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.21-31
• /
• 2008

Analyzing the results of East Sea Regional Ocean Model using a 3-dimensional variational data assimilation scheme, we investigated spatial and temporal variability of the North Korean Cold Current (NKCC) in the East Sea. The climatological monthly mean transport of the NKCC clearly shows seasonal variation of the NKCC within the range of about 0.35 Sv ($=0^6m^3/s$), which increases from its minimum (about 0.45 Sv) through December-January to March, decreases during March and May, and then increases again to the maximum (about 0.8 Sv) in August-September. The volume transport of the NKCC shows interannual variation of the NKCC with the range of about 1.0 Sv that is larger than seasonal variation. The southward current of the NKCC appears often not only in summer but in winter as well. The width of the NKCC is about 35 km near the Korean coast and its core is located under the East Korea Warm Current. The North Korean Cold Water (NKCW), characterized by low salinity and low temperature, is located both under the Tsushima Warm Water and in the western side of the maximum southward current of the NKCC that means the NKCC advects the NKCW southward along the Korean coast. It is revealed that the intermediate low salinity water, formed off the Vladivostok in winter, flows southward to the south of $37^{\circ}N$ through $2{\sim}3$ paths; one path along the Korean coast, another one along $132^{\circ}E$, and the middle path along $130^{\circ}E$. The path of the intermediate low salinity varies with years. The reanalysis fields suggest that the NKCW is advected through the paths along the Korean coast and along $130^{\circ}E$.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.115-129
• /
• 2019

Surface winds over the ocean influence not only the climate change through air-sea interactions but the coastal erosion through the changes in wave height and direction. Thus, demands on a reliable projection of future changes in surface winds have been increasing in various fields. For the future projections, climate models have been widely used and, as a priori, their simulations of surface wind are required to be evaluated. In this study, we evaluate the climatological mean surface winds over the Korean Waters simulated by five regional climate models participating in Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) for East Asia (EA), an international regional climate model inter-comparison project. Compared with the ERA-interim reanalysis data, the CORDEX-EA models, except for HadGEM3-RA, produce stronger wind both in summer and winter. The HadGEM3-RA underestimates the wind speed and inadequately simulate the spatial distribution especially in summer. This summer wind error appears to be coincident with mean sea-level pressure in the North Pacific. For wind direction, all of the CORDEX-EA models simulate the well-known seasonal reversal of surface wind similar to the ERA-interim. Our results suggest that especially in summer, large-scale atmospheric circulation, downscaled by regional models with spectral nudging, significantly affect the regional surface wind on its pattern and strength.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.613-619
• /
• 2007

Mesoscale low is often observed over the downstream region of the East Sea (or, northwest coast off the Japan Islands) during East-Asia winter monsoon. The low system causes a heavy snowfall at the region. A series of numerical experiments were conducted with the aid of a regional model (MM5 ver. 3.5) to examine the formation mechanism of the mesoscale low. The following results were obtained: 1) A well-developed mesoscale low was simulated by the regional model under real topography, NCEP reanalysis, and OISST; 2) The mesoscale low was simulated under a zonally averaged SST without topography. This implies that the meridional gradient of SST is the main factor in the formation of a mesoscale low; 3) A thermal contrast ($>10^{\circ}C$) of land-sea and topography-induced disturbance served as the second important factor for the formation; 4) Paektu Mountain caused the surface wind to decelerate downstream, which created a more favorable environment for thermodynamic modification than that was found in a flat topography; and 5) The types of cumulus parameterizations did not affect the development of the mesoscale low.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
• /
• 2007.10a
• /
• pp.418-421
• /
• 2007

Using gridded wind-stress products constructed by satellite scatterometers (ERS-1, 2 and QSCAT) data and those by numerical weather prediction(NWP) model(NCEP-reanalysis), we estimate wind-driven transports of the North Pacific subtropical gyre, and compare them in the central portion of the gyre (around 300 N) with geostrophic transports calculated from historical hydrographic data (World Ocean Database 2005). Even if there are some discrepancies between the wind-driven transports by the QSCAT and NCEP products, they are both in good agreement with the geostrophic transports within reasonable errors, except for the regional difference in the eastern part of the zone. The difference in the eastern part is characterized by an anticyclonic deviation of the geostrophic transport resulting from an anti-cyclonic anomalous flow in the surface layer, suggesting that it is related to the Eastern Gyral produced by the thermohaline process associated with the formation of the Eastern Subtropical Mode Water. We also examine the consistency of the Sverdrup transports estimated from these products by comparing them with the transports of the western boundary current, namely the Kuroshio regions, in previous studies. The net southward transport, based on the sum of the Sverdrup transports by QSCAT and NCEP products and the thermohaline transport, agrees well with the net northward transport of the western boundary current, namely the Kuroshio transport. From these results, it is concluded that the Sverdrup balance can hold in the North Pacific subtropical gyre.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.57-81
• /
• 2019

Satellite images can be integrated into a crop model to strengthen the advantages of each technique for crop monitoring and to compensate for weaknesses of each other, which can be systematically applied for monitoring inaccessible croplands. The objective of this study was to outline the productivity of paddy rice based on simulation of the yield of all paddy fields in North Korea, using a grid crop model combined with optical satellite imagery. The grid GRAMI-rice model was used to simulate paddy rice yields for inaccessible North Korea based on the bidirectional reflectance distribution function-adjusted vegetation indices (VIs) and the solar insolation. VIs and solar insolation for the model simulation were obtained from the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) and the Meteorological Imager (MI) sensors of the Communication Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS). Reanalysis data of air temperature were achieved from the Korea Local Analysis and Prediction System (KLAPS). Study results showed that the yields of paddy rice were reproduced with a statistically significant range of accuracy. The regional characteristics of crops for all of the sites in North Korea were successfully defined into four clusters through a spatial analysis using the K-means clustering approach. The current study has demonstrated the potential effectiveness of characterization of crop productivity based on incorporation of a crop model with satellite images, which is a proven consistent technique for monitoring of crop productivity in inaccessible regions.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.40 no.6
• /
• pp.584-598
• /
• 2019

In this study, the effects of air-sea interactions on precipitation over the Seoul-Gyeonggi region of the Korean Peninsula from 28 to 30 August 2018, were analyzed using a Regional atmosphere-ocean Coupled Model (RCM). In the RCM, a WRF (Weather Research Forecasts) was used as the atmosphere model whereas ROMS (Regional Oceanic Modeling System) was used as the ocean model. In a Regional Single atmosphere Model (RSM), only the WRF model was used. In addition, the sea surface temperature data of ECMWF Reanalysis Interim was used as low boundary data. Compared with the observational data, the RCM considering the effect of air-sea interaction represented that the spatial correlations were 0.6 and 0.84, respectively, for the precipitation and the Yellow Sea surface temperature in the Seoul-Gyeonggi area, which was higher than the RSM. whereas the mean bias error (MBE) was -2.32 and -0.62, respectively, which was lower than the RSM. The air-sea interaction effect, analyzed by equivalent potential temperature, SST, dynamic convergence fields, induced the change of SST in the Yellow Sea. In addition, the changed SST caused the difference in thermal instability and kinematic convergence in the lower atmosphere. The thermal instability and convergence over the Seoul-Gyeonggi region induced upward motion, and consequently, the precipitation in the RCM was similar to the spatial distribution of the observed data compared to the precipitation in the RSM. Although various case studies and climatic analyses are needed to clearly understand the effects of complex air-sea interaction, this study results provide evidence for the importance of the air-sea interaction in predicting precipitation in the Seoul-Gyeonggi region.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.503-518
• /
• 2003

This study examines the relationship among temperature, wind, and sea level pressure to understand recent warming in the vicinity of the Antarctic Peninsula. To do this, the surface air temperature, NCEP/NCAR reanalysis wind data and sea level pressure data for the period of 40 years are analyzed. The 40-year surface air temperature data in the Antarctic Peninsula reveals relatively the larger warming trends for autumn and winter than other seasons. The variability of the surface air temperature in this region is compared with that of the regional atmospheric circulation. The surface air temperature is positively correlated with frequency of northwesterlies and negatively correlated with frequency of southeasterlies. This relation is more evident in the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula for autumn and winter. The trend analysis of wind frequency in the study area shows increasing and decreasing trends in the frequency of northwesterlies and southeasterlies, respectively, in the northwestern part of the Weddell Sea for autumn and winter. And also it is found that these winds are closely related with decreasing of sea level pressure in the southeastern region of the Antarctic Peninsula. Furthermore from the seasonal variation of sea level pressure in this area, it may be presumed that decreasing of sea level pressure in the southeastern region of the Antarctic Peninsula is related with warming in the vicinity of the Antarctic Peninsula for autumn and winter. Therefore it can be explained that recent warming in the vicinity of the Antarctic Peninsula is caused by positive feedback mechanism, that is, the process that warming in the vicinity of the Antarctic Peninsula can lead to the decrease of sea level pressure in the southeastern region of the Antarctic Peninsula and these pressure decrease in turn lead to the variation of wind direction in northwestern part of Weddell Sea, again the variation of wind direction enhances the warming in the Antarctic Peninsula.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.263-274
• /
• 2020

In the Southeast Sea of Korea, a cold water mass is formed intensively in summer every year, causing frequent abnormal sea conditions. In order to analyze the spatial changes of sea surface temperature distribution in this area, ocean fields buoy data observed at Gori and Jeongja and reanalyzed sea surface temperature(SST) data from GHRSST Level 4 were used from June to September 2018. The buoy data were used to analyze the time-series water temperature changes at two stations, and the GHRSST data were used to calculate the daily SST variance and weighted mean center(WMC) across the study area. When the buoy's water temperature was lowered, the variance of SST in the study area trend to increase, but it did not appear consistently for the entire period. This is because GHRSST is a reanalysis data that does not reflect sensitive changes in water temperature along the coast. As such, there is a limit to grasping the local small-scale water temperature change in the coast or detecting the location and extent of the cold water zone only by the statistical variance representing the SST change in the entire sea area. Therefore, as a result of using WMC to quantitatively determine the spatial location of the cold water mass, when the cold water zone occurred, WMC was located in the northwest sea area from the mean center(MC) of the study area. This means that it is possible to quantitatively identify where and to what extent the distribution of cold surface water temperature appears through SST's WMC location information, and we could see the possibility of WMC's use in detecting the scale of cold water zones and the extent of regional spread in the future.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.183-196
• /
• 2010

Increasing human activity due to rapid economic growth and land use change alters the patterns of the Asian monsoon, which is key to crop yields in Asia. In this study, we tested the performance of regional climate model (RegCM3) by simulating important components of Indian summer monsoon, including land-ocean contrast, low level jet (LLJ), Tibetan high and upper level Easterly Jet. Three contrasting rain years (1994: excess year, 2001: normal year, 2002: deficient year) were selected and RegCM3 was integrated at 60 km horizontal resolution from April 1 to October 1 each year. The simulated fields of circulations and precipitation were validated against the observation from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis products and Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC), respectively. The important results of RegCM3 simulations are (a) LLJ was slightly stronger and split into two branches during excess rain year over the Arabian Sea while there was no splitting during normal and deficient rain years, (b) huge anticyclone with single cell was noted during excess rain year while weak and broken into two cells in deficient rain year, (c) the simulated spatial distribution of precipitation was comparable to the corresponding observed precipitation of GPCC over large parts of India, and (d) the sensitivity experiment using NIMBUS-7 SMMR snow data indicated that precipitation was reduced mainly over the northeast and south Peninsular India with the introduction of 0.1 m of snow over the Tibetan region in April.