• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.25-44
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• 2005

Long-term, continuous, and real-time ocean monitoring has been undertaken in order to evaluate various oceanographic phenomena and processes in the East/Japan Sea. Recent technical advances combined with our concerted efforts have allowed us to establish a real-time monitoring system and to accumulate considerable knowledge on what has been taking place in water properties, current systems, and circulation in the East Sea. We have obtained information on volume transport across the Korea Strait through cable voltage measurements and continuous temperature and salinity profile data from ARGO floats placed throughout entire East Sea since 1997. These ARGO float data have been utilized to estimate deep current, inertial kinetic energy, and changes in water mass, especially in the northern East Sea. We have also developed the East Sea Real-time Ocean Buoy (ESROB) in coastal regions and made continual improvements till it has evolved into the most up-to-date and effective monitoring system as a result of remarkable technical progress in data communication systems. Atmospheric and oceanic measurements by ESROB have contributed to the recognition of coastal wind variability, current fluctuations, and internal waves near and off the eastern coast of Korea. Long-tenn current meter moorings have been in operation since 1996 between Ulleungdo and Dokdo to monitor the interbasin deep water exchanges between the Japanese and Ulleung Basins. In addition, remotely sensed satellite data could facilitate the investigation of atmospheric and oceanic surface conditions such as sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface height, near-surface winds, oceanic color, surface roughness, and so on. These satellite data revealed surface frontal structures with a fairly good spatial resolution, seasonal cycle of SST, atmospheric wind forcing, geostrophic current anomalies, and biogeochemical processes associated with physical forcing and processes. Since the East Sea has been recognized as a natural laboratory for global oceanic changes and a clue to abrupt climate change, we aim at constructing a 4-D continuous real-time monitoring system, over a decade at least, using the most advanced techniques to understand a variety of oceanic processes in the East Sea.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.291-306
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• 2021

From the climate change scenario experiments of 21 models participating in Coupled Climate Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 6, future changes of sea surface temperature (SST) and Kuroshio in the Northwest Pacific were analyzed. The spatial feature of SST change was found to be related to the change of the current speed and spatial distribution of Kuroshio. To investigate the relationship between the change in latitude of the Kuroshio extension region, which flows along the boundary between the subtropical gyre and the subarctic gyre in the North Pacific, and the large-scale atmospheric circulation due to global warming, the zero-windstress curl line for each climate change experiment from 9 out of 21 models were compared. As the atmospheric radiative forcing increases due to the increase of greenhouse gases, it was confirmed that the zero-windstress curl line moves northward, which is consistent with the observation. These results indicate that as the Hadley Circulation expands to the north due to global warming, the warming of the mid-latitudes to which the Korean Peninsula belongs may be accelerated. The volume transport and temperature of the Tsushima Warm Current flowing into the East Sea through the Korea Strait also increased as the atmospheric radiative forcing increased.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.180-189
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• 2011

In order to clarify the relation between El Ni$\tilde{n}$o/La Ni$\tilde{n}$a and wind resources of the Korean Peninsula, observed meteorological data for 20 years were used in this study. Although the wind speed tends to decrease in Eurasia Continent, it gradually increases in the peninsula for 10 years. The seasonal variation of wind speed due to El Ni$\tilde{n}$o/La Ni$\tilde{n}$a development is not so small and negative anomalies of SST tend to lead the beginning of the wind speed increase over the Korean Peninsula. Wind speed variation caused by the global scale meteorological phenomena is more sensitive in mountainous area than in any other areas because of the relatively weak mesoscale forcing at mountainous area.

• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.599-615
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• 2016

This study investigates the accuracy of short-term ocean predictions during the development of ocean stratification for the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) Global Seasonal Forecast System version 5 (GloSea5) as well as the effect of atmosphere-ocean coupling on the predictions through a series of sensitive numerical experiments. Model performance is evaluated using the marine meteorological buoys at seas around the Korean peninsular (KP), Tropical Atmosphere Ocean project (TAO) buoys over the tropical Pacific ocean, and ARGO floats data over the western North Pacific for boreal winter (February) and spring (May). Sensitive experiments are conducted using an ocean-atmosphere coupled model (i.e., GloSea5) and an uncoupled ocean model (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean, NEMO) and their results are compared. The verification results revealed an overall good performance for the SST predictions over the tropical Pacific ocean and near the Korean marginal seas, in which the Root Mean Square Errors (RMSE) were $0.31{\sim}0.45^{\circ}C$ and $0.74{\sim}1.11^{\circ}C$ respectively, except oceanic front regions with large spatial and temporal SST variations (the maximum error reached up to $3^{\circ}C$). The sensitive numerical experiments showed that GloSea5 outperformed NEMO over the tropical Pacific in terms of bias and RMSE analysis, while NEMO outperformed GloSea5 near the KP regions. These results suggest that the atmosphere-ocean coupling substantially influences the short-term ocean forecast over the tropical Pacific, while other factors such as atmospheric forcing and the accuracy of simulated local current are more important than the coupling effect for the KP regions being far from tropics during the development of ocean stratification.

• Atmosphere
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.55-65
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• 2017

This study investigates how Eurasian snow cover in spring (March and April) is associated with Korean temperature during summer (June-July-August). Two leading modes of Eurasian snow cover variability in spring for 1979~2015 are obtained by Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis. The first EOF mode of Eurasian snow cover is characterized by a zonally elongated pattern over the whole Eurasian region and its principal component is more correlated with Korean temperature during June. On the other hand, the second EOF mode of Eurasian snow cover is characterized by an east-west dipole-like pattern, showing positive anomalies over eastern Eurasian region and negative anomalies over western Eurasian region. This dipole-like pattern is related with Korean temperature during August. The first leading mode of Eurasian snow cover is associated with anomalous high (low) pressure over Korea (Sea of Okhotsk) during June, which might be induced by much evaporation of soil moisture in Eurasia during March. On the other hand, the second mode of Eurasian snow cover is associated with a wave train resembling with Eurasian (EU)-like pattern in relation to the Atlantic sea surface temperature forcing, leading to the anomalous high pressure over Korea during August. Understanding these two leading modes of snow cover in Eurasian continent in spring may contribute to predict Korean summer temperature.

• Atmosphere
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.305-315
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• 2018

This study investigates the characteristic spatial patterns and dynamic processes associated with the summertime extreme temperature events in South Korea during the last 20 years (1995~2014) using Self-Organizing Map (SOM). The classified SOM patterns commonly have high temperature and anticyclonic circulation anomalies over South Korea. The two major teleconnection patterns are identified: one is from the subtropical western North Pacific (WNP) affecting to the north and the other is from the North Atlantic (NA) affecting downstream region. The meridional teleconnection pattern is related to the forcing of positive sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly over the WNP. The northward propagating Rossby wave generates the East Asia-Pacific (EAP) pattern to form an anticyclonic circulation anomaly over South Korea. On the other hand, NA SST anomalies generate an eastward Rossby wave train across the Eurasian continent, leading to the development of an anticyclonic circulation anomaly over South Korea. The EAP pattern occurs more frequently in July and August, whereas the midlatitude teleconnection pattern associated with NA SST anomalies develops more frequently in early summer (June).

• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.227-241
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• 2016

This study investigated the cause of the heavy snowfall that occurred in the East Coast of Korea from 6 February to 14 February 2014. The synoptic conditions were analyzed using blocking index, equivalent potential temperature, potential vorticity, maritime temperature difference, temperature advection, and ground convergence. During the case period, a large blocking pattern developed over the Western Pacific causing the flow to be stagnant, and there was a North-South oriented High-to-Low pressure system over the Korean Peninsula because of this arrangement. The case period was divided into three parts based on the synoptic forcing that was responsible for the heavy snowfall; detailed analyses were conducted for the first and last period. In the first period, a heavy snowfall occurred over the entire Korean Peninsula due to strong updrafts from baroclinic instability and a low pressure caused by potential vorticity located at the mid-troposphere. In the lower atmosphere, a North-South oriented High-to-Low pressure system over the Eastern Korea intensified the easterly airflow and created a convergence zone near the ground which strengthened the upslope effect of the Taebaek Mountain range with a cumulative fresh snowfall amount of 41 cm in the East Coast region. In the last period, the cold air nestled in the Maritime Province of Siberia and Manchuria strengthened much more than that in the first half and extended to the East Sea. The temperature difference between the 850 hPa air and the SST was large and convective clouds developed over the sea. The highest cumulative fresh snow amount of 39.7 cm was recorded in the coastal area during this period. During the entire period, vertically oriented equivalent potential temperature showed neutral stability layer that helped the cloud formation and development in the East Coast. The 2014 heavy snowfall case over the East Coast provinces of Korea were due to: 1) stagnation of the system by blocking pattern, 2) the dynamic effect of mid-level potential vorticity of 1.6 PVU, 3) the easterly air flow from North-South oriented High-to-Low pressure system, 4) the existence of vertically oriented neutral stable layer, and 5) the expansion of strong cold air into the East Sea which created a large temperature difference between the air and the ocean.