• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.59-72
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• 2016

The comparison of prediction errors in geopotential height, temperature, and precipitation forecasts is made quantitatively to evaluate medium-range forecast skills between Global Seasonal Forecasting System version 5 (GloSea5) and Unified Model (UM) in operation by Korea Meteorological Administration during 2014. In addition, the performances in prediction of sea surface temperature anomaly in NINO3.4 region, Madden and Julian Oscillation (MJO) index, and tropical storms in western north Pacific are evaluated. The result of evaluations appears that the forecast skill of UM with lower values of root-mean square error is generally superior to GloSea5 during forecast periods (0 to 12 days). The forecast error tends to increase rapidly in GloSea5 during the first half of the forecast period, and then it shows down so that the skill difference between UM and GloSea5 becomes negligible as the forecast time increases. Precipitation forecast of GloSea5 is not as bad as expected and the skill is comparable to that of UM during 10-day forecasts. Especially, in predictions of sea surface temperature in NINO3.4 region, MJO index, and tropical storms in western Pacific, GloSea5 shows similar or better performance than UM. Throughout comparison of forecast skills for main meteorological elements and weather extremes during medium-range, the effects of initial and model errors in atmosphere-ocean coupled model are verified and it is suggested that GloSea5 is useful system for not only seasonal forecasts but also short- and medium-range forecasts.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.9
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• pp.529-541
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• 2023

Due to the growing concern over forecasting extreme weather events such as droughts caused by climate change, there has been a rising interest in seasonal meteorological forecasts that offer ensemble predictions for the upcoming seven months. Nonetheless, limited research has been conducted in South Korea, particularly in assessing their effectiveness at the catchment-scale. In this study, we assessed the accuracy of ECMWF's seasonal forecasts (including precipitation, temperature, and evapotranspiration) for the period of 2011 to 2020. We focused on 12 multi-purpose reservoir catchments and compared the forecasts to climatology data. Continuous Ranked Probability Skill Score method is adopted to assess the forecast skill, and the linear scaling method was applied to evaluate its impact. The results showed that while the seasonal meteorological forecasts have similar skill to climatology for one month ahead, the skill decreased significantly as the forecast lead time increased. Compared to the climatology, better results were obtained in the Wet season than the Dry season. In particular, during the Wet seasons of the dry years (2015, 2017), the seasonal meteorological forecasts showed the highest skill for all lead times.

• Atmosphere
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.493-503
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• 2023

This study investigates the downward influences of sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) in February 2018 using a subseasonal-to-seasonal forecast model, Global Seasonal forecasting system version 6 (GloSea6). To quantify the influences of SSW on the tropospheric prediction skills, free-evolving (FREE) forecasts are compared to stratospheric nudging (NUDGED) forecasts where zonal-mean flows in the stratosphere are relaxed to the observation. When the models are initialized on 8 February 2018, both FREE and NUDGED forecasts successfully predicted the SSW and its downward influences. However, FREE forecasts initialized on 25 January 2018 failed to predict the SSW and downward propagation of negative Northern Annular Mode (NAM). NUDGED forecasts with SSW nudging qualitatively well predicted the downward propagation of negative NAM. In quantity, NUDGED forecasts exhibit a higher mean squared skill score of 500 hPa geopotential height than FREE forecasts in late February and early March. The surface air temperature and precipitation are also better predicted. Cold and dry anomalies over the Eurasia are particularly well predicted in NUDGED compared to FREE forecasts. These results suggest that a successful prediction of SSW could improve the surface prediction skills on subseasonal-to-seasonal time scale.

• Atmosphere
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 2024

The seasonal forecast skill of tropical cyclones (TCs) in the Northern Hemisphere from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) Global Seasonal Forecast System version 6 (GloSea6) hindcast has been verified for the period 1993 to 2016. The operational climate prediction system at KMA was upgraded from GloSea5 to GloSea6 in 2022, therefore further validation was warranted for the seasonal predictability and variability of this new system for TC forecasts. In this study, we examine the frequency, track density, duration, and strength of TCs in the North Indian Ocean, the western North Pacific, the eastern North Pacific, and the North Atlantic against the best track data. This methodology follows a previous study covering the period 1996 to 2009 published in 2020. GloSea6 indicates a higher frequency of TC generation compared to observations in the western North Pacific and the eastern North Pacific, suggesting the possibility of more TC generation than GloSea5. Additionally, GloSea6 exhibits better interannual variability of TC frequency, which shows relatively good correlation with observations in the North Atlantic and the western North Pacific. Regarding TC intensity, GloSea6 still underestimates the minimum surface pressures and maximum wind speeds from TCs, as is common among most climate models due to lower horizontal resolutions. However, GloSea6 is likely capable of simulating slightly stronger TCs than GloSea5, partly attributed to more frequent 6-hourly outputs compared to the previous daily outputs.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.99-114
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• 2018

In the present study, we assess the GloSea5 (Global Seasonal Forecasting System version 5) near-surface ocean current forecasts using globally observed surface drifter dataset. Annual mean surface current fields at 0-day forecast lead time are quite consistent with drifter-derived velocity fields, and low values of root mean square (RMS) errors distributes in global oceans, except for regions of high variability, such as the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, Kuroshio, and Gulf Stream. Moreover a comparison with the global high-resolution forecasting system, HYCOM (Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model), signifies that GloSea5 performs well in terms of short-range surface-current forecasts. Predictions from 0-day to 4-week lead time are also validated for the global ocean and regions covering the main ocean basins. In general, the Indian Ocean and tropical regions yield relatively high RMS errors against all forecast lead times, whilst the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans show low values. RMS errors against forecast lead time ranging from 0-day to 4-week reveal the largest increase rate between 0-day and 1-week lead time in all regions. Correlation against forecast lead time also reveals similar results. In addition, a strong westward bias of about $0.2m\;s^{-1}$ is found along the Equator in the western Pacific on the initial forecast day, and it extends toward the Equator of the eastern Pacific as the lead time increases.

• Atmosphere
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.341-359
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• 2021

This technical note introduces the new Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) Global Seasonal forecasting system version 6 (GloSea6) to provide a reference for future scientific works on GloSea6. We describe the main areas of progress and improvements to the current GloSea5 in the scientific and technical aspects of all the GloSea6 components - atmosphere, land, ocean, and sea-ice models. Also, the operational architectures of GloSea6 installed on the new KMA supercomputer are presented. It includes (1) pre-processes for atmospheric and ocean initial conditions with the quasi-real-time land surface initialization system, (2) the configurations for model runs to produce sets of forecasts and hindcasts, (3) the ensemble statistical prediction system, and (4) the verification system. The changes of operational frameworks and computing systems are also reported, including Rose/Cylc - a new framework equipped with suite configurations and workflows for operationally managing and running Glosea6. In addition, we conduct the first-ever run with GloSea6 and evaluate the potential of GloSea6 compared to GloSea5 in terms of verification against reanalysis and observations, using a one-month case of June 2020. The GloSea6 yields improvements in model performance for some variables in some regions; for example, the root mean squared error of 500 hPa geopotential height over the tropics is reduced by about 52%. These experimental results show that GloSea6 is a promising system for improved seasonal forecasts.

• Atmosphere
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.23-34
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• 2024

The Korea Meteorological Administration has improved medium-range weather forecasts by implementing post-processing methods to minimize numerical model errors. In this study, we employ a statistical correction technique known as the minimum continuous ranked probability score (CRPS) to refine medium-range forecast guidance. This technique quantifies the similarity between the predicted values and the observed cumulative distribution function of the Unified Model Ensemble Prediction System for Global (UM EPSG). We evaluated the performance of the medium-range forecast guidance for surface air temperature and relative humidity, noting significant enhancements in seasonal bias and root mean squared error compared to observations. Notably, compared to the existing the medium-range forecast guidance, temperature forecasts exhibit 17.5% improvement in summer and 21.5% improvement in winter. Humidity forecasts also show 12% improvement in summer and 23% improvement in winter. The results indicate that utilizing the minimum CRPS for medium-range forecast guidance provide more reliable and improved performance than UM EPSG.

• Atmosphere
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.149-162
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• 2022

This study investigated the prediction skill of the Asian dust seasonal forecasting model (GloSea5-ADAM) on the Asian dust and meteorological variables related to the dust generation for the period of 1991~2016. Additionally, we evaluated the prediction skill of those variables depending on the combination of the initial dates in the sub-seasonal scale for the dust source region affecting South Korea. The Asian dust and meteorological variables (10 m wind speed, 1.5 m relative humidity, and 1.5 m air temperature) from GloSea5-ADAM were compared to that from Synoptic observation and European Centre for medium range weather forecasts reanalysis v5, respectively, based on Mean Bias Error (MBE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and Anomaly Correlation Coefficient (ACC) as evaluation criteria. In general, the Asian dust and meteorological variables in the source region showed high ACC in the prediction scale within one month. For all variables, the use of the initial dates closest to the prediction month led to the best performances based on MBE, RMSE, and ACC, and the performances could be improved by adjusting the number of ensembles considering the combination of the initial date. ACC was as high as 0.4 in Spring when using the closest two initial dates. In particular, the GloSea5-ADAM shows the best performance of Asian dust generation with an ACC of 0.60 in the occurrence frequency of Asian dust in March when using the closest initial dates for initial conditions.

• Atmosphere
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.17-33
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• 2011

A dynamical downscaling system for seasonal forecast has been constructed based on a regional climate model, and its predictability was investigated for 10 years' wintertime (December-January-February; DJF) climatology in East Asia. Initial and lateral boundary conditions were obtained from the operational seasonal forecasting data, which are realtime output of the Global Data Assimilation and Prediction System (GDAPS) at Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). Sea surface temperature was also obtained from the operational forecasts, i.e., KMA El-Nino and Global Sea Surface Temperature Forecast System. In order to determine the better configuration of the regional climate model for East Asian regions, two sensitivity experiments were carried out for one winter season (97/98 DJF): One is for the topography blending and the other is for the cumulus parameterization scheme. After determining the proper configuration, the predictability of the regional forecasting system was validated with respect to 850 hPa temperature and precipitation. The results showed that mean fields error and other verification statistics were generally decreased compared to GDAPS, most evident in 500 hPa geopotential heights. These improved simulation affected season prediction, and then HSS was better 36% and 11% about 850 hPa temperature and precipitation, respectively.

• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2016

Initialization of the global seasonal forecast system is as much important as the quality of the embedded climate model for the climate prediction in sub-seasonal time scale. Recent studies have emphasized the important role of soil moisture initialization, suggesting a significant increase in the prediction skill particularly in the mid-latitude land area where the influence of sea surface temperature in the tropics is less crucial and the potential predictability is supplemented by land-atmosphere interaction. This study developed a new soil moisture initialization method applicable to the KMA operational seasonal forecasting system. The method includes first the long-term integration of the offline land surface model driven by observed atmospheric forcing and precipitation. This soil moisture reanalysis is given for the initial state in the ensemble seasonal forecasts through a simple anomaly initialization technique to avoid the simulation drift caused by the systematic model bias. To evaluate the impact of the soil moisture initialization, two sets of long-term, 10-member ensemble experiment runs have been conducted for 1996~2009. As a result, the soil moisture initialization improves the prediction skill of surface air temperature significantly at the zero to one month forecast lead (up to ~60 days forecast lead), although the skill increase in precipitation is less significant. This study suggests that improvements of the prediction in the sub-seasonal timescale require the improvement in the quality of initial data as well as the adequate treatment of the model systematic bias.