• Atmosphere
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.247-257
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• 2006

The Yeong-dong heavy snowfall forecast supporting system has been developed during the last several years. In order to construct the conceptual model, we have examined the characteristics of heavy snowfalls in the Yeong-dong region classified into three precipitation patterns. This system is divided into two parts: forecast and observation. The main purpose of the forecast part is to produce value-added data and to display the geography based features reprocessing the numerical model results associated with a heavy snowfall. The forecast part consists of four submenus: synoptic fields, regional fields, precipitation and snowfall, and verification. Each offers guidance tips and data related with the prediction of heavy snowfalls, which helps weather forecasters understand better their meteorological conditions. The observation portion shows data of wind profiler and snow monitoring for application to nowcasting. The heavy snowfall forecast supporting system was applied and tested to the heavy snowfall event on 28 February 2006. In the beginning stage, this event showed the characteristics of warm precipitation pattern in the wind and surface pressure fields. However, we expected later on the weak warm precipitation pattern because the center of low pressure passing through the Straits of Korea was becoming weak. It was appeared that Gangwon Short Range Prediction System simulated a small amount of precipitation in the Yeong-dong region and this result generally agrees with the observations.

• Atmosphere
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.33-48
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• 2006

A classification of snowfall type based on development mechanism is proposed using previous snowfall studies, operational experiences, etc. Five types are proposed: snowfall caused by 1) airmass transformation (AT type), 2) terrain effects in a situation of expanding Siberian High (TE type), 3) precipitation systems associated with extratropical cyclones (EC type), 4) indirect effects of extratropical cyclones passing over the sea to the south of the Korean peninsula (ECS type), and 5) combined effects of TE and ECS types (COM type). Snowfall events during 1981-2001 are classified according to the 5 types mentioned above. For this, 118 events, with at least one station with daily snowfall depth greater than 20 cm, are selected. For the classification, synoptic weather charts, satellite images, and precipitation data are used. For TE and COM types, local sea-level pressure chart is also used to confirm the presence of condition for TE type (this is done for events in 1990 and thereafter). The classification shows that 109 out of 118 events can be classified as one of the 5 types. In the remaining 8 events, heavy snowfall occurred only in Ullung Island. Its occurrence may be due to one or more of the following mechanism: airmass transformation, mesoscale cyclones and/or mesoscale convergence over the East Sea, etc. Each type shows different characteristics in location of snowfall and composition of precipitation (i.e., dry snow, rain, and mixed precipitation). The AT-type snowfall occurs mostly in the west coast, Jeju and Ullung Islands whereas the TE-type snowfall occurs in the East coast especially over the Young Dong area. The ECS-type snowfall occurs mostly over the southern part of the peninsula and some east cost area (sometimes, whole south Korea depending on the location of cyclones). The EC- and COM-type snowfalls occur in wider area, often whole south Korea. Precipitation composition also varies with the type. The AT-type has a snow ratio (SR) higher than the mean value. The TE- and EC-type have SR similar to the mean. The ECS- and COM-type have SR values smaller than the mean. Generally the SR values at high latitude and mountainous areas are higher than those at the other areas. The SR value informs the characteristics of the precipitation composition. An SR value larger than 10 means that all precipitation is composed of snow whereas a zero SR value means that all precipitation is composed of rain.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.149-157
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• 2011

Urbanization of the world's population has given rise to more than 450 cities around the world with populations in excess of 1 million (megacity) and more than 25 so-called metacities with populations over 10 million (Brinkhoff, 2010). The United States today has a total resident population of more than 308,500,000 people, with 81 percent residing in cities and suburbs as of mid - 2005 (UN, 2008). Urban meteorology is the study of the physics, dynamics, and chemistry of the interactions of Earth's atmosphere and the urban built environment, and the provision of meteorological services to the populations and institutions of metropolitan areas. While the details of such services are dependent on the location and the synoptic climatology of each city, there are common themes, such as enhancing quality of life and responding to emergencies. Experience elsewhere (e.g., Shanghai, Helsinki, Tokyo, Seoul, etc.) shows urban meteorological support is a key part of an integrated or multi-hazard warning system that considers the full range of environmental challenges and provides a unified response from municipal leaders. Urban meteorology has come to require much more than observing and forecasting the weather of our cities and metropolitan areas. Forecast improvement as a function of more and better observations of various kinds and as a function of model resolution, larger ensembles, predicted probability distributions; Responses of emergency managers, government officials, and users to improved and probabilistic forecasts; Benefits of improved forecasts in reduction of loss of life, property damage, and other adverse effects. A national initiative to enhance urban meteorological services is a high-priority need for a wide variety of stakeholders, including the general, commerce and industry, and all levels of government. Some of the activities of such an initiative include: conducting basic research and development; prototyping and other activities to enable very--short and short range predictions; supporting and improving productivity and efficiency in commercial and industrial sectors; and urban planning for long term sustainability. In addition urban test-beds are an effective means for developing, testing, and fostering the necessary basic and applied meteorological and socioeconomic research, and transitioning research findings to operations. An extended, multi-year period of continuous effort, punctuated with intensive observing and forecasting periods, is envisioned.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.109-120
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• 2010

Heat wave is a disaster, which increases morbidity and mortality in temperate regions. Climate model results indicate that both intensity and frequency of heat wave in the future will be increased. This study shows the result about relationship between excess mortality and offensive airmass in 7 metropolitan cities, and an operational Heat-Health Warning System (HHWS) in Korea. Using meteorological observations, the Spatial Synoptic Classification (SSC) has been used to classify each summer day from 1982 to 2007 into specific airmass categories for each city. Through the comparative study analysis of the daily airmass type and the corresponding daily mortality rate, Dry Tropical (DT), and Moist Tropical plus (MT+) were identified as the most offensive airmasses with the highest rates of mortality. Therefore, using the multiple linear regression, forecast algorithm was produced to predict the number of the excess deaths that will occur with each occurrence of the DT and MT+ days. Moreover, each excess death forecast algorithm was implemented for the system warning criteria based on the regional acclimatization differences. HHWS will give warnings to the city's residents under offensive weather situations which can lead to deterioration in public health, under the climate change.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.747-757
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• 2021

Quantification of extreme rainfall is very important in establishing a flood protection plan, and a general measure of extreme rainfall is expressed as an T-year return level. In this study, a method was proposed for quantifying spatial distribution and uncertainty of daily rainfall depths with various return periods using a hierarchical Bayesian model combined with climate and geographical information, and was applied to the Seoul-Incheon-Gyeonggi region. The annual maximum daily rainfall depth of six automated synoptic observing system weather stations of the Korea Meteorological Administration in the study area was fitted to the generalized extreme value distribution. The applicability and reliability of the proposed method were investigated by comparing daily rainfall quantiles for various return levels derived from the at-site frequency analysis and the regional frequency analysis based on the index flood method. The uncertainty of the regional frequency analysis based on the index flood method was found to be the greatest at all stations and all return levels, and it was confirmed that the reliability of the regional frequency analysis based on the hierarchical Bayesian model was the highest. The proposed method can be used to generate the rainfall quantile maps for various return levels in the Seoul-Incheon-Gyeonggi region and other regions with similar spatial sizes.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.56-61
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• 2021

This study was conducted to determine the possibility of estimating the daily mean temperature for a specific location based on the climatic data collected from the nearby Automated Synoptic Observing System (ASOS) and Automated Weather System(AWS) to improve the accuracy of the climate data in forage yield prediction model. To perform this study, the annual mean temperature and monthly mean temperature were checked for normality, correlation with location information (Longitude, Latitude, and Altitude) and multiple regression analysis, respectively. The altitude was found to have a continuous effect on the annual mean temperature and the monthly mean temperature, while the latitude was found to have an effect on the monthly mean temperature excluding June. Longitude affected monthly mean temperature in June, July, August, September, October, and November. Based on the above results and years of experience with climate-related research, the daily mean temperature estimation was determined to be possible using longitude, latitude, and altitude. In this study, it is possible to estimate the daily mean temperature using climate data from all over the country, but in order to improve the accuracy of daily mean temperature, climatic data needs to applied to each city and province.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.77-90
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• 2022

Despite the decreasing trend of anthropogenic emissions in East Asia in recent years, haze days still frequently occur in spring. Atmospheric blocking, which occurs frequently in the northeastern Pacific, leads to persistent changes in large-scale circulation and blocks westerly flow in the East Asian region. During March 2019, frequent warm and stagnant synoptic meteorological conditions over East Asia were accompanied 6-7 days later by the Alaskan atmospheric blocking. The Alaskan atmospheric blocking over the period of March 18-24, 2019 led to high particulate matter (PM₁₀) severe haze days exceeding a daily average of 50 ㎍ m^-3 over the period of March 25-28, 2019 in South Korea. Although the high-PM₁₀ severe haze days were caused by warm and stagnant meteorological conditions, the regional contribution of anthropogenic emissions in eastern China was calculated to be 30-40% using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). The major regional contributions of PM₁₀ aerosols in the period of high-PM₁₀ severe haze days were as follows: nitrates, 20-25%; sulphates, 10-15%; ammonium, 5-10%; and other inorganics, 15-20%. Ammonium nitrate generated via gas-to-aerosol conversion in a warm and stagnant atmosphere largely contributed to the regional transport of PM₁₀ aerosols in the high-PM₁₀ severe haze days in South Korea.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.999-1009
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• 2021

As the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events due to climate change are increasing in recent years, it is very important to evaluate and analyze climate conditions to manage and respond to the negative effects of climate change in advance. In this study, the trends and characteristics of regional climate change were analyzed by calculating the climate indices for the Chungcheong Province. Annual and monthly UNEP-MP, UNEP-PM and MDM indices were calculated using daily data from 1973-2020 collected from 10 synoptic meteorological stations operated by the Korea Meteorological Administration. The normality of climate data was analyzed through the KS test, and the climate change trend was analyzed by applying the Spearman and Pearson methods. The Chungcheongnam-do region had a relatively humid climate than the Chungcheongbuk-do region, and the annual climate indices showed a dry climate trend in Cheongju and Chungju, while the climate of Seosan and Buyeo was becoming humid. Based on the monthly trend change analysis, a humid climate trend was observed in summer and autumn, while a dry climate trend was observed in spring and winter. Comparison of climate indices during the past (2001-2010) and the recent (2011-2020) years showed a higher decrease in the average climate indices during the last 10 years and a gradually drying climate change trend was recorded.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.1-18
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• 2022

Currently, the Korea Meteorological Administration evaluates the meteorological drought by region using SPI6(standardized precipitation index 6), which is a 6-month cumulative precipitation standard. However, SPI is an index calculated only in consideration of precipitation at 69 weather stations, and the drought phenomenon that appears for complex reasons cannot be accurately determined. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to calculate and compare SPI considering only precipitation and SDCI (Scaled Drought Condition Index) considering precipitation, vegetation index, and temperature in Gyeonggi. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of the station data-based drought index and the satellite image-based drought index were identified by using results calculated through the comparison of SPI and SDCI. MODIS(MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite image data, ASOS(Automated Synoptic Observing System) data, and kriging were used to calculate SDCI. For the duration of precipitation, SDCI1, SDCI3, and SDCI6 were calculated by applying 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month respectively to the 8 points in 2014. As a result of calculating the SDCI, unlike the SPI, drought patterns began to appear about 2-month ago, and drought by city and county in Gyeonggi was well revealed. Through this, it was found that the combination of satellite image data and station data increased efficiency in the pattern of drought index change, and increased the possibility of drought prediction in wet areas along with existing dry areas.

• Atmosphere
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.139-151
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• 2024

The Yeongdong region has suffered from severe snowstorms and the relevant damage such as traffic accidents on slippery roads, and the collapse of greenhouses and temporary buildings. While a lot of research on snowfall has been conducted, the detailed study of snow crystals' phase and habit through intensive observations and the relevant microphysical analysis is still lacking. Therefore, a snowflake camera, PARSIVEL, and intensive radiosonde soundings were utilized to investigate phase and habit changes in solid precipitation. Two remarkable episodes of phase and habit changes were selected such as 19 March 2022 and 15 February 2023. Both events occurred in the synoptic condition of the High in the north and the Low passing by the south, which was accompanied by rapid temperature cooling below 2.5 km. During the events of a short period between 3 to 6 hours, the temperature at 850 hPa decreased by about 4 to 6℃. This cooling led to a change in the main habit of snow particles from riming to aggregate, identified with both MASC and PARSIVEL. Meanwhile, the LDAPS model analyses do not successively represent the rapid cooling and short-term variations of solid precipitation, probably by virtue of overestimating low-level equivalent potential temperature during these periods. The underlying causes of these the low-level temperature variations within 6 hours, still remain unclear. It might be associated with mesoscale orographic phenomenon due to the mountains and East Sea effects, which certainly needs an intensive and comprehensive observation campaign.