• Atmosphere
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.449-454
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• 2012

This study presents the long-term variability of spring precipitation over the Korean peninsula. It is found that the significant interdecadal change in the spring precipitation has occurred around year 1991. Over the Korean peninsula the precipitation for the post-1991 period increased by about 30 mm per year in CMAP and station-measured data compared to the precipitation prior to year 1991. Due to an increased baroclinicity during the later period, the low-level negative pressure anomaly has developed with its center over northern Japan. Korea is situated at the western end of the negative pressure anomaly, receiving moisture from westerly winds and producing more precipitation. Also, we estimate the change in the near future (years 2020~2040) spring precipitation using six best performing Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 3 (CMIP3) models. These best model ensemble mean shows that spring precipitation is anticipated to increase by about 4% due to the strengthened westerlies accompanied by the northwestern enhancement of the North Pacific subtropical high.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.28-39
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• 1985

The driving mechanisms for low level jets(LLJ) and coastal surface maximum winds are studied with observed wind data from June, 1976 through August, 1980 at Port Aransas and Victoria, Texas, in connection with a baroclinic model. This model is developed considering the forcing functions such as the synoptic and meso-scale pressure gradient, the frictional force, and the atmospheric stability. The results show that a LLJis observed on over 95% of the occasions when a nighttime coastal wind maximum occurred. Baroclinicity generated by sloping terrain during the summertime causes the diurnal variation in the thermal field. This thermal wind component would then decrease the prevailing synoptic-scale southerly wind by day and allow it to increase at night. Nighttime atmospheric stability leads to frictional decoupling which enhances the nocturnal LLJ. At the coastal site neutral stability prevails, thus all owing downward transfer of momentum from the nocturnal LLJ and results in the nocturnal coastal surface wind maximum. The height of LLJis not uniquely related to the inversion layer, and the results of the computations using this model show a good agreement with the observations.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.667-678
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• 1997

A primitive equation numerical model driven only by $M_2$ tide is used to examine role of tide in the temperature and velocity fields of Deukryang Bay. The numerical model reproduces several features of the observational temperature fields such that the isotherms tend to be parallel to the coast in the bay, and the colder water exists at the right hand side in the bay. The horizontal temperature and velocity fields in the model are dominantly influenced by bottom topography. The model also shows that the surface colder water in the bay is accompanied by strong-alongshore current during the flood tide. An investigation for baroclinicity in the bay by additional numerical experiment indicates that the baroclinirity in velocity field is very weak. The model, however, did not reproduce a stratification in the observation, implying that the model needs to add other semi-diurnal components such as $S_2,\;O_2\;or\;K_2$ tides to $M_2$ tide.

• Atmosphere
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.331-346
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• 2013

A case study of mesoscale snowfall with polar low signature during 25~26 December 2010 in South Korea is presented. The data used for analysis include surface and upper level weather charts, rain gauge, sea surface temperature, satellite imagery, sounding, and global $1^{\circ}{\times}1^{\circ}$ reanalysis data. The system initiated with a surface trough near the bay of Bohai but quickly intensified to become a polar low within 12 hours. The polar low moved southeastward bringing snowfall to southwestern Korea. There was strong instability layer beneath 800 hPa but baroclinicty was weak and disappeared as the low progressed onto land. Shortwave at 500 hPa and the surface trough became in-phase which hindered the development of the polar low while it approached Korea. However, there were strong tropopause folding (~500 hPa) and high potential vorticity (PV), which allowed the system to maintain its structure and dump 20.3 cm of snow in Jeonju. Synoptic, thermodynamic, dynamic, and moisture analyses reveal that polar low developed in an area of baroclinicity with strong conditional instability and warm air advection at the lower levels. Further, the development of a surface trough to polar low was aided by tropopause folding with PV advection in the upper level, shortwave trough at 500 hPa, and moisture advection with low-level jet (LLJ) of 15 m $s^{-1}$ or more at 850 hPa. Maximum snowfall was concentrated in this region with convection being sustained by latent heat release.

• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.295-308
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• 2015

Based on the CMIP5 historical simulation datasets, we assessed the performance of state-of-the-art climate models in respect to the relationship between interannual variabilities of the North Pacific synoptic eddy (NPSE) and East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM). Observation (ERA-Interim) shows a high negative correlation (-0.73) between the interannual variabilities of East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) intensity and North Pacific synoptic eddy (NPSE) activity during the period of 1979~2005. Namely, a stronger (weaker) EAWM is related to a weaker (stronger) synoptic eddy activities over the North Pacific. This strong reverse relationship can be well explained by latitudinal distributions of the surface temperature anomalies over East Asian continent, which leads the variation of local baroclinicity and significantly weakens the baroclinic wave activities over the northern latitudes of $40^{\circ}N$. This feature is supported by the distribution of the meridional heat flux (${\overline{{\nu}^{\prime}{\theta}^{\prime}}}$) anomalies, which have negative (positive) values along the latitudes $40{\sim}50^{\circ}N$ for strong(weak) EAWM years. In this study, the historical simulations by 11 CMIP5 climate models (BCC-CSM1.1, CanESM2, GFDL-ESM2G, GFDL-ESM2M, HadGEM2-AO, HadGEM2-CC, IPSL-CM5A-LR, MPI-ESM-LR, MPI-ESM-MR, MRI-CGCM3, and NorESM1-M) are analyzed for DJF of 1979~2005. Correlation coefficient between the two phenomena is -0.59, which is comparable to that of observation. Model-to-model variation in this relationship is relatively large as the range of correlation coefficient is between -0.76 (HadGEM2-CC and HadGEM2-AO) and -0.33 (MRI-CGCM3). But, these reverse relationships are shown in all models without any exception. We found that the multi-model ensemble is qualitatively similar to the observation in reasoning (that is, latitudinal distribution of surface temperature anomalies, variation of local baroclinicity and meridional heat flux by synoptic eddies) of the reverse relationship. However, the uncertainty for weak EAWM is much larger than strong EAWM. In conclusion, we suggest that CMIP5 models as an ensemble have a good performance in the simulation of EAWM, NPSE, and their relationship.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.645-661
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• 2013

The synoptic, thermodynamic, and dynamic characteristics of a heavy snowfall event that occurred in Seoul metropolitan area on 27 to 28 December 2010 was investigated. During this period there was a distinctive case that was identified as a polar low. We analyzed surface and upper level weather charts, snowfall amount, sea surface temperature, satellite imagery, sounding, and the National Center for Environmental Prediction global $1^{\circ}{\times}1^{\circ}$ reanalysis data. The polar low developed in an area where there was strong baroclinicity in the lower level aided by strong conditional instability due to 925 hPa warm air advection and 700 hPa cold air advection. The development mechanism of polar low is due, in part, to the tropopause folding, which advected stratospheric air increasing potential vorticity in mid-level and inducing cyclonic vorticity and convergence in low-level. Eventually clouds developed and there were snowfall total of 10 cm in Seoul metropolitan area and as much as 20 cm in southern parts of Korea. During the snowfall development, there was a $-45^{\circ}C$ cold core at 500 hPa and shortwave maintained $3-5^{\circ}$ separation with surface trough, which favored the development of polar low located in the warm sector and cyclonic advection area. The height of the dynamical tropopause lowered to 700 hPa during the peak development and increase in potential vorticity allowed strong vertical motion to occur. Overall, there was a close relationship between the development of snowfall and tropopause undulation. The heaviest snowfall occurred east of the tropopause folding where strong cyclonic vorticity, vertical motion, and moisture advection all coincided while the polar low was passing through the Korean peninsula.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.134-143
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• 2002

Using OGCM results, we have shown that the ring-like cold baroclinic eddies associated with cyclonic circulation are shed from late summer to early fall near the Izu-Ogasawara Ridge from the Kuroshio Extension owing to baroclinic instability. On the other hand, warm baroclinic eddies are generated by the intensified western boundary current associated with the warm anomaly accumulated near the Ridge in winter, which corresponds to the basin-wide barotropic intensification of the wind-driven gyre in winter. We are successful in reproducing the behavior of those meso-scale eddies using a simple two-layer primitive equation model driven by seasonal winds associated with the positive curl. Those eddies carry barotropic seasonal signals originated in the Pacific Basin quite slowly west of the ridge; this process introduces a phase lag in the timing of the seasonal maximum transport in the Philippine Basin west of the ridge. It Is demonstrated that the existence of bottom topography, baroclinicity, and nonlinearity due to advection are three necessary elements for the generation of these eddies south of Japan.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.309-325
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• 1994

Ocean circulation in the Gulf of Alaska is remarkably constant throughout the year despite of being forced by one of the largest seasonal wind stresses in the world. To explain the small seasonal changes in the transport of Alaska Stream. a set of numerical models is employed. First a diagnostic approach is applied to reproduce circulation from the observed density structure. The results reveals the very small seasonal changes in the Alaska Stream transport. Next a series of the prognostic models is used: a barotropic model. a flat bottom baroclinic model, and baroclinic model with topography. These models reveal the influence of topography and baroclinicity on the ocean's response to the seasonal wind forcing. The intercomparisons of the various model results suggest that the seasonal response of the baroclinic ocean is primary barotropic and the resultant barotropic circulation is weakened by the scattering effect of the bottom topography.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.765-784
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• 2019

The synoptic structural characteristics associated with heavy snowfall (Bukgangneung: 31.3 cm) that occurred in the Yeongdong area on 20 January 2017 was investigated using surface and upper-level weather charts, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis data, radiosonde data, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud product. The cold dome and warm trough of approximately 500 hPa appeared with tropopause folding. As a result, cold and dry air penetrated into the middle and upper levels. At this time, the enhanced cyclonic potential vorticity caused strong baroclinicity, resulting in the sudden development of low pressure at the surface. Under the synoptic structure, localized heavy snowfall occurred in the Yeongdong area within a short time. These results can be confirmed from the vertical analysis of radiosonde data and the characteristics of the MODIS cloud product.

• Atmosphere
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.55-68
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• 2007

Future climate changes over East Asia are projected by anthropogenic forcing of greenhouse gases and aerosols using ECHO-G/S (ECHAM4/HOPE-G). Climate simulation in the 21st century is conducted with three standard SRES scenarios (A1B, B1, and A2) and the model performance is assessed by the 20th Century (20C3M) experiment. From the present climate simulation (20C3M), the model reproduced reliable climate state in the most fields, however, cold bias in temperature and dry bias of summer in precipitation occurred. The intercomparison among models using Taylor diagram indicates that ECHO-G/S exhibits smaller mean bias and higher pattern correlation than other nine AOGCMs. Based on SRES scenarios, East Asia will experience warmer and wetter climate in the coming 21st century. Changes of geographical patterns from the present to the future are considerably similar through all the scenarios except for the magnitude difference. The temperature in winter and precipitation in summer show remarkable increase. In spite of the large uncertainty in simulating precipitation by regional scale, we found that the summer (winter) precipitation at eastern coast (north of $40^{\circ}N$) of East Asia has significantly increased. In the 21st century, the warming over the continents of East Asia showed much more increase than that over the ocean. Hence, more enhanced (weakened) land-sea thermal contrast over East Asia in summer (winter) will cause strong (weak) monsoon. In summer, the low pressure located in East Asia becomes deeper and the moisture from the south or southeast is transported more into the land. These result in increasing precipitation amount over East Asia, especially at the coastal region. In winter, the increase (decrease) of precipitation is accompanied by strengthening (weakening) of baroclinicity over the land (sea) of East Asia.