• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.93-102
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• 1997

Coastal circulations during the (surface condition of an) idealized cold-air outbreak are numerically investigated with two-dimensional, non-hydrostatic model in which a constant bottom-slope exists. The atmospheric forcing during a cold-air outbreak is incorporated as the surface cooling and the wind stress. When the offshore angle of the wind-stress vector, defined as the angle measured from the alongshore axis, is smaller than 45 degrees, a strong downwelling circulation develops near the coast. A sharp density front, which separates the vertically homogeneous region from the offshore stratified region, is formed near the coast and propagates offshore with time. Onshore side of the density front, small-scale circulation cells which are aligned in the direction perpendicular to the bottom begin to develop as the near-coast homogeneous region broadens. The surface cooling enhances greatly the development of the surface mixed layer by convective motions due to hydrostatic instability. The convective motions reach far below the hydrostatically unstable layer which is attached to the surface. The small-scale circulation cells are appreciably modified by the convetion cell and the density front develops far offshore compared to the case of no surface cooling. As to the effect of the bottom slope, the offshore distance of the density front increases (decreases) as the bottom slope decreases (increases), which results from the fact that the onshore volume-transport (Ekman transport) of the low-density upper seawater remains almost constant when the wind-stress is maintained constant. It is shown that the bottom slope is an essential factor for the formation of both the density front and the alongshore current when the surface cooling is the only forcing.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.173-184
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• 2003

Major differences between wind speeds from atmospheric pressure maps (Na wind) and near­surface wind speeds derived from satellite scatterometer (NSCAT) observations over the East (Japan) Sea have been examined. The root­mean­square errors of Na wind and NSCAT wind speeds collocated with Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) buoy winds are about $3.84\;ms^{-1}\;and\;1.53\;ms^{-1}$, respectively. Time series of NSCAT wind speeds showed a high coherency of 0.92 with the real buoy measurements and contained higher spectral energy at low frequencies (>3 days) than the Na wind. The magnitudes of monthly Na winds are lower than NSCAT winds by up to 45%, particularly in September 1996. The spatial structures between the two are mostly coherent on basin­wide large scales； however, significant differences and energy loss are found on a spatial scale of less than 100 km. This was evidenced by the temporal EOFs (Empirical Orthogonal Functions) of the two wind speed data sets and by their two­dimensional spectra. Since the Na wind was based on the atmospheric pressures on the weather map, it overlooked small­scale features of less than 100 km. The center of the cold­air outbreak through Vladivostok, expressed by the Na wind in January 1997, was shifted towards the North Korean coast when compared with that of the NSCAT wind, whereas NSCAT winds revealed its temporal evolution as well as spatial distribution.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.197-202
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• 1991

It is observed that the outbreak of dust storms (yellow sand) from Northern China and Mongolia occurs a few times in April 1988 and 1990. It is found that a dust storm initiated with strong gusty winds after the passage of a cold front, particularly after defrost of the ground surface of a source region in the early spring. According to meteorological chart, satellite images and trajectory analyses, dust clouds invaded Korea in April 1988 and 1990 were landing in the sink area after 2 $\sim$ 4 days travelling for 2,000 $\sim$ 3,000 km from a source region. It was also observed that in the west coast total suspended particulated (TSP) were 100 $\sim$ 200 $\mug m^{-3}$ and sulphates $(SO_4=)$ were 3 $\sim$ 10 $\mug m^{-3}$. These values clearly exceed the concentrations of a background level measured in the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean. Trajectory analyses and meteorological analyses suggest that the high values occurred with prevailing westerly flows coming from anthropogenic sources in China. High concentrations of air pollutants occurred in the backside of an anticyclone and in the area "col".col".uot;.

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
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• v.10 no.S_1
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• pp.29-33
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• 2001

A numerical simulation was carried out to investigate the mechanism of snowfall around the Seoul region during a cold air-outbreak in the winter season. A particular case was selected for this study(Dec. 19, 1999). The inflow directions of the synoptic flow in the upper and lower levels were westerly and north-westerly, respectively. Plus, there was a deep trough and thermal ridge at a level of 500/700/850 hPa over the Bal-Hae region, in the northern part of the Korean peninsula. According to the model results, snowfall occurred around the Seoul region with the simultaneous existence of a strong static instability in the lower atmosphere, northerly or westerly dry air advection, and strong thermal advection toward the Seoul region. There was a strong convergence thereby indicating the existence of convective rolls in the clouds. The main energy source of convection over the Yellow sea was a sensible heat flux. The main moisture source was convection. Radiative cooling in the cloud layer intensified the static instability in the lower atmosphere.

• Atmosphere
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.461-472
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• 2021

Yeongdong has frequently suffered from severe snowstorms, which generally give rise to societal and economic damages to the region in winter. In order to understand its mechanism, there has been a long-term measurement campaign, based on the rawinsonde measurements for every snowfall event at Gangneung since 2014. The previous observations showed that a typical heavy snowfall is generally accompanied with northerly or northeasterly flow below the snow clouds, generated by cold air outbreak over the relatively warmer East Sea. An intensive and multi-institutional measurement campaign has been launched in 2019 mainly in collaboration with Gangwon Regional Office of Meteorology and National Institute of Meteorological Studies of Korean Meteorological Administration, with a special emphasis on winter snowfall and spring windstorm altogether. The experiment spanned largely from February to April with comprehensive measurements of frequent rawinsonde measurements at a super site (Gangneung) with continuous remote sensings of wind profiler, microwave radiometers and weather radar etc. Additional measurements were added to the campaign, such as aircraft dropsonde measurements and shipboard rawinsonde soundings. One of the fruitful outcomes is, so far, to identify a couple of cold air damming occurrences, featuring lowest temperature below 1 km, which hamper the convergence zone and snow clouds from penetrating inland, and eventually make it harder to forecast snowfall in terms of its location and timing. This kind of comprehensive observation campaign with continuous remote sensings and intensive additional measurement platforms should be conducted to understand various orographic precipitation in the complex terrain like Yeongdong.

• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.301-319
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• 2016

The evolutionary process of the polar low, which caused the heavy snowfall in the East Coast area on 11~12 February 2011, was investigated to describe in detail using synoptic weather charts, satellite imageries, and ERA (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis) -Interim reanalysis data. It was revealed that 1) the polar low was generated over the sea near Busan where a large cyclonic shear in the inverted trough branched from the parent low existed, 2) during the developing and mature stages, there was a convectively unstable region in the lower layer around the polar low and its south side, 3) the polar low was developed in the region where the static stability in the 500~850 hPa layer was the lowest, 4) the result from the budget analysis of the vorticity equation indicated that the increase in the vorticity at the lower atmosphere, where the polar low was located, was dominated mainly by the stretching term, 5) the warm core structure of the polar low was identified in the surface-700 hPa layer during the mature stage, 6) there was a close inverse relationship between a development of the polar low and the height of the dynamic tropopause over the polar low, and 7) for generation and development of the polar low, large-scale circulation systems, such as upper cold low and its combined short wave trough, major low (parent low), and polar air outbreak, should be presented, indicating that the polar low has the nature of the baroclinic disturbance.