• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2015

To compare changes in winter temperature over South Korea, 30-year average climate data and climate data of recent 10 years (2014~2014) such as mean temperature, daily maximum temperature and daily minimum temperature were analyzed. Also, we set analysis extreme cold waves frequency related to winter such as freezing days, snow days, days with temperature of below -5, and days with temperature of below -10. This process enabled the comparative analysis of winter temperature changes and extreme cold waves frequency related to winter. This study estimated that winter temperature has gradually increased throughout the last five decades, however, the frequency of extreme weather, such as cold waves has also increased.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.489-508
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to clarify the spatio-temporal patterns of changes in seasonal extreme temperature events in the Republic of Korea based on daily maximum and minimum temperature data sets observed at 61 weather stations for the recent 40 year period (1973~2012). According to analysis of regional average data, in spring increases of warm days are most distinct, while in summer reductions of cool nights and increases of warm nights are most noticeable. The similar patterns to those in summer are observed in fall, while in winter reductions of cool days and nights are notable. Regardless of the magnitude of urbanization, changes in nighttime extreme temperature events prevail in transitional periods between seasons, while those in daytime extreme temperature events do so only in particular months. In contrast, cool days in spring and summer, warm days in summer and warm nights in winter do not show any statistically-significant changes at most of stations. The sensitivity of seasonal extreme temperature events to increases of seasonal average extreme temperature is greatest in the case of warm days ($+6.3days/^{\circ}C$) and cool nights ($-6.2days/^{\circ}C$) in spring, warm nights ($+10.4days/^{\circ}C$) and days ($+9.5days/^{\circ}C$) in summer, warm days ($+7.7days/^{\circ}C$) in fall, and cool nights ($-4.7/^{\circ}C$) in winter, respectively. These results indicate that changes in seasonal extreme temperature events and their sensitivity to changes in seasonal climate means under a warmer climate are occurring with seasonally and diurnally asymmetric magnitudes in Korea due to complex climate feedbacks.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.781-796
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• 2009

The current standard level of Heat Health Watch Warning System consider both daily maximum temperature and daily maximum heat index(HI), but current standard could not consider daily maximum HI due to the difficulties in forecasting when we consider both daily maximum temperature and daily maximum HI and no considering HI because relative humidity could not observed for some regions. So, Newly established standard level of Heat Health Watch Warning System is based on daily maximum temperature exceeding $30^{\circ}C$ for two consecutive days or daily minimum temperature exceeding $25^{\circ}C$ and daily maximum temperature exceeding $30^{\circ}C$. These days are called "extreme heat days". On extreme heat days, the standard of extreme heat advisory is based on daily maximum temperature among exceeding $32.7^{\circ}C$ and not exceeding $34.8^{\circ}C$, and extreme heat warning is based on daily maximum temperature exceeding $34.8^{\circ}C$. ANOVA analysis was carried out using the data of Seoul Metropolitan City in 1994 to check the robustness of the new standard level of Heat Health Watch Warning System from this study, in particular for mortality variable. The results reveal that the new standard specifies excess mortality well, showing significance level of 0.05 in the difference of excess mortality for each phase.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.39 no.5 s.104
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• pp.711-721
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• 2004

The aim of this study is to clarify whether frequency and/or severity of extreme climate events have changed significantly in Korea during recent years. Using the best available daily data, spatial and temporal aspects of ten climate change indicators are investigated on an annual and seasonal basis for the periods of 1954-1999. A systematic increase in the $90^{th}$ percentile of daily minimum temperatures at most of the analyzed areas has been observed. This increase is accompanied by a similar reduction in the number of frost days and a significant lengthening of the thermal growing season. Although the intra-annual extreme temperature range is based on only two observations, it provides a very robust and significant measure of declining extreme temperature variability. The five precipitation-related indicators show no distinct changing patterns for spatial and temporal distribution except for the regional series of maximum consecutive dry days. Interestingly, the regional series of consecutive dry days have increased significantly while the daily rainfall intensity index and the fraction of annual total precipitation due to events exceeding the $95^{th}$ percentile for 1901-1990 normals have insignificantly increased.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.394-410
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• 2015

This study aims to classify climate zones for extreme climate indices over the Republic of Korea. First, frequencies and magitudes of extreme high temperature, spatial distributions for extreme low temperature, and extreme precipitation are analysed. Frequencies of summer days in inland region show more than coastal region. In frequencies of frost days, the characteristics of altitude and longitude are appeared. Heavy precipitation days show many frequencies in the southern coastal region and Jeju island, but little in Gyeongsangbuk-do region. The classification of climate zone for extreme climate indices by principal component analysis and cluster analysis is conducted for the first half, second half of study period, and climatology period for 1981-2010. Summer days are classified according to latitude. In case of frost days, the eastern and the southern coastal region and Jeju island are classified as same region. Heavy precipitation days are classified according to longitude in south region of Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do. This study will help to prepare adaptation and mitigation system for climate change in wide range of fields.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.657-669
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• 2008

Lately extreme weather event is occurring because of the global warming. Especially disaster due to the extreme heat are increasing but the definition and the standard of the extreme heat is obscure until now. So this study established the extreme heat standard by using the number of daily deaths. As a result, considering the climate of the megalopolis using daily maximum heat index and daily maximum temperature was the best for the standard of the extreme heat. And it showed that extreme heat lasted for 2 days affects the death toll the most. The regional incidence of the extreme heat is highest at August and July, September and June is following.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.681-700
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• 2008

In this study, the spatial and temporal patterns of changes in means and extreme events of temperature and precipitation across the Republic of Korea over the last 35 years (1973-2007) are examined. Over the study period, meteorological winter (December-February) mean minimum (maximum) temperature has increased by $+0.54^{\circ}C$/decade ($+0.6^{\circ}C$/decade), while there have been no significant changes in meteorological summer (June-August) mean temperatures. According to analyses of upper or lower $10^{th}$ percentile-based extreme temperature indices, the annual frequency of cool nights (days) has decreased by -9.2 days/decade (-3.3 days/decade), while the annual frequency of warm nights (days) has increased by +4.9 days/decade (+6.8 days/decade). In contrast, the increase rates of summer warm nights (+8.0 days/$^{\circ}C$) and days (+6.6 days/$^{\circ}C$) relative to changes in summer means minimum and maximum temperatures means are greater than the decreasing rates of winter nights (-5.2 days/$^{\circ}C$) and days (-4.3 days/$^{\circ}C$) relative to changes in winter temperatures. These results demonstrate that seasonal and diurnal asymmetric changes in extreme temperature events have occurred. Moreover, annual total precipitation has increased by 85.5 mm/decade particularly in July and August, which led to the shift of a bimodal behavior of summer precipitation into a multi-modal structure. These changes have resulted from the intensification of heavy rainfall events above 40mm in recent decades, and spatially the statistically-significant increases in these heavy rainfall events are observed around the Taebaek mountain region.

• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.205-219
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• 2015

In this study, the simulation results of temperature by regional climate model (Reg- CM4) over South Korea were corrected by Hempel et al. (2013)'s method (Hempel method), and evaluated with the observation data of 50 stations from Korea Meteorological Administration. Among the 30 years (1981~2010) of simulation data, 20 years (1981~2000) of simulation data were used as a training data, and the remnant 10 years (2001~2010) data were used for the evaluation of correction. In general, the Hempel method and parametric quantile mapping show a reasonable correction both in mean and extreme climate of temperature. As the results, the systematic underestimation of mean temperature was greatly reduced after bias correction by Hempel method. And the overestimation of extreme climate, such as the number of TN5% and freezing day, was significantly recovered. In addition to that, the Hempel method better preserved the temporal trend of simulated temperature than other bias correction methods, such as the quantile mapping. However, the overcorrection of the extreme climate related to the upper quantile, such as TX5% and hot days, resulted in the exaggeration of the simulation errors. In general, the Hempel method can reduce the systematic biases embedded in the simulation results preserving the temporal trend but it tends to overcorrect the non-linear biases, in particular, extreme climate related to the upper percentile.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.61-72
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• 2015

In this study, we have investigated monthly changes in temperature extremes in South Korea for the past (1921~2010) and the future (2011~2100). We used seven stations' (Gangneung, Seoul, Incheon, Daegu, Jeonju, Busan, Mokpo) data from KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration) for the past. For the future we used the closest grid point values to observations from the RCP8.5 scenario of 1 km resolution. The Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI)'s climate extreme indices were employed to quantify the characteristics of temperature extremes change. Temperature extreme indices in summer have increased while those in winter have decreased in the past. The extreme indices are expected to change more rapidly in the future than in the past. The number of frost days (FD) is projected to decrease in the future, and the occurrence period will be shortened by two months at the end of the $21^{st}$ century (2071~2100) compared to the present (1981~2010). The number of hot days (HD) is projected to increase in the future, and the occurrence period is projected to lengthen by two months at the end of the $21^{st}$ century compared to the present. The annual highest temperature and its fluctuation is expected to increase. Accordingly, the heat damage is also expected to increase. The result of this study can be used as an information on damage prevention measures due to temperature extreme events.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.208-225
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• 2012

The spatial characteristics of changes in extreme temperature indices for 2070-2099 relative to 1971-2000 in the Republic of Korea were investigated using daily maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) temperature data from a regional climate model (HadGEM3-RA) based on the IPCC RCP4.5/8.5 at 12.5km grid spacing and observations. Six temperature-based indices were selected to consider the frequency and intensity of extreme temperature events. For validation during the reference period (1971-2000), the simulated Tmax and Tmin distributions reasonably reproduce annual and seasonal characteristics not only for the relative probability but also the variation range. In the future (2070-2099), the occurrence of summer days (SD) and tropical nights (TR) is projected to be more frequent in the entire region while the occurrence of ice days (ID) and frost days (FD) is likely to decrease. The increase of averaged Tmax above 95th percentile (TX95) and Tmin below 5th percentile (TN5) is also projected. These changes are more pronounced under RCP8.5 scenario than RCP4.5. The changes in extreme temperature indices except for FD show significant correlations with altitude, and the changes in ID, TR, and TN5 also show significant correlations with latitude. The mountainous regions are projected to be more influenced by an increase of low extreme temperature than low altitude while the southern coast is likely to be more influenced by an increase of tropical nights.