• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.2B
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• pp.129-146
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• 2011

Characterization the regional impact of the variability of summer extreme precipitation and the rain days over several thresholds (i.e. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 mm/day) in South Korea was performed using daily precipitation data of 59 weather stations operated by Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA). To consider the local features of weather stations, we characterized the variability according to the difference of elevations, latitudes, longitudes, river basins, inland or shore area, and the ratio of urbanization. The results showed that the summer extreme precipitation is sensible to the geographical effect which is similar to that of the annual precipitation. Rain days over thresholds have increased during 1973-2009 while the annual rain days have decreased. This indicate that the concentration of precipitation in summer season will be intensified in the future. Increase of summer precipitation amount and number of extreme rain days is higher in inland area, urbanized area, and Han-River basin than that of shore area, unurbanized area, and the other river basins respectively.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.2B
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• pp.103-111
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• 2012

This study is to analyze the spatio-temporal trend of snowfall using 30 years (1980-2010) data for 5 selected heavy snowfall areas (Ulleungdo (a), Northeastern Region (b), Western Taebaek Range Inland Region (c), Northwestern Sobaek Range Inland Region (d) and Southern Coastal Region (e)). The snow depth and snowfall frequency during 30 years showed some decreasing trend in parts of c and d. From the spatial comparison for 2 periods between 1980-2000 (A) and 1990-2010 (B), we could identified that the frequency of advisory for heavy snowfall from A to B decreased in c and d showing clear bounds for some areas in period B. For the average snow depth from A to B, the area d decreased while the area b increased with enlarging the areal range.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.171-180
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• 1997

Studies on geographical distributions and relative population densities of the vector mites of tsutsugamushi disease were carried out in October 1996 at 12 locations of the mid south inland of the Korean peninsula, where chigger mites have been never studied. Of 177 field rodents and insectivores collected. 154 (87.0%) were Apodemus ngrarius. Total 25,707 chigger mites were collected and 14 species were identified. of which Leptotrombidium pnllidum was predominant (79.8%) and L. palpate the next (8.9%) . L. pallidum, the vector species, was widely distributed in all study areas, showing the highest density at Cho-o 2-dong, Sangju-si (chigger index 201.8), and the lowest at Tanwol-dong. Chungiu-si (chigger index 40.7) . The other vector species, L. scutellare was found only at the southern part of the study area such as Yobae and Mipyong, Kumrung gun and Vnsu , Kimchon-si. The northernmost areas of the L. scutellcre distribution were coincided with the areas where actual mean air temperature is above 10.0%. Among 157 A. ograrius sera tested, 48.3% was Karp, 1.7% william and 3.3% Kuroki. The rest of the sera were not able to determine the sexto-type because of the cross antigen-antibody reactions among the tested sero-types.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.113-121
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• 1977

The 685 strains of Korean Sspergilli are isolated, cultured purely, and their Avicelase, CMCase and Salicinase activities are measured, in order to select the best strains exhibiting predominant cellulase activities, and to survey their cellulase activities in taxonomical and ecological viewpoints. Strains No.175, 255 and 254 are selected as the best Avicelase producing strains, strains No.131, 151 and 116 are selected as the best CMCase producing strains, and strains nO.456, 457 and 253 are selected as the best Salicinase producing strains. A niger group and A, clavatus group exhibited the highest activities of Avcelase and Salicinase, respectively. A.iniger group and A, clavatus groups are showed the highest activites of CMCase. Among the different species tested, the activities of Avicelase, CMCase andSalicinase are highest in A.phoenicis, A.clavatus, and A. japonicus and A.giganteus, respectively. Cellulase activities of Aspergilli from the inland regions of Korea are higher, more or less, than those of the strains from the other regions. Avicelase and CMCase activities of Aspergilli isolated from bread and Korean cake are relatively higher, and Salicinase activities of the strains isolated from the cereals are higher than those of the strains from the other habitat substrate.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.282-288
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• 2019

We investigated the changes in the population size and inter-specific space usage for breeding in mixed breeding sites of the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), grey heron (Ardea cinerea), great egret (Ardea alba modesta) and intermediate egret (Egretta intermedia) in Gammul-myeon, Goesan-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea, in 2016-2017. These species bred in two adjacent habitats (site A and site B). The number of breeding pairs of all species and the size of the breeding area at site B increased in 2017. In 2017, great cormorants at site B occupied the breeding sites previously occupied by the other species in 2016, while the grey heron and great egret occupied the sites around the great cormorant breeding site. The heights of nest trees and nests of great cormorant and grey heron did not differ temporally, but these heights in site B were significantly higher than those in site A for great cormorants. For great egrets, these greatly decreased in site B in 2017. Thus, the great cormorant either moved to favourable nest sites for breeding success or selected nest sites used by the herons in the previous year. Further studies of these two possibilities are necessary.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.292-303
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• 2022

Background: Climate change significantly influences the geographical distribution of plant species worldwide. Selecting indicator species allows for better-informed and more effective ecosystem management in response to climate change. The Korean Peninsula is the northernmost distribution zone of warm temperate evergreen broad-leaved (WTEB) species in Northeast Asia. Considering the ecological value of these species, we evaluated the current distribution range and future suitable habitat for 13 WTEB tree species designated as climate-sensitive biological indicator species. Results: Up-to-date and accurate WTEB species distribution maps were constructed using herbarium specimens and citizen science data from the Korea Biodiversity Observation Network. Current northern limits for several species have shifted to higher latitudes compared to previous records. For example, the northern latitude limit for Stauntonia hexaphylla is higher (37° 02' N, Deokjeokdo archipelago) than that reported previously (36° 13' N). The minimum temperature of the coldest month (Bio6) is the major factor influencing species distribution. Under future climate change scenarios, suitable habitats are predicted to expand toward higher latitudes inland and along the western coastal areas. Conclusions: Our results support the suitability of WTEB trees as significant biological indicators of species' responses to warming. The findings also suggest the need for consistent monitoring of species distribution shifts. This study provides an important baseline dataset for future monitoring and management of indicator species' responses to changing climate conditions in South Korea.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2017

Planting trees is a very common practice in the coastal dunefields of South Korea as a way to stabilize dune landscapes and protect inland residential areas from strong winds and blown sands. On the other hand, disturbing the original foredune environment may deteriorate the ability of coastal landsto recover from coastal erosion after storms, causing a retreat of coastline. However, there is little information of this sort on the surface of forested dunefields. Airborne LiDAR or drone-based mapping is not easily applicable in such areas. In this study, we developed a digital terrain model of Dasari dunefields, Chungnam Province, based on direct topographic surveys with real-time kinematic GPS and total stations. We also analyzed previous two aerial photographs taken in 1947 and 1966, in order to detect an older landforms of the dunefields. Results suggested that there have been little changes in geomorphology of the Dasari dunefields for the last 50 years, despite continued tree plantings. Today, there are remains of U-shaped structures such as blowouts and parabolic dunes in the dunefields.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.335-347
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• 2010

The statistical characteristics of Cloud-to-Ground (CG) lightning data, observed by the total lightning detection system (TLDS) of KMA during the recent seven years (2002-2008), have been analyzed. Lightning frequency shows a strong interannual, seasonal and diurnal variations without regard to the polarity. The 74% and 0.6% of the total lightning occurred during the summer and winter, respectively. And it has a bimodal diurnal variation with two peaks (dawn: 0500-0700 LST, mid-afternoon: 1500-1600 LST). The ratio of positive flashes to negative ones also has a strong seasonal variation with the maximum and minimum during winter (62.5%) and summer (7.3%), respectively. Unlike the lightning frequency, the lightning intensity of negative flashes shows a weak interannual, seasonal and diurnal variations. However, the lightning intensity of positive flashes exhibits an inverse seasonal variation to that of lightning frequency, with the minimum and maximum during summer and winter, respectively. The lightning density is greatly higher in the western inland areas and the West/South Sea than in the eastern part and the East Sea. In general, the lightning intensity is stronger in the ocean, especially in the East Sea than in the inland area, regardless of the polarity.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.437-445
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• 2008

We analyzed fault plane solutions of the recent twenty-two earthquakes which occurred from 2004 to 2006 in the central part of the Korean Peninsula by using P- and S-wave polarities along with SH/P amplitude ratios. The fault plane solution shows that strike-slip fault is dominant here, especially for the events with local magnitude equal to or greater than 3.0. However, some events with local magnitude less than 3.0 show normal fault or strike-slip fault with normal components. In the case of strike-slip fault, its orientation is almost in the direction of NNE-SSW to NE-SW almost parallel to the general trend of faults, while the compressional axis of the stress field trends ENE to E-W. The result is almost consistent with the stress field in and around the Korean peninsula, as reported previously. We cannot give any appropriate explanations to the normal faulting events along the western offshore and inland areas whether it is related to the local stress changes or tectonically unidentified extensional structures. Thus, an extension of investigations is desirable to clarify the cause of such phenomena.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.177-184
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• 2003

Numerical simulation on marine wind and sea surface elevation was carried out using both three-dimensional hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic models and a simple oceanic model from 0900 LST, August 13 to 0900 LST, August 15, 1995. As daytime easterly meso-scale sea-breeze from the eastern sea penetrates Kangnung city in the center part as basin and goes up along the slope of Mt. Taegullyang in the west, it confronts synoptic-scale westerly wind blowing over the top of the mountain at the mid of the eastern slope and then the resultant wind produces an upper level westerly return flow toward the East Sea. In a narrow band of weak surface wind within 10km of the coastal sea, wind stress is generally small, less than l${\times}$10E-2 Pa and it reaches 2 ${\times}$ 10E-2 Pa to the 35 km. Positive wind stress curl of 15 $\times$ 10E-5Pa $m^{-1}$ still exists in the same band and corresponds to the ascent of 70 em from the sea level. This is due to the generation of northerly wind driven current with a speed of 11 m $S^{-1}$ along the coast under the influence of south-easterly wind and makes an intrusion of warm waters from the southern sea into the northern coast, such as the East Korea Warm Current. On the other hand, even if nighttime downslope windstorm of 14m/s associated with both mountain wind and land-breeze produces the development of internal gravity waves with a hydraulic jump motion of air near the coastal inland surface, the surface wind in the coastal sea is relatively moderate south-westerly wind, resulting in moderate wind stress. Negative wind stress curl in the coast causes the subsidence of the sea surface of 15 em along the coast and south-westerly coastal surface wind drives alongshore south-easterly wind driven current, opposite to the daytime one. Then, it causes the intrusion of cold waters like the North Korea Cold Current in the northern coastal sea into the narrow band of the southern coastal sea. However, the band of positive wind stress curl at the distance of 30km away from the coast toward further offshore area can also cause the uprising of sea waters and the intrusion of warm waters from the southern sea toward the northern sea (northerly wind driven current), resulting in a counter-clockwise wind driven current. These clockwise and counter-clockwise currents much induce the formation of low clouds containing fog and drizzle in the coastal region.