• Atmosphere
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.163-175
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• 2017

The global terrestrial ecosystems have shown a large spatial variability in recent decades and represented a carbon sink pattern at mid-to-high latitude in Northern Hemisphere. However, there are many uncertainties in magnitude and spatial distribution of terrestrial carbon fluxes due to the effect of climate factors. So, it needs to accurately understand the spatio-temporal variations on carbon exchange flux with climate. This study focused on the effects of climate factors, .i.e. temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation, to terrestrial biosphere carbon flux. We used the terrestrial carbon flux that is simulated by a CarbonTracker, which performs data assimilation of global atmospheric $CO_2$ mole fraction measurements. We demonstrated significant interactions between Net Ecosystem Production (NEP) and climate factors by using the partial correlation analysis. NEP showed positive correlation with temperature at mid-to-high latitude in Northern Hemisphere but showed negative correlation pattern at $0-30^{\circ}N$. Also, NEP represented mostly negative correlation with precipitation at $60^{\circ}S-30^{\circ}N$. Solar radiation affected NEP positively at all latitudes and percentage of positive correlation at tropical regions was relatively lower than other latitudes. Spring and summer warming had potentially positive effect on NEP in Northern Hemisphere. On the other hand as increasing the temperature in autumn, NEP was largely reduced in most northern terrestrial ecosystems. The NEP variability that depends on climate factors also differently represented with the type of vegetation. Especially in crop regions, land carbon sinks had positive correlation with temperature but showed negative correlation with precipitation.

• Atmosphere
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.301-316
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• 2017

This study analyzes the spatio-temporal variability of terrestrial carbon flux and the response of land carbon sink with climate factors to improve of understanding of the variability of land-atmosphere carbon exchanges accurately. The coupled carbon-climate models of CMIP5 (the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) and CT (CarbonTracker) are used. The CMIP5 multi-model ensemble mean overestimated the NEP (Net Ecosystem Production) compares to CT and GCP (Global Carbon Project) estimates over the period 2001~2012. Variation of NEP in the CMIP5 ensemble mean is similar to CT, but a couple of models which have fire module without nitrogen cycle module strongly simulate carbon sink in the Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, and some areas of the United States. Result in comparison with climate factor, the NEP is highly affected by temperature and solar radiation in both of CT and CMIP5. Partial correlation between temperature and NEP indicates that the temperature is affecting NEP positively at higher than mid-latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, but opposite correlation represents at other latitudes in CT and most CMIP5 models. The CMIP5 models except for few models show positive correlation with precipitation at $30^{\circ}N{\sim}90^{\circ}N$, but higher percentage of negative correlation represented at $60^{\circ}S{\sim}30^{\circ}N$ compare to CT. For each season, the correlation between temperature (solar radiation) and NEP in the CMIP5 ensemble mean is similar to that of CT, but overestimated.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.93-103
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• 2024

Estuaries are connecting pathways where terrestrial carbon is transported to the ocean and environments where various biogeochemical cycles occur. It is essential to estimate the carbon flux across the land-sea continuum to accurately determine the global carbon budget. Additionally, understanding the carbon characteristics of estuarine environments provides valuable information for watershed management and coastal ecosystem conservation. This paper introduces research results in Korea regarding the organic carbon cycle in estuarine environments. In particular, it focuses on research results concerning organic carbon characteristics using stable and radioisotopes, and, based on this, suggests directions for future study.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.549-556
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• 2017

Rivers continuously transport terrestrial organic carbon matter to the estuary and the ocean, and they play a critical role in productivity and biodiversity in the marine ecosystem as well as the global carbon cycle. The amount of terrestrial organic carbon transporting from the rivers to ocean is an essential piece of information, not only for the marine ecosystem management but also the carbon budget within catchment. However, this phenomenon is still not well understood. Most large rivers in Korea have a well-established national monitoring system of the river flow and the TOC (Total Organic Carbon) concentration from the mountain to the river mouth, which are fundamental for estimating the amount of the TOC flux. We estimated the flux of the total terrestrial organic carbon of five large rivers which flow out to the Yellow Sea, using the data of the national monitoring system (the monthly mean TOC concentration and the monthly runoff of river flow). We quantified the annual TOC flux of the five rivers, showing their results in the following order: the Han River ($18.0{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>>Geum River ($5.9{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>Yeongsan River ($2.6{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>Sumjin River ($2.0{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>>Tamjin River ($0.2{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$). The amount of the Han River, which is the highest in the Korean rivers, corresponds to be 4% of the annual total TOC flux of in the Yellow River, and moreover, to be 0.6% of Yangtze River.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.58-67
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• 2020

Terrestrial ecosystems influence climate change via their climate regulation function, which is manifested within the carbon, water, and energy circulation between the atmosphere and surface. However, it has been challenging to quantify the climate regulation of terrestrial ecosystems and identify its regional distribution, which provides useful information for establishing regional climate-mitigation plans as well as facilitates better understanding of the interactions between the climate and land processes. In this study, a land surface model (LSM) that represents the land-atmosphere interactions and plant phenological variations was introduced to assess the contributions of terrestrial ecosystems to atmospheric warming or cooling effects over East Asia over the last half century. Three main climate-regulating components were simulated: net radiation flux, carbon exchange, and moisture flux at the surface. Then, the contribution of each component to the atmospheric warming or cooling (negative or positive feedback to the atmosphere, respectively) was investigated. The results showed that the terrestrial ecosystem over the Siberian region has shown a relatively large increase in positive feedback due to the enhancement of biogeochemical processes, indicating an offset effect to delay global warming. Meanwhile, the Gobi Desert shows different regional variations: increase in positive feedback in its southern part but increase in negative one in its eastern part, which implies the eastward movements of desert areas. As such, even though the LSM has limitations, this model approach to quantify the climate regulation is useful to extract the relevant characteristics in its spatio-temporal variations.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.503-518
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• 2012

Models estimating carbon budget at land surface are mainly interested in vertical flux of carbon. On the other hand, studies on horizontal flux are obviously lacked to confirm that relationship between the hydrological flux of organic carbon discharged from catchment and terrestrial carbon production, a relation between Total Organic Carbon(TOC) and Gross Primary Production(GPP) tried analysis through cross correlation. The best correlation structure is correlation between GPP and TOC of flow-weighted mean concentration from watershed without delay. Furthermore, cross correlation analysis was performed by consider periodicity. The correlation between TOC and GPP in summer was similar to correlation without periodicity. Therefore, correlation between GPP and TOC was most regulated by the correlation between GPP and TOC at summer. As a result, the vegetation carbon and organic carbon from watershed is recognized a close relationship on the seasonal. Therefore, future research is correlation analyzing between vegetation variables according season, GPP and TOC, we are expected to use quantitative understanding that horizontal flux flow of carbon from the surface.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.241-263
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• 2010

KoFlux is a Korean network of micrometeorological tower sites that use eddy covariance methods to monitor the cycles of energy, water, and carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the key terrestrial ecosystems in Korea. KoFlux embraces the mission of AsiaFlux, i.e. to bring Asia's key ecosystems under observation to ensure quality and sustainability of life on earth. The main purposes of KoFlux are to provide (1) an infrastructure to monitor, compile, archive and distribute data for the science community and (2) a forum and short courses for the application and distribution of knowledge and data between scientists including practitioners. The KoFlux community pursues the vision of AsiaFlux, i.e., "thinking community, learning frontiers" by creating information and knowledge of ecosystem science on carbon, water and energy exchanges in key terrestrial ecosystems in Asia, by promoting multidisciplinary cooperations and integration of scientific researches and practices, and by providing the local communities with sustainable ecosystem services. Currently, KoFlux has seven sites in key terrestrial ecosystems (i.e., five sites in Korea and two sites in the Arctic and Antarctic). KoFlux has systemized a standardized data processing based on scrutiny of the data observed from these ecosystems and synthesized the processed data for constructing database for further uses with open access. Through publications, workshops, and training courses on a regular basis, KoFlux has provided an agora for building networks, exchanging information among flux measurement and modelling experts, and educating scientists in flux measurement and data analysis. Despite such persistent initiatives, the collaborative networking is still limited within the KoFlux community. In order to break the walls between different disciplines and boost up partnership and ownership of the network, KoFlux will be housed in the National Center for Agro-Meteorology (NCAM) at Seoul National University in 2011 and provide several core services of NCAM. Such concerted efforts will facilitate the augmentation of the current monitoring network, the education of the next-generation scientists, and the provision of sustainable ecosystem services to our society.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.302-309
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• 2017

Background: Large-scale land-use change is being caused by various socioeconomic problems. Land-use change is necessarily accompanied by changes in the regional carbon balance in terrestrial ecosystems and affects climate change. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the correlation between environmental factors altered by land-use change and the carbon balance. To address this issue, we studied the characteristics of soil carbon flux and soil moisture content related to rainfall events in mountain pastures converted from deciduous forest in Korea. Results: The average soil moisture contents (SMC) during the study period were 23.1% in the soil respiration (SR) plot and 25.2% in the heterotrophic respiration (HR) plot. The average SMC was increased to 2.1 and 1.1% in the SR and HR plots after rainfall events, respectively. In addition, saturated water content was 29.36% in this grassland. The soil water content was saturated under the consistent rainfall of more than $5mm\;h^{-1}$ rather than short-term heavy rainfall event. The average SR was increased to 28.4% after a rainfall event, but the average HR was decreased to 70. 1%. The correlation between soil carbon flux rates and rainfall was lower than other environmental factors. The correlation between SMC and soil carbon flux rates was low. However, HR exhibited a tendency to be decreased when SMC was 24.5%. In addition, the correlation between soil temperature and respiration rate was significant. Conclusions: In a mountain pasture ecosystem, rainfall induced the important change of soil moisture content related to respiration in soil. SR and HR were very sensitive to change of SMC in soil surface layer about 0-10-cm depth. SR was increased by elevation of SMC due to a rainfall event, and the result was assumed from maintaining moderate soil moisture content for respiration in microorganism and plant root. However, HR was decreased in long-time saturated condition of soil moisture content. Root has obviously contributed to high respiration in heavy rainfall, but it was affected to quick depression in respiration under low rainfall. The difference of SMC due to rainfall event was causative of a highly fluctuated soil respiration rate in the same soil temperature condition. Therefore, rainfall factor or SMC are to be considered in predicting the soil carbon flux of grassland ecosystems for future climate change.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.283-292
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• 2015

The total global emission of $CO_2$ from soils is recognized as one of the largest fluxes in the global carbon cycle. Especially it is necessary to quantify the amount of $CO_2$ emitted by the organic material decomposition processes of microorganisms in the soil, because it becomes one of a factor for determining the carbon stocks in the soil. This study was conducted to estimate the impact of the Korean water deer(Hydropotes inermis)' feces to the soil organic matter. Also, effects of Korean water deer' feces on $CO_2$ emissions of soil and land use pattern dependent $CO_2$ flux quantification are studied. The organic materials in the Korean water deer' feces significantly changed organic matter content of soil and influenced the activity of soil microorganisms, both changing of respiration of the soil and physical chemical components in soil. In particular, C/N ratio and the $CO_2$ flux of soil of four regions (Rice paddy, Fallow ground, Salix koreensis community, Phragmites australis community) showed a statistically highly significant correlation (P<0.01) with the presence or absence of feces. $CO_2$ flux of soil affected by the feces was 2-20 times higher than the soil unaffected by the feces. This study has great significance to quantify the extent of the material circulation and its impact to the terrestrial ecosystem and soil zone throughout Korean water deer' feces. Feces of wildlife can affect soil and soil material circulation.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.94-100
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• 2003

Soil $CO_2$ emission is one of the primary components in carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems. To accurately assess their net ecosystem exchange of $CO_2$ and net primary production, measurement of soil $CO_2$ efflux is required along with that of canopy $CO_2$ flux. In this paper, soil $CO_2$ flux measurement technique using closed dynamic chamber systems is briefly reviewed. Preliminary results on soil $CO_2$ exchange and inter-comparison of different measurement systems currently used in Korean regional network of tower flux measurement sites (KoFlux) are also reported.