• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.198-202
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• 2010

In and around the Korean Peninsula, 18 intraplate earthquake focal mechanisms since 1936 were analyzed to understand the characteristic of focal mechanism and regional stress orientation and tectonics. These earthquakes are largest ones from the last century and may represent the characteristics of earthquake in this region. Focal mechanism of these earthquakes show predominant strike-slip faulting with small amount of thrust components. The average P-axis is almost horizontal ENE-WSW direction. This mechanism pattern and the direction of maximum stress axis is very similar with northeastern part of China and southwestern part of Japan. However they are quite different with the eastern part of East Sea. This indicate that not only the subducting Pacific Plate from east but also the indenting Indian Plate controls focal mechanism in the far east of the Eurasian Plate.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1271-1281
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• 2009

The heavy snowfall event over the eastern part of Seoul, Korea on Mar. 04, 2008 has been abruptly occurred after the frontal system with the heavy snowfall event had been past over the Korean peninsula on Mar. 03, 2008. Therefore, this heavy snowfall event couldn't be predicted well by any means of theoretical knowledges and models. After the cold front passed by, the cold air mass was flown over the peninsula immediately and became clear expectedly except the eastern part and southwestern part of peninsula with some large amount of snowfall. Even though the wide and intense massive cold anticyclone was expanded and enhanced by the lowest tropospheric baroclinicity over the Yellow Sea, but the intrusion and eastward movement of cold air to Seoul was too slow than normally predicted. Using the data of numerical model, satellite and radar images, three dimensional analysis Products(KLAPS : Korea Local Analysis and Prediction System) of the environmental conditions of this event such as temperature, equivalent potential temperature, wind, vertical circulation, divergence, moisture flux divergence and relative vorticity could be analyzed precisely. Through the analysis of this event, the formation and westward advection of lower cyclonic circulation with continuously horizontal movement of air into the eastern part of Seoul by the analyses of KLAPS fields have been affected by occurring the heavy snowfall event. As the predictability of abrupt snowfall event was very hard and dependent on not only the synoptic atmospheric circulation but also for mesoscale atmospheric circulation, the forecaster can be predicted well this event which may be occurred and developed within the very short time period using sequential satellite images and KLAPS products.

• Atmosphere
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.455-466
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• 2017

In Korea, property and human damages occur annually due to heavy precipitation during the summer. On August 8, 2015, heavy rainfall occurred in the Seoul metropolitan area due to an outflow boundary, and $77mmhr^{-1}$ rainfall was recorded in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. In this study, the simulation of the WRF numerical model is performed to understand the cause and characteristics of heavy rainfall using the Conditional Instability of the Second Kind (CISK), potential vorticity (PV), frontogenesis function, and convective available potential energy (CAPE) analyses, etc. Convective cells initiated over the Shandong Peninsula and located on the downwind side of an upper level trough. Large amounts of water vapor were supplied to the Shandong Peninsula along the southwestern edge of a high pressure system, and from the remnants of typhoon Soudelor. The mesoscale convective system (MCS) developed through CISK process and moved over to the Yellow Sea. The outflow boundary from the MCS progressed east and pushed cold pool eastward. The warm and humid air over the Korean Peninsula further enhanced convective development. As a result, a new MCS developed rapidly over land. Because of the latent heat release due to convection and precipitation, strong potential vorticity was generated in the lower atmosphere. The rapid development of MCS and the heavy rainfall occurred in an area where the CAPE value was greater than $1300Jkg^{-1}$ and the fronto-genesis function value of 1.5 or greater coincided. The analysis result shows that the MCS driven by an outflow boundary can be identified using CISK process.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.57-69
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to identify distributional characteristics of autumn droughts in occurrence frequency and to analyze synoptic characteristics on the surface pressure fields and 500hPa levels for autumn droughts in Korea. The regional distributions of autumn droughts in occurrence frequency vary according to the monthly regional distributions of the precipitation variabilities in Korea. In september, the southwestern and the mid western parts of Korean Peninsula have high rate of drought frequency, while the eastern coast regions have low rate of it. It means that the regional distribution of the drought frequency in september indicates west-high and east-low pattern. In October, the regional distribution of the drought frequency shows low variations on regions, but in November the inland areas have low rate of drought frequency, whereas the coastal areas have high rate of it. Negative anomalies appear on the surface and 500hPa level, around Korean Peninsula during the drought period of early autumn. Positive height anomalies areas are extended from the Sea of Okhotsk to the central part of the North Pacific Ocean. It indicates that the occurrence frequencies of blocking high and ridge are high around the Sea of Okhotsk. When the pressure system, such as migratory anticyclone, stays around the Korean Peninsula, a drought occurs. In late autumn drought, the positive anomalies appear in the west and the negative anomalies in the east are generated, respectively and therefore, zonal wind is strong around Korean Peninsula. In consequence, occurrences of droughts in early autumn have a different mechanism from those of late autumn.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.53-57
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• 2003

Low salinity water appears by outflow of fresh water from the Yangtze River in southwestern sea of the Korean peninsula. The water volume discharged form the Yangtze River is not constant with year, according to the time series data recorded in the past, the maximum value of the discharged volume is two times as high asr minimum value. Therefore, the distribution of low salinity water over study area with different discharged fresh water volume is studied using numerical model, Princeton Ocean Model (POM). POM is three dimensional circulation model selecting a $\sigma$­coordinate. According to the result of numerical simulation by the Model, current velocity on the continental slope is faster than those in other regions, current which flows toward the central part of the Yellow Sea through western part of Jeju exists, and also, southward flow along the coastal region exists. the greater discharged volume from the Yangrze River is. the lower salinity water appears closer to Jeju.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.315-332
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• 2008

To elucidate the distribution of broad-leaved evergreen plants of the central part of the Yellow Sea, we surveyed 136 islands of Incheon from May 2006 to March 2008. In the present survey, twelve broad-leaved evergreen species were found on 77 islands, which included 28 inhabited and 49 uninhabited islands. Among them, the most popular plants were the following: Euonymus japonicus Thunb., Elaeagnus macrophylla Thunb., Camellia japonica L., and Cyrtomium falcatum (L.f.) C. Presl. These plants were found growing on Baengnyeong Island, the northmost island among those surveyed, near $N 37^{\circ}60^{\prime}$. On the other hand the following four species are found up to Deokjeok-myeon only, near N $N 37^{\circ}10^{\prime}$: Hedera rhombea (Miq.) Bean,, Quercus acuta Thunb. ex Murray for. acuta, Neolitsea sericea (Blume) Koidz., and Trachelospermum asiaticum (Siebold & Zucc.) Nakai. However, these plants are usually found growing in the southern or southwestern coastal region of the Korean Peninsula. Thus the distribution of the broad-leaved evergreen plants growing on these high latitude islands might be influenced by a warm current of the Yellow Sea. The distribution of broad-leaved evergreen plants on each island is described.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.177-184
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• 1991

We have investigated geographical distribution and physico-chemical properties of water masses or water types at mid-bottom depth in the neighbouring sea of Cheju Island in August 1986. In 50m layer the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water(YSBCW) below $12^{\circ}C$ was observed in the northwestern area of Cheju Island, while the Tsushima Warm Water(TWW) with relatively high temperature$(>16^{\circ}C)$ and salinity more than 34.0 in its southeastern area extended as far as the coast of about 15km. Also, 50m layer at the outside stations of its southwestern area indicated relatively cold water temperature$(11-30^{\circ}C)$, probably due to southward transport of the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water(YSBCW . The Yellow Sea Warm Water(YSWW), the mixed water of the YSBCW and the TWW, ranged $13^{\circ}C$ to $16^{\circ}C$ in water temperature and was appeared mainly in the coastal and intermediate area of Cheju Island. And the relatively cold water in the southwestern area and the Tsushima Warm Water were more extensively distributed in 50m layer than the deeper layer. Horizontal distributions of nitrate and phosphate showed a pattern similar to that of water temperature. As it were, the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water had the highest concentration of nutrients, while southwestern outside stations had the lowest nutrient contents. Especially, the concentration of nitrate in the latter was remarkably low compared with the value at the other stations. It may be attributed to intensive vertical mixing by collision of the northward driven Tn with the southward driven YSBCW. Also, it was particular that the Tsushima Warm Water indicated relatively high silicate content corresponding to that of the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water. Based on the data of $\Delta Si/\Delta P$ ratio, it seems that the mid-bottom waters in this study area are younger than the surface or intermediate water in the Korean East Sea.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.40-52
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• 2003

Despite the various opening models of the southwestern part of the East Sea (Japan Sea) between the Korean Peninsula and the Japan Arc, the continental margin of the Korean Peninsula remains unknown in crustal structure. As a result, continental rifting and subsequent seafloor spreading processes to explain the opening of the East Sea have not been adequately addressed. We investigated crustal and sedimentary velocity structures across the Korean margin into the adjacent Ulleung Basin from multichannel seismic reflection and ocean bottom seismometer data. The Ulleung Basin shows crustal velocity structure typical of oceanic although its crustal thickness of about 10 km is greater than normal. The continental margin documents rapid transition from continental to oceanic crust, exhibiting a remarkable decrease in crustal thickness accompanied by shallowing of Moho over a distance of about 50 km. The crustal model of the margin is characterized by a high-velocity (up to 7.4 km/s) lower crustal (HVLC) layer that is thicker than 10 km under the slope base and pinches out seawards. The HVLC layer is interpreted as magmatic underplating emplaced during continental rifting In response to high upper mantle temperature. The acoustic basement of the slope base shows an igneous stratigraphy developed by massive volcanic eruption. These features suggest that the evolution of the Korean margin can be explained by the processes occurring at volcanic rifted margins. Global earthquake tomography supports our interpretation by defining the abnormally hot upper mantle across the Korean margin and in the Ulleung Basin.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2015

This study investigates the impact of enhanced regional meteorological fields on improvement of wind energy forecasting accuracy in the southwestern coast of the Korean Peninsula. To clarify the effect of detailed surface boundary data and application of analysis nudging technique on simulated meteorological fields, several WRF simulations were carried out. Case_LT, which is a simulation with high resolution terrain height and land use data, shows the most remarkable accuracy improvement along the shoreline mainly due to modified surface characteristics such as albedo, roughness length and thermal inertia. Case_RS with high resolution SST data shows accurate SST distributions compared to observation data, and they led to change in land and sea breeze circulation. Case_GN, grid nudging applied simulation, also shows changed temperature and wind fields. Especially, the application of grid nudging dominantly influences on the change of horizontal wind components in comparison with vertical wind component.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.123-135
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• 2007

Five episodes of the large-scale transport of air pollutants in East Asia and its inflow into the Korean Peninsula have been analyzed through satellite and ground observations. These episodes include regionally polluted continental airmass, which is created by the pollutants produced in the cities and the industrial regions in China, to land on or pass through the Korean Peninsula by way of the Yellow Sea. The analysis of the NOAA satellite observation data made it possible to create images by combining 3 channels of visible and infrared ray ranges and also to identify the distribution and the transport of the air pollution mass over the Yellow Sea. The ground observation data of the air pollutants gathered in Chongwon were found highly valuable in verifying the information in comparison with ones from the satellite. Especially, regarding the episodes of large-scale transport of the air pollutants, the difference of concentration between $PM_{10}\;and\;PM_{2.5}$ was found small with the increase of $PM_{2.5}$ value. The concentration of $PM_{10}$ in the episode of yellows and, however, was found much higher than that of $PM_{2.5}$. In the episode of 27 January 2006, the inflow of the regionally polluted continental air mass into the central and southwestern region of the Korean Peninsula was observed sequentially in the various ground observatories as well as by the satellite. The north-northwest airflow dissipated the clouds over from Mt. Halla in Jeju Island up to far downwind, reduced air pollution, and created von $K\acute{a}rm\acute{a}n$ vortex.