This paper has presented not only the spatial coverage change of climate extreme events in summer and winter seasons during the period of 2000-2017, but also their future projections in 2021-2100, South Korea through analysis of a Combined Climate Extreme Index (CCEI). The CCEI quantifies the spatial coverage of climate extreme events based on a set of five indicators. MK (Modified Korean)-PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regression on Independent Slopes Model)v1.2 (1×1km) and RCP scenario data (1×1km) were applied to CCEI. Results indicated that in average, 21.7% of the areas in the summer and 23.6% in the winter experienced climate extremes from 2000 to 2017 regardless of types of climate extreme events in South Korea. The summer of 2003 and 2009 was relatively cool and humid, while the summer of 2014 and 2015 was cool and dry and the summer of 2016 was warm and dry. The extreme events with much above normal maximum and minimum temperature during the study period were detected but not much below normal maximum and minimum temperature after 2015. For RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios, there were statistically significant trends with spatial coverage expansion of climate extreme events in the future. It might be concluded that climate extreme events in the summer and winter seasons were affected simultaneously by two or more indicators than a single indicator in South Korea.

The purpose of this study is to examine the trends of extreme temperature events in East Asia over the past 40 years (1979-2018) and their potential relationships with recent changes in the Northern Hemisphere cryosphere. Analyses of Sen’s slope and Mann-Kendall tests are performed for time series data of extreme temperature events extracted from NCEP-DOE reanalysis II Gaussian grid daily 2-m air temperature data. As the result, it is found that extreme high temperature events exceeding the 99th percentile show more noticeable increasing trends than the magnitude of the decreasing extreme low temperature events below the 1st percentile particularly in Mongolia, Korean Peninsula and southern China due to unexpected cold events since the late 2000s. Correlation analyses based on Kendall’s tau indicate that the reduction of spring-early summer Eurasian snow cover (data from Rutgers University Global Snow Lab.) may lead to the increasing tendency of extreme high temperature events in East Asia through snow albedo feedbacks, while paradoxically the reducing autumn-early winter Arctic sea ice (data from NSIDC) due to global warming seems to cause more frequent extreme low temperature events in recent years through the amplification of Rossby waves. Thus, it is needed to continue monitoring the feedbacks between changing Arctic cryosphere and East Asian climate systems in the warmer 21st century.

The purpose of this study is to characterize the synoptic climatic patterns of extreme humansensible temperature (HST) events in Jeju Island, Korea under a subtropical climate condition as well as to examine their teleconnections with the large-scale climate systems. According to the extreme case analysis of the recent 30 years (1988-2017) data sets, the maximum daily average HST in the coastal areas of Jeju Island can rise up to about 40°C in mid-summer and even up to about 48°C during mid-daytime. These extreme HST events occur when the expansion of subtropical Pacific high pressure toward East Asia as well as the poleward shift of the Changma front provides hot and humid conditions over Jeju Island surrounded by seas, particularly in La Niña years with a positive (+) Arctic Oscillation mode. In contrast, the intensified western high and eastern low dipole pressure pattern in mid-winter, which accompanies the downward shear of upper tropospheric cold air toward the southern region of the Korean Peninsula under a negative (-) Arctic Oscillation mode, provides favorable conditions for frequent low HST extreme events. These conditions can lower daily average HST as much as -10°C in the coastal region of Jeju Island, and lower nighttime HST by -25°C on the peak areas of Mt. Halla due to wind chill effects. These findings will be used as a base for establishing prediction and warming systems of extreme HST events on Jeju Island, which is needed to mitigate the damage to the lives of Jeju residents and tourists under climate change.

Persistent Extreme Temperature Events (PETEs) are defined in two steps; first, to define extreme temperature events, the 80th and 20th percentiles of daily maximum and minimum temperature were chosen. Then individual PETE was defined as an event which lasted three or longer consecutive extreme temperature days. In this study, we examined characteristics and changes of PETEs in Republic of Korea (ROK) using 14 weather stations with a relatively long-term period of data, 1954-2016. In ROK, PETEs lasted four-five days on average and occurred two-three times a year. PETEs lasted longer in summer than in winter and in maximum temperature than in minimum temperature. PETEs which lasted greater than seven days account for a greater proportion in summer than in winter. However, intensities of PETEs were greater in winter because of a larger temperature fluctuation. In both summer and winter, durations and intensities of persistent extreme high temperature events increased while those of persistent extreme low temperature events decreased. Changes of PETEs were closely related with both global warming and diverse large-scale climate variabilities such as AO, NAO and Nino 3.4.

The purpose of this study is to characterize long-term (1973~2012) changes in intra-seasonal temperature and extreme low temperature events in winter observed at 61 weather stations in the Republic of Korea and their associations with changes in atmospheric circulation patterns around East Asia. Maps of long-term linear trends clearly show that both temperature means and extreme events in Korea have asymmetrically changed between early winter and late winter. In early winter, changes with statistical significance are less observable, while in late winter reductions in low extreme temperature events as well as increases in temperatures, particularly after mid-1980s, are obviously observed across the study region. Comparisons of tropospheric synoptic climatic fields before and after the mid-1980s demonstrate that in early winter of recent decades, active meridional circulation from the Arctic appeared in western Eurasia and Bering sea, while in late winter, zonal circulation around East Asia associated with positive Arctic Oscillation-like patterns prevailed. These results indicate that asymmetric changes between early and late winter temperatures in Korea are associated with intra-seasonally inconsistent atmospheric circulation patterns around East Asia.

In this study, spatio-temporal patterns of seasonal precipitation and extreme precipitation events around Mt. Halla (1,950m) and their associations with elevation and aspect are examined based on daily precipitation data for the recent decade(2003~2012) observed at 24 weather stations in Jeju Island. Regression analyses show that annul total precipitation and the annual frequency of extreme precipitation events exceeding 80mm of daily precipitation increase with height by approximately 242mm/100m and 1.0day/100m, respectively. Seasonally, extreme precipitation events over the high mountain area mostly occur in summer (June~August) and also appear in other seasons including winter (December~February). The frequency of annual or seasonal extreme precipitation events as well as precipitation is higher in the southeastern or northeastern slope than in the southwestern or northwestern slope of Mt. Halla. These patterns are associated with the flow direction of moist air that ascends the slope of Mt. Halla when anticlockwise circulation of low pressure systems prevails. These findings provide primary information for developing the proactive strategies to mitigate potential flooding in the low-elevated coastal areas by extreme precipitation events over Mt. Halla