Given the significant social and economic impact caused by heat waves, there is a pressing need to predict them with high accuracy and reliability. In this study, we analyzed the real-time forecast data from six models constituting the Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) prediction project, to elucidate the key mechanisms contributing to the prediction of the recent record-breaking Korean heat wave event in 2018. Weekly anomalies were first obtained by subtracting the 2017- 2020 mean values for both S2S model simulations and observations. By comparing four Korean heat-wave-related indices from S2S models to the observed data, we aimed to identify key climate processes affecting prediction accuracy. The results showed that superior performance at predicting the 2018 Korean heat wave was achieved when the model showed better prediction performance for the anomalous anticyclonic activity in the upper troposphere of Eastern Europe and the cyclonic circulation over the Western North Pacific (WNP) region compared to the observed data. Furthermore, the development of upper-tropospheric anticyclones in Eastern Europe was closely related to global warming and the occurrence of La Niña events. The anomalous cyclonic flow in the WNP region coincided with enhancements in Madden- Julian oscillation phases 4-6. Our results indicate that, for the accurate prediction of heat waves, such as the 2018 Korean heat wave, it is imperative for the S2S models to realistically reproduce the variabilities over the Eastern Europe and WNP regions.

This study analyzed how the impacts of major teleconnection patterns on December mean temperature in Korea have been changed during the period before and after the regime shift of 1986 for the last 61 years from 1958 to 2018. During the period before the regime shift, the teleconnection patterns originating from the North Atlantic mainly affected the temperature variability in Korea, but its influence almost disappeared after the regime shift. On the other hand, the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and warm Arctic and cold Eurasia (WACE) patterns played a more important role in the temperature variability in Korea after the regime shift. Regression analysis showed that the AO could explain about 12% of the total temperature variability before the regime shift, but about 22% after the regime shift. WACE pattern also explained about 4% before the regime shift, but after the regime shift, the importance increased by about 4.5 times to 18%. On the other hand, East Atlantic pattern (EA) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), which are east-west teleconnection patterns, explained 27% and 11%, respectively, before the regime shift, but had little influence within 3% after the regime shift. This means that the influence of east-west teleconnection patterns disappeared after the regime shift, and teleconnection patterns by the Arctic Circle became more important.

In this study, we investigate the associations between the solar variability and teleconnection indices, which influence atmospheric circulation and subsequently, the spatial distribution of the global pressure system. A study of the link between the Sun and a large-scale mode of climate variability, which may indirectly affect the Earth’s climate and weather, is crucial because the feedbacks of solar variability to an autogenic or internal process should be considered with due care. We have calculated the normalized cross-correlations of the total sunspot area, the total sunspot number, and the solar North–South asymmetry with teleconnection indices. We have found that the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) index is anti-correlated with both solar activity and the solar North–South asymmetry, with a ∼3-year lag. This finding not only agrees with the fact that El Niño episodes are likely to occur around the solar maximum, but also explains why tropical cyclones occurring in the solar maximum periods and in El Niño periods appear similar. Conversely, other teleconnection indices, such as the Arctic Oscillation (AO) index, the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) index, and the Pacific-North American (PNA) index, are weakly or only slightly correlated with solar activity, which emphasizes that response of terrestrial climate and weather to solar variability are local in space. It is also found that correlations between teleconnection indices and solar activity are as good as correlations resulting from the teleconnection indices themselves.

This study analyzes the characteristics of Western North Pacific (WNP) tropical cyclone (TC) activity and large-scale environments according to the Western Pacific (WP) teleconnection pattern in summer. In the positive WP phase, an anomalous cyclone and an anomalous anticyclone develop in the low and middle latitudes of the East Asia, respectively. As a result, southeasterlies are reinforced in the northeast area of the East Asia including Korea and Japan which facilitates the movement of TC to this area, whereas northwesterlies are reinforced in the southwest area of the East Asia including South China and Indochina Peninsula which blocks the movement of TC to this area. Due to the spatial distribution of this reinforced pressure system, TCs develop, move, and turn more to the northeast of WNP than those in the negative WP phase. Consequently, the characteristics of this TC activity in the positive WP phase are associated with the location of upper tropospheric jet further to the northeast. Meanwhile, TCs in the negative WP phase mainly move to the west from Philippines toward south China and Indochina Peninsula. Furthermore, due to the terrain effect caused by the high passage frequency of TCs in the mainland China, the intensity of TCs are weaker than those in the positive WP phase.

This study analyzes the correlation between Western Pacific (WP) teleconnection pattern index (WPI) in April during 1954-2008 and rainfall amounts in the same month. Based on the results, it is identified that there have been strong positive correlations between central China, Korea and the southwestern part of Japan in the East Asian region. Through differences between 10 positive WP years and 10 negative WP years selected from the April WPI excluding ENSO years, it is found that rainfall amounts increase in April of positive WP years due to the following characteristics. Increases in rainfall amounts are evident in the East Asian middle latitudinal region where the positive correlation between the two variables is the highest and this is because anomalous southwesterlies are strengthened in the East Asian middle latitudinal region due to the spatial pattern of a south-low-north-high anomalous pressure system centered on this region that is made by anomalous anticyclones centered on the southeastern side of the region and other anomalous anticyclones centered on the northeastern side of the region. In addition, anomalous westerlies (jet) are strengthen in the upper troposphere of the East Asian middle latitudinal region and as a result, anomalous upward flows are strengthened in this region and thus anomalous warm air temperatures are formed in the entire level of the troposphere in the region. In addition to atmospheric environments, anomalous warm sea surface temperatures are formed in the seas in the East Asian middle latitudinal region to help the rainfall amount increases in the East Asian middle latitudinal region.

This study is carried out in order to bridge the gap to understand the relationships between South Asian and East Asian monsoon systems by comparing the summer (June-September) precipitation of Nepal and South Korea. Summer monsoon precipitation data from Nepal and South Korea during 30 years (1981-2010) are used in this research to investigate the association. NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data are also used to see the nature of large scale phenomena. Statistical applications are used to analyze these data. The analyzed results show that summer monsoon precipitation is higher over Nepal (1513.98 ± 159.29 mm y-1) than that of South Korea (907.80 ± 204.71 mm y-1) and the wettest period in both the countries is July. However, the coefficient of variation shows that amplitude of interannual variation of summer monsoon over South Korea (22.55%) is larger in comparison to that of Nepal (10.52%). Summer monsoon precipitation of Nepal is found to be significantly correlated to that of South Korea with a correlation coefficient of 0.52 (99% confidence level). Large-scale circulations are studied to further investigate the relationship between the two countries. wind and specific humidity at 850 hPa show a strong westerly from Arabian Sea to BOB and from BOB, wind moves towards Nepal in a northwestward direction during the positive rainfall years. In case of East Asia, strong northward displacement of wind can be observed from Pacific to South Korea and strong anticyclone over the northwestern Pacific Ocean. However, during the negative rainfall years, in the South Asian region we can find weak westerly from the Arabian Sea to BOB, wind is blowing in a southerly direction from Nepal and Bangladesh to BOB.

본 연구에서는 한반도 봄철 가뭄에 대한 발생 원인과 예측 가능성을 진단하기 위하여 전 지구적 대기순환 패턴과의 상관분석을 실시하였으며, 지연 및 원격상관 패턴에 의한 한반도 가뭄의 시공간적 변화특성을 분석하였다. GPCP(Global Precipitation Climatology Project) 월별강우와 북반구 대표 대기순환 패턴인 WP (Western Pacific) Teleconnection과의 상관분석 결과, 중국 난징과 상하이를 포함한 양쯔강 유역에서부터 한국의 남해안 일대 그리고 일본 후쿠오카와 히로시마 등에 걸쳐 강한 양의 상관성을 보였으며, 대만부터 필리핀해를 걸쳐 뚜렷한 음의 상관을 보였다. 한반도 5대강 유역의 109개 중권역에 대한 SPI(3) 가뭄지수를 적용한 결과, 낙동강 일부 지역을 제외한 한반도 전역에서 봄철 가뭄이 심화되었으며, 봄철 SPI(3)지수와 WP패턴과는 강한 양의 상관이 나타났다. 특히 남해안과 서해안 일부 지역에서는 통계적으로 유의한 양의 상관관계를 나타나는 것으로 분석되었다. 그러나 지연상관에 대한 분석결과는 통계적으로 유의한 변화가 나타나지 않았다. 본 연구는 한반도를 포함한 동아시아의 가뭄특성을 진단하고 가뭄예측기법의 개발을 통해서 봄철 가뭄의 현실적인 적응전략 구축에 유용하게 활용될 것으로 기대된다.