Spatial modeling of the highest daily maximum temperature in Korea via max-stable processes

This paper examines the annual highest daily maximum temperature (DMT) in Korea by using data from 56 weather stations and employing spatial extreme modeling. Our approach is based on max-stable processes (MSP) with Schlather’s characterization. We divide the country into four regions for a better model fit and identify the best model for each region. We show that regional MSP modeling is more suitable than MSP modeling for the entire region and the pointwise generalized extreme value distribution approach. The advantage of spatial extreme modeling is that more precise and robust return levels and some indices of the highest temperatures can be obtained for observation stations and for locations with no observed data, and so help to determine the effects and assessment of vulnerability as well as to downscale extreme events.