Environmental characterization of periphyton community

The present paper deals with the behavior of the Attached Microbial Community （AMC） for water self-purification at different riverbeds in a typical local river. The study quantitatively investigated the problem starting with in-situ sampling. It was found that more biomass of AMC was at riffles with wider distribution than in pools. High current velocity （HCV） plays a negative role at the initial stage of attachment on the riverbed, but HCV aids the community proliferation after stable attachment. External disturbances such as rainfalls and discharges from dams or reservoirs would detach the periphyton depending on the intensity of turbulence in water. However, it was discovered that the flock of periphyton could be restored very quickly because it was not completely removed. Thus, in order to enhance self-purification by periphyton, a suitable configuration of the riverbed must be constructed, and occasional appropriate repair along the channels would improve the decontamination of the river.     

First record of the percophidid fish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Osopsaron formosensis</Emphasis> (Percophidae: Hemerocoetinae) off Jeju Island,Korea

A specimen of Osopsaron formosensis was collected at the southeastern part of Jeju Island in June 2008. This specimen is to be distinguished from congeneric species using the key characters such as the eye with dorsal iris flap, cheek with scales, elongated dorsal spine, the length and the numbers of the first dorsal spines, and black pigmentation of the dorsal fin membrane. This report was the first record of O. formosensis from Korea. We named it ‘No-ran-tti-nun-tung-ii’ in Korean.     

Distribution of Changjiang Diluted Water detected by satellite chlorophyll-a and its interannual variation during 1998–2007

Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) chlorophyll-a distribution in summer in the East China Sea during 1998–2007 was analyzed. Statistical analysis with K-means clustering technique allowed us to define the proper satellite chlorophyll-a concentration indicating the Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW). The spatial distributions of the higher satellite chlorophyll-a concentrations (>0.48 mg m⁻³) corresponded well with the distributions of lower salinity CDW (<30–32) every year. Interannual variation of the CDW area, indicated by the high satellite chlorophyll-a, correlated with the interannual variation of the Changjiang summer freshwater discharge. The correlation analysis indicated that the CDW spread eastward in the East China Sea with a time lag of 1 to 2 months after the discharge.     

Subtidal Marine Algal Community and Endangered Species in Dokdo and Ulleungdo,Two Oceanic Islands in the East Sea of Korea

Ocean Science Journal - Dokdo and Ulleungdo islands harbor diverse marine algae and are therefore uniquely well-suited for research on marine algae distribution and ecological changes. However,...     

Landslide susceptibility mapping on Panaon Island,Philippines using a geographic information system

For landslide susceptibility mapping, this study applied, verified and compared the Bayesian probability model, the weights-of-evidence to Panaon Island, Philippines, using a geographic information system. Landslide locations were identified in the study area from the interpretation of aerial photographs and field surveys, and a spatial database was extracted from SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission) DEM (Digital Elevation Model) imagery, aerial photograph, topographic map, and geological map. The factors that influence landslide occurrence, such as slope, aspect, curvature, topographic wetness index and stream power index of topography, were calculated from SRTM imagery. Distance from drainage was extracted from topographic database. Lithology and distance from fault were extracted and calculated from geological database. Terrain mapping unit was classified from aerial photographs. The spatial association between the factors and the landslides was calculated as the contrast values, W ⁺ and W ⁻ using the weights-of-evidence model. Tests of conditional independence were performed for the selection of the factors, allowing the large number of combinations of factors to be analyzed. For each factor rating, the contrast values, W ⁺ and W ⁻ were overlaid for landslide susceptibility mapping. The results of the analysis showed that contrast rating (78.60%) for each factor’s multiclass had better accuracy of 5.90% than combinations of factor assigned to binary class with W ⁺ and W ⁻ (72.70%).     

Sorptive removal of ibuprofen from water using selected soil minerals and activated carbon

Pharmaceuticals have gained significant attention in recent years due to the environmental risks posed by their versatile application and occurrence in the natural aquatic environment. The transportation and distribution of pharmaceuticals in the environmental media mainly depends on their sorption behavior in soils, sediment?Cwater systems and waste water treatment plants, which varies widely across pharmaceuticals. Sorption of ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, onto various soil minerals, viz., kaolinite, montmorillonite, goethite, and activated carbon, as a function of pH (3?C11), ionic strength (NaCl concentration: 0.001?C0.5?M), and the humic acid concentration (0?C1,000?mg/L) was investigated through batch experiments. Experimental results showed that the sorption of ibuprofen onto all sorbents was highest at pH 3, with highest sorption capacity for activated carbon (28.5?mg/g). Among the minerals, montmorillonite sorbed more ibuprofen than kaolinite and goethite, with sorption capacity increasing in the order goethite (2.2?mg/g)?<?kaolinite (3.1?mg/g)?<?montmorillonite (6.1?mg/g). The sorption capacity of the selected minerals increased with increase in ionic strength of the solution in acidic pH condition indicating that the effect of pH was predominant compared to that of ionic strength. An increase in humic acid concentration from low to high values made the sorption phenomena very complex in the soil minerals. Based on the experimental observations, montmorillonite, among the selected soil minerals, could serve as a good candidate to remove high concentrations of ibuprofen from aqueous solution.     

Review of the Researches on Changma and Future Observational Study(KORMEX)

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The impact of the diurnal cycle on the MJO over the Maritime Continent: a modeling study assimilating TRMM rain rate into global analysis

In the present study, we use modeling experiments to investigate the impact of the diurnal cycle on the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) during the Australian summer. Physical initialization and a nudging technique enable us to assimilate the observed Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) rain rate and atmospheric variables from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction—National Center for Atmospheric Research Reanalysis 2 (R2) into the Florida State University Global Spectral Model (FSUGSM), resulting in a realistic simulation of the MJO. Model precipitation is also significantly improved by TRMM rain rate observation via the physical initialization. We assess the influence of the diurnal cycle on the MJO by modifying the diurnal component during the model integration. Model variables are nudged toward the daily averaged values from R2. Globally suppressing the diurnal cycle (NO_DIURNAL) exerts a strong impact on the Maritime Continent. The mean state of precipitation increases and intraseasonal variability becomes stronger over the region. It is well known that MJO weakens as it passes over the Maritime Continent. However, the MJO maintains its strength in the NO_DIURNAL experiment, and the diminution of diurnal signals during the integration does not change the propagating speed of the MJO. We suggest that diminishing the diurnal cycle in NO_DIURNAL consumes less moist static energy (MSE), which is required to trigger both diurnal and intraseasonal convection. Thus, the remaining MSE may play a major role along with larger convective instability and stronger lower level moisture convergence in intensifying the MJO over the Maritime Continent in the model simulation.     

Spatiotemporal characteristics of regional drought occurrence in East Asia

Droughts in the East Asian region (105–150°E, 20–50°N) are quantified using the effective drought index (EDI) over a period of 43 years, from 1962 to 2004, and the East Asian region was classified into six subregions on the basis of similarity in drought climate: (D1) South China; (D2) lower region of the Yangtze River, South Korea, and Central/South Japan; (D3) Central China and North Korea; (D4) Northwest China and middle region of the Yangtze River; (D5) North China; and (D6) Northeast China and North Japan. The EDI time series was then summarized for the different drought subregions and a drought map was created that shows the spatiotemporal characteristics of regional drought occurrence in East Asia. The map shows that in subregions, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, and D6, there were 50 (11.63 per decade), 36 (8.37 per decade), 30 (6.98 per decade), 28 (6.51 per decade), 29 (6.74 per decade), and 33 (7.67 per decade) drought occurrences, respectively. The most common characteristic of droughts in the subregions is that short-term droughts (<200 days) which mainly occur in spring and summer, whereas long-term droughts (≥200 days) mainly occur in autumn and winter. D1 shows the highest frequency of short-term droughts. Short-term droughts occur more frequently than long-term droughts in D2 and D3, but D4 and D6 showed a higher frequency of long-term droughts than short-term droughts. D5 showed a similar frequency of short- and long-term droughts. Drought onset dates are evenly distributed throughout the year for D1, D2, and D3, but distributed mostly in spring and summer in D4, D5, and D6. All the differences are linked to variations in the precipitation cycle of each subregion. In terms of annual variations in drought occurrence, D2 showed weakening droughts (the annual lowest EDI shows a positive trend), whereas the other subregions showed intensifying droughts (the annual lowest EDI shows a negative trend). The greatest intensifying trend was observed in D5, followed by D3, D6, D4, and D1.     

Verification of the performance of the high resolution QPF model for heavy rainfall event over the Korean Peninsula

The coupled atmospheric (global and local)-diagnostic rainfall model (called QPM) simulation is performed with various resolutions in order to discover the most appropriate nesting process in simulating a heavy rainfall event which led to an extreme amount of rainfall and flash flood in July 2008 over the Korean Peninsula. A series of experiments consists of six QPM simulations given 40 and 20 km global runs, two 7.8 km local runs from single nesting and other two 2.2 km local runs from double nesting. Four verification approaches focused on accuracy and efficiency are carried out in order to evaluate the coupled model system performance. The results show that the QPM simulated total accumulated rainfall from 20 km global run or 7.8 km local runs successfully captures the observed rainfall over a spatial observation network. Furthermore, the evaluation of the peak rainfall amount and the rainfall area over a given time interval demonstrates that the QPM forecast from either 20 km global run or 7.8 km local runs shows the best agreement with observation. In addition, the quantitative evaluation of the model performance by computing simple statistical measures presents the good agreement between the simulations and the observation, especially when the QPM forecasts are produced by the 7.8 km resolution local model. Finally, the modeling system which couples 40 km global-7.8 km local models and the diagnostic rainfall model is proved to be the best nesting approach in the natural disaster prediction system when considering the accuracy and efficiency. However, the verification for the nesting processes over the long-term period still deserves to be studied for a successful prediction system.