Major research areas of Global Environment System Research Laboratory (GESRL) include satellite, radar, weather modification, oceanography, and earthquake. GESRL research activities on these areas spans almost end-to-end, from development of observation technique to the real time operation for the operational use.
To enhance the observation capability, GESRL operates a X-band Doppler radar, a special observatory for the cloud physics, various oceanographic instruments such as ARGO buoy, and so on. Several data processing systems and algorithms for satellite, radar, ocean buoy, and seismometer have also been developed for further utilization.
The observation data acquired from various platforms are used for further applications including better understanding of phenomena, improvement of the processing system, data assimilation into the numerical models, and so on. These application results are feed-backed for the improvement of current observation system which closes the end-to-end cycle.
Improve understanding of our atmosphere, ocean, and solid earth by performing various
research areas such as satellite, radar, and marine meteorology, hydrometeorology, and
seismology.
Develop data processing system for the current and future satellite, radar, oceanographic instruments, and so on.
Develop operational models for the ocean environment such as wave height, storm surge, earthquake detection and Tsunami.
Operate and utilize various research instruments such as the X-band Doppler radar, ocean buoys, microwave radiometer, micro Fourier Transfer Interferometer, and so on.
Perform background research related with the our research areas such as cloud physics, weather modification, air-sea interaction, polar meteorology, radiative transfer, earthquake hazard assessment, and so on.
Study on the application of next-generation satellite data (2005-2010)
Development of COMS Meteorological Data Processing System (2003-2008)
Operation of NIMR X-band Doppler weather radar and development of radar data analysis technique (1997-2011)
Development of experimental technology and model for the microphysical cloud modification (2006-2008)
Management and research of cloud physics observational system (2007-2010)
Development of storm surge and wind wave monitoring system (2007-2017)
A study on the monitoring of the global ocean variability with ARGO program (2002-2011)
Evaluation of improvement of the surge prediction system (2007-2011)
Research on earthquake monitoring environment in Korean Peninsula and Tsunami prediction (2007-2011)




This study aims to derive and apply meteorological parameters from next generation satellite data with special attention to improve the accuracy to be used for both operational weather forecasting and atmospheric research in general.

The major goals for this study are;
Development of retrieval algorithms to derive the meteorological parameters
Characterization of new channel observation data from new instruments
Special emphasis on the application of microwave and hyper-spectral instrument data

Currently, algorithms such as cloud amount (CA), sea surface temperature (SST), Asian dust (AD) and atmospheric motion vector (AMV) from MTSAT-1R data have been developed and implemented into the real time operation. For the supporting activity, sensitivity studies for different atmospheric and boundary parameters using the radiative transfer model have been undertaken. To extent operational application, products from low earth orbit satellites with better spectral resolution are also under investigation.

COMS (Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite), planned for launch in 2008, is a multi-mission geostationary satellite as the name stands for. KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration) is responsible for the meteorological mission, while GESRL is responsible for the development of data processing system for the meteorological application of COMS, so called the COMS Meteorological Data Processing System (CMDPS).

The primary function of CMDPS is to derive 16 Level 2 geophysical parameters using the geolocated and calibrated Level 1B data. Algorithms and integrated processing system for the 16 baseline products have been developed. The baseline products include cloud information, cloud type, rain rate, sea/land surface temperature and emissivity, water vapor information, insolation, and so on. The system also includes absolute calibration of visible channel and monitoring of IR channel data.
GESRL operates a mobile X-band Doppler radar (below) at Muan Observatory, located southwest coast of the peninsula. Although it is a research radar, it has been operated to support sever weather monitoring by providing observation data in real time to KMA. The major research goals with this project are;
Develop the Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) algorithm
Implement the Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF)
Improve the horizontal wind retrieval from Doppler radars analysis

QPE: RAR (Radar-AWS Rain rate)
RAR derives rain intensities using the Z-R relationship obtained by Window Probability Matching Method (WPMM) and corrected by the collocated AWS rain rate at 1 km spatial and 10 minutes temporal resolution. every 10 minutes.

QPF: VSRF (Very-Short Range Forecast)
The analyzed hourly precipitation have been forecasted using Very Short-Range Forecast of precipitation (VSRF) model supported from Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) in 2003. We renewed this system with 5 km spatial resolution of radar-AWS (Automated Weather System) rain-rate, and elongate the forecasting time of VSRF from 3 hours to 6 hours in line with the start of operational NWP model.

Derivation of wind data from radar
Derivation of wind using radar data are important to understand the kinematic structure of the mesoscale convective system and are used for the data assimilation of numerical weather prediction model. Algorithms based on the Velocity Azimuth Display (VAD) and Volume Velocity Processing (VVP) using the single and dual Doppler radars have been developed.



X-Band Radar Specifications
Location : Muan ( 35.09¡ÆN, 126.28 ¡ÆE)
Peak Power : 200 kW
Wavelength : 3.2 cm (Frequency : 9630 MHz)
Beam width : 1.2¡Æ,
Pulse Repetition Time : 0.5, 1.0 ¥ìsec
Pulse Repetition Frequency : 500?2000 Hz
Volume Scan: 19 elevations
RHI Scan with 32 m/s nyquist velocity
Interval of scan schedule: 10 minutes
Experimental weather modifications have been conducted in various scales and approaches, from regional to local and from airborne to ground, respectively. The main experimental targets are the enhancement of precipitation and the improvement of visibility. To find an effective modification approach, three basic activities, seeding experiment, observation, and modeling, are underway.

Theory and Model
A numerical simulation model (Micro Cloud Modification model, MCM) has been developed to understand the variance of cloud/fog droplets by the cloud seeding. Current MCM model will be improved by including the related processes such as Brownian motion, condensation-evaporation, collision-coalescence, and ice particle process. In addition, the Clark-Hall mesoscale model has been used for the real time experiment.

Observations and Analysis
To observe and analyze the change of cloud and fog characteristics before and after the experiment, a real-time Cloud Physics Observation System (http:// weamod.metri.re.kr) has been established at Daegwallyeong Observatory. This system consists of the cloud observation instruments such as Forward Scatting Spectrometer Probe (FSSP), Microwave Radiometer (MWR) and Micro Rain Radar (MRR) in addition to the conventional ground based instruments.

Experiments and Equipments
Several experiments for precipitation enhancement using cloud seeding onboard aircraft over south east part of the peninsula and fog dissipation using the hygroscopic material at ground have been conducted at Daegwallyeong Observatory. During the fog dissipation experiment, we could observe an improvement of visibility by 20 %. To verify the experimental results, the new instruments such as the IPIC (Ice Particle Image Capturer) has also been developed.

Disturbing factors on our ocean environment require much better observational system for the marine meteorology. With all these efforts, we eventually aim for intensification of monitoring ability and prevent marine meteorological disasters. To meet this requirement, we try to achieve following goals;
 
Increase the reliability of wave data
Perform the operational test of new observational technologies
Improve the estimation of the sea surface wind (10 m).

To increase the reliability of wave data, the existing wave data from radar or moored-buoy have been compared with Waverider. Using the data obtained at an island in the Yellow Sea, the characteristics of radar data has been analyzed with the proper update of software and hardware to be fitted with the observational environment.
For a better efficient and economical monitoring for extensive ocean area, new technologies have been adopted to make experimental drifting buoy.
To make a uniform altitude sea surface wind at 10 m with the current measurement made at ground station with variable altitudes, boundary correction scheme recommended by WMO is going to be applied. With this kind of exercise, we are going to contribute to standardize the observation activities.

We are actively carrying out the multi-year project contributing to international ARGO program, which was started from 2001 year.

Deployment
Total of 70 APEX-SBE floats since 2002 are deployed. 18 of them were deployed in the East (Japan) Sea to study the movement of the intermediate water in East (Japan) Sea with the 7-day duty cycle at parking depth of 800 m. The other floats were deployed in the western Pacific with a 10-day at 2000 m parking depth. To guarantee the safety during the deployment from a merchant ship in the western Pacific, we use a newly developed package with a quick-release hook. We are going to deploy 15 floats annually to extend the array in the western Pacific.


Acquisition and Processing
Establishment of the data quality control and timely delivery system is an important element of international ARGO project. We are receiving all ARGO data in real time through the GTS and distributes the data through own web-based system (http://argo.metri.re.kr). Since 2003, the Real Time Quality Control system delivers quality controlled data with TESAC and NetCDF format to WMO countries and GDACs (Global Data Assembly Centers) via GTS and ftp. The name of ¡°KM¡± has been operated as a function of DAC.


Applications
With the gradual increase of awareness of our ARGO program, many application areas by many groups in Korea with ARGO data have been sprouted. NIMR have been presented some of successful research results which are named ¡°Mean flow and variability at the upper portion of the East Sea proper water in the southwestern East Sea¡±, ¡°A study of global ocean data assimilation using VAF¡± and so on. ARGO data will ultimately be used for data assimilation in the ocean models to improve the predictability. For this, we are also concentrating on the development of ocean circulation model and data assimilation techniques as well as data application study.
An accurate prediction of wave and storm surge is very important for the disaster prevention, especially for the coastal area. The west and the south coastal area of Korean peninsula is one of the challenging places in ocean modeling for reasonable prediction of near shore wave conditions and tides. The high resolution models accommodating coastal wave/surge processes have been developed.

Regional storm surge model
The operational storm surge model (STORM: Storm surge/Tide Operational Model) based on POM (Princeton Ocean Model) became an operational model in July 2006. STOM uses the sea surface wind and pressure from the Regional Data Assimilation and Prediction System as the boundary input. The level of storm surge is calculated by the difference between tide level and sea level change caused by meteorological effects.

Regional wave model
The Regional Wave Watch III (RWW3) has been developed as an operational wave model based on WAVEWATCH III. The RWW3 is integrated from a state of rest and forced by the RDAPS wind stress produced by KMA. From 2007, the RWW3 will operate wave model of KMA. On the other hand, Coastal WAVEWATCH III (CWW3) covers 6 coastal areas around Korean peninsula in higher resolution(1/120? see below).

Coordinate
Spherical coordinate Spherical coordinate
Model Domain 115°E ? 150°E, 20°N ?52°N 115°E?150°E, 20°N ?50°N
Resolution
1/12?by 1/12?/td> 1/12?by 1/12?/td>
ΔT 200 sec 450 sec
Forecasting Time 48 HR (00, 12UTC) 48 HR (00, 12UTC)
Initial Field Hot start Previous 12 HR predicted spectra
Input Data RDAPS sea wind, surface pressure (8 tidal constituents) RDAPS sea wind

Research on the earthquake monitoring conducts activities on the analysis of earthquake characteristics and seismic hazard assessment of the Korean Peninsula. For the early Tsunami warning prediction, a database based on the numerical simulation has been developed.