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Better climate information for a
better future – climate research
Won-Tae Kwon, National Institute of Meteorological Research, Korea Meteorological Administration
T
he climate is closely linked to everyday life, with its
impact felt in all pockets of society. However, in the
past, due to the uncertainties of climate science infor-
mation and its lack of user-friendliness, it was rarely utilized
by the general public and decision makers despite its impor-
tance. To improve the application of climate information and
the satisfaction of end-users, it is necessary to reduce uncer-
tainties and to tailor information to users.
Since its establishment in 2000 as part of the National Institute
of Meteorological Research and the Korea Meteorological
Administration (KMA), the Climate Research Laboratory (CRL)
has been contributing to the scientific understanding of climate
variability and climate change information. The main interests of
the CRL lie in global and regional climate change, climate model
development, seasonal-to-interannual prediction, understanding
the physical and internal processes of the climate system, tailor-
ing climate information to a variety of end-users, and promoting
interdisciplinary climate change science networks at national and
international levels. Climate change research includes analysis of
the observed data, detection of climate change signals, develop-
ment of models, and generation of global and regional climate
change scenarios.
Analysing the observed climate data is essential for better
understanding trends in unfolding climate change. The CRL
has been analysing climate change trends in Korea
using meteorological observation data going back to
1904 – all compiled in digital format by the KMA.
An analysis of data observed for the Korean penin-
sula 1912-2008 shows an annual mean temperature
increase of 1.7
o
C and annual mean precipitation
increase of 19 per cent. Compared with climate in the
earlier half of the 20th century, the latter half exhib-
its warmer and wetter characteristics, an increased
frequency of extreme rainfall, a higher hot climate
index and a lower cold climate index. Observed
trends show the duration of summer lengthened and
the duration of winter shortened, with an earlier
spring flowering date. Habitat shift of plants and
animals to higher elevations and latitudes is also
observed. These changes suggest characteristics of a
warmer climate in Korea.
Generating climate change forecast scenarios
is crucial in projecting the earth’s future climate.
The CRL, in collaboration with Germany’s Max
Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPIM), contrib-
uted to Climate Change 2007 – the Fourth
Assessment Report (AR4) of the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
– by generating scenarios using the ECHO-G climate
O
bserving
, P
redicting
and
P
rojecting
C
limate
C
onditions
Decadal mean trends in temperature and precipitation over the Korean Peninsula based on six sets of long-term observation data
Source: National Institute of Meteorological Research (NIMR) in KMA