Climatological variability of air temperature and precipitation observed in South Korea for the last 50 years

Abstract

This study analyzed decadal variability in the near-surface air temperature and precipitation and key climatological elements in South Korea from 1960 to 2010. The decadal trend toward increases in annual temperature was conspicuous in large cities at a rate of 0.29 ± 0.08 °C decade⁻¹ compared with 0.11 ± 0.08 °C decade⁻¹ in other stations. The increasing rate in January temperatures has resulted in a rise in annual temperature. The 1990s marked an all-time high in decadal January temperatures, which caused a shift of −3 °C in the northern boundary of the subtropical climate zone, compared with the 1960s–1980s. The shift of −3 °C isotherm to the north occurred in the inland and on the western parts of South Korea in the 1990s. The increasing trend of air temperature in Korea is associated with the general increase in greenhouse gases in East Asia. The decadal precipitation trend has caused a large increase in summer precipitation at a rate of 40.6 ± 4.3 mm decade⁻¹, resulting in an increase of annual precipitation of 27.7 ± 5.5 mm decade⁻¹. The spatial variability of the overlapping 30-year precipitation grew due to increases in precipitation on the southern and eastern parts of South Korea from 1981 to 2010. The northward shift of the subtropical zone has resulted in a rise of heavy rainfall days (≥30 mm day⁻¹) from 1981 to 2010.