Sookjoo MIN, Climate Research Institute, Konkuk University, Korea (Republic of)
Youngeun CHOI, Konkuk University, Korea (Republic of)
Inhye HEO, Climate Research Institute, Konkuk University, Korea (Republic of)
The annual temperature range in ROK is very large due to its geographic location, the far eastern edge of the huge Eurasia continent. The coldness during winter times is very distinct, especially for January when is in normal the coldest month with the lower sun angle and the persistent invasion of the strong Siberian Highs. The human life, socioeconomic system and natural environments has been adapted to this climatic condition. However, the recent warmer atmospheric condition in ROK due to the global warming has influenced on various sectors such as energy demand and supply, water resource system, agriculture and especially, forests (Choi et al., 2011; Lee et al., 2011; NIMS, 2021). The lesser coldness during the recent years would damage evergreen needle-leaved (EN), deciduous needle-leaved (DN), and some deciduous broad-leaved trees (DB) while provide favorable conditions for some evergreen broad-leaved trees (EB) (O’Donnell and Ignizio, 2012). The purpose of this study is to examine the change of coldness and its impact on important tree types in ROK using future warmer climate conditions. The January mean minimum temperature has been increased a range of 0.1 to 1.5 for 52 stations except for eight stations with no change or slight decrease during the new normal of 1991-2020 comparing with the previous normal of 1981-2010. With the SSP1-2.6 Scenarios, the impact of warmer atmospheric conditions would be less prominent with the slight increase of evergreen broad-leaved trees in ROK. However, a larger area of EN, EN and DB trees would disappear with expansion of EB trees under SSP5-8.5 Scenarios. Without a strong mitigation and adaptation strategies, the diversity of forests in ROK would be very vulnerable in the future.
Mots clés : winter coldness|SSP scenarios|MTCI|ROK
A103591SM