Donghyuk Kum

Assessment of soil loss in South Korea based on land-cover type

Soil loss poses a significant threat to the long-term sustainability of hydrological systems, the environment, and agriculture. In this regard, efficient soil management relies on accurate quantification of soil loss. To this end, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) standard of soil erosion, developed for agricultural areas, has been applied in many countries, including South Korea. Due to the lack of standard methods for assessing soil erosion in South Korea, the OECD standard has been applied to non-agricultural regions of Korea despite the possibility that local soil erosion characteristics may differ from those in agricultural areas. Such an approach might give erroneous information on soil loss to policy and decision makers. This study estimated soil loss for eight different land cover-types in Korea using the universal soil loss equation, and compared the results with those from the unmodified OECD soil erosion standard. Estimated soil loss differed considerably among land-cover types. The results have implications on the limitations in applying the OECD soil erosion standard to soil management in Korea. Thus, this study suggests a modified soil erosion standard for efficient soil management.

Projecting Future Climate Change Scenarios Using Three Bias-Correction Methods

We performed bias correction in future climate change scenarios to provide better accuracy of models through adaptation to future climate change. The proposed combination of the change factor (CF) and quantile mapping (QM) methods combines the individual advantages of both methods for adjusting the bias in global circulation models (GCMs) and regional circulation models (RCMs). We selected a study site in Songwol-dong, Seoul, Republic of Korea, to test and assess our proposed method. Our results show that the combined CF

Estimation of flood risk index considering the regional flood characteristics: a case of South Korea

Global warming is increasing the variability of climate change and intensifying hydrologic cycle components including precipitation, infiltration, evapotranspiration, and runoff. These changes increase the chance of more severe and frequent natural conditions, and limit ecosystem function and human activities. Adaptation to climate change requires assessment of the potential disaster risk. The objectives of this study were to estimate the flood risk index (FRI) considering regional flood characteristics at the national level and to prioritize the factors affecting flood risk through principal component analysis. FRI was estimated based on the Delphi survey results from 50 water resources experts in South Korea. The potential risk analysis was conducted for 229 local governments in South Korea. The results showed that natural and social factors were more influential flood risk factors to South Korea than administrative and economic and facility factors. Specifically, natural, social, administrative and economic, and facility factors were, respectively, highest at Jindo-Gun in Jennam-Do, Gumi-Si in Kyongsanbuk-Do, Dong-Gu in Incheon-Si, and Suwon-Si, Kyonggi-Do. Overall, the highest FRI is shown in Anyang-Si, Kyongggi-Do. The spatial distribution of the FRI was high in the southeastern coastal region and basins of the two biggest rivers in South Korea, and normalized flood frequency followed spatial patterns similar to FRIs. This study provided information on the relative flood risk index among administrative units for investment prioritization in flood risk management. In this regard, the suggested FRI is expected to significantly contribute to methodical and economic improvements in budget allocations for flood risk management.

Enhancement of Estimation Method on the Land T-P Pollutant Load in TMDLs Using L-THIA

In this study, the uncertainty analysis of present land pollutant load estimation with simplified land category in TMDLs was performed and the enhanced method for land pollutant load estimation with level II land cover consisting of 23 categories was suggested, which was verified by L-THIA model. For land TP load estimation in Jinwi stream basin, the result of comparison between existing method with simplified land category (Scenario 1) and enhanced method with level II land cover (Scenario 2) showed high uncertainty in existing method. TP loads estimated by Scenario 2 for land covers included in the site land category were in the range of 3.45 to 56.69 kg/day, in which TP loads differed by sixteen times as much among them. For application of scenario 2 to TMDLs, Land TP loads were estimated by matching level II land cover to 28 land categories in serial cadastral map (Scenario 3). In order to verify accuracy of TP load estimation by scenario 3, the simulation result of L-THIA was compared with that and the difference between the two was as little as 10%. The result of this study is expected to be used as primary data for accurate estimation of land pollutant load in TMDLs.

Evaluation of SWAT Flow and Sediment Estimation and Effects of Soil Erosion Best Management Practices

Soil erosion and sediment from agricultural farmland has caused various negative impacts on environment in recent years. The effect of rice straw mat on soil erosion has been investigated by many researchers these days. In this study, the SWAT model was applied to Hongcheon watershed to evaluate SWAT flow and sediment, and the effect of rice straw mat on sediment yield at watershed outlet was evaluated. The Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency (NSE) and coefficient of determination () values for flow simulation (calibration period) were 0.66 and 0.67, and the NSE values for sediment was 0.90. The calibrated parameters were used to analyze the reduction of sediment yield in the farmland with rice straw mat. Average daily sediment yield without rice straw mat was 49.8 ton/day and sediment yield with rice straw mat was 25.5 ton/day, and the reduction rate was 38.7 %. Also, average daily sediment yield with/without rice straw mat were 97.5 ton/day and 190.7 ton/day during the rainy season (Jun. 2008 - Aug. 2009), with the reduction rate 46.3 %.

Development of Automatic Extraction Model of Soil Erosion Management Area using ArcGIS Model Builder

Due to increased human activities and intensive rainfall events in a watershed, soil erosion and sediment transport have been hot issues in many areas of the world. To evaluate soil erosion problems spatially and temporarily, many computer models have been developed and evaluated over the years. However, it would not be reasonable to apply the model to a watershed if topography and environment are different to some degrees. Also, source codes of these models are not always public for modification. The ArcGIS model builder provides ease-of-use interface to develop model by linking several processes and input/output data together. In addition, it would be much easier to modify/enhance the model developed by others. Thus, simple model was developed to decide soil erosion hot spot areas using ArcGIS model builder tool in this study. This tool was applied to a watershed to evaluate model performance. It was found that sediment yield was estimated to be 13.7 ton/ha/yr at the most severe soil erosion hot spot area in the study watershed. As shown in this study, the ArcGIS model builder is an efficient tool to develop simple models without professional programming abilities. The model, developed in this study, is available at http://www.EnvSys.co.kr/~sateec/toolbox for free download. This tool can be easily modified for further enhancement with simple operations within ArcGIS model builder interface. Although very simple soil erosion and sediment yield were developed using model builder and applied to study watershed for soil erosion hot spot area in this study. The approaches shown in this study provides insights for model development and code sharing for the researchers in the related areas.

Development of Desktop-Based LDC Evaluation System for Effectiveness TMDLs

Load Duration Curve (LDC) can be used as a method for load management of point and non-point pollution source because the LDC easily assesses the water quality corresponding to hydrological changes in a watershed. Recently, the application of LDC to total pollution load management is a growing interest in Korea. In this regard, A desktop-based LDC assessment system was developed in this study to provide convenience to users in water quality evaluation. The developed system can simply produce the LDC by using streamflow and water quality data involved in its database. Also, The system can quantitatively inform the success or failure of the achievement for a target water quality at monthly scale. Furthermore, seasonal water quality and point/non-point pollution load in a watershed can be estimated by this system. We expect that the developed system will contribute to establish local and national policies regarding water management and total pollution load management because of its advantages such as the pollution tracking investigation and the analysis of water quality and pollution loading amount in an ungauged watershed.

Analysis of Rainfall-Runoff Characteristics on Bias Correction Method of Climate Change Scenarios

Abstract Runoff behaviors by five bias correction methods were analyzed, which were Change Factor methods using past observed and estimated data by the estimation scenario with average annual calibration factor (CF_Y) or with average monthly calibration factor (CF_M), Quantile Mapping methods using past observed and estimated data considering cumulative distribution function for entire estimated data period (QM_E) or for dry and rainy season (QM_P), and Integrated method of CF_M+QM_E(CQ). The peak flow by CF_M and QM_P were twice as large as the measured peak flow, it was concluded that QM_P method has large uncertainty in monthly runoff estimation since the maximum precipitation by QM_P provided much difference to the other methods. The CQ method provided the precipitation amount, distribution, and frequency of the smallest differences to the observed data, compared to the other four methods. And the CQ method provided the rainfall-runoff behavior corresponding to the carbon dioxide emission scenario of SRES A1B. Climate change scenario with bias correction still contained uncertainty in accurate climate data generation. Therefore it is required to consider the trend of observed precipitation and the characteristics of bias correction methods so that the generated precipitation can be used properly in wa ter resource management plan establishment.

Analysis of Temporal Change in Soil Erosion Potential at Haean-myeon Watershed Due to Climate Change

Climate change has been social and environmental issues, it typically indicates the trend changes of not only temperature but also rainfall. There is a need to consider climate changes in a long-term soil erosion estimation since soil loss in a watershed can be varied by the changes of rainfall intensity and frequency of torrential rainfall. The impacts of rainfall trend changes on soil loss, one of climate changes, were estimated using Sediment Assessment Tool for Effective Erosion Control (SATEEC) employing L module with current climate scenario and future climate scenario collected from the Korea Meteorological Administration. A 62 km² watershed was selected to explore the climate changes on soil loss. SATEEC provided an increasing trend of soil loss with the climate change scenarios, which were 182 ton/ha/year in 2010s, 169 ton/ha/year in 2020s, 192 ton/ha/year in 2030s,182 ton/ha/year in 2040s, and 218 ton/ha/year in 2050s. Moreover, it was found that approximately 90% of agricultural area in the watershed displayed the soil loss of 50 ton/ha/year which is exceeding the allow able soil loss regulation by the Ministry of Environment.

Effects of Surface Cover and Soil Amendments on the NPS load Reduction from Alpine Fields

We investigated the effect of straw mat cover and soil amendments on the reduction of runoff, non-point source pollution load and yield of a Chinese cabbage from alpine fields. Two plots on sandy loam soil were prepared. Experimental treatments were control and rice straw mat cover (3,300 kg/ha)+Polyacrylamide (PAM) (5 kg/ha)+Gypsum (1 ton/ha) (SPG). A variety of Chinese cabbage was cultivated and runoff was monitored during a growing season in 2012. Monitoring was conducted to seven times. Runoff rate of SPG plot was lower than those of control plot. The reduction rate of runoff from SPG plot was 29.4 % compared to control plot. The reduction rate of suspended solids (SS), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) load of SPG plot was 86.5 %, 34.7 % and 39.1 %, respectively. Yield of a Chinese cabbage from SPG plot (39,646 kg/ha) was greater than that of control plots (28,482 kg/ha). It was concluded that the use of SPG on soil surface could not only reduce the NPS pollution loads in receiving waters but also help increase the crop yield.