Shifts in Extreme Events over South Korea under Climate Change: An Analysis Using Extreme Climate Indices

Climate change has significant impacts not only on natural and ecological systems, but also on socio-economic systems. In particular, the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme events such as extreme floods, droughts, heat waves, and heavy rainfall are increasing in irregular patterns in many regions of the world. To address these challenges, it is essential to establish a scientific management system capable of predicting and preemptively responding to such extremes based on quantitative analyses of climate change. Therefore, this study aims to quantify and analyze spatiotemporal changes in extreme events for the South Korea using the extreme climate indices. We utilize long-term daily high-resolution and high-quality gridded meteorological data, which has been recently developed at a spatial resolution of 1/16° for the period 1973-2022. From this dataset, 8 temperature-related and 8 precipitation-related extreme climate indices are computed on a gridded basis. These 16 extreme indices were developed by Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) and Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). To evaluate changes in the intensity, frequency, and duration of extreme events, we compare the mean values of the extreme climate indices for two 25-year periods: 1973–1997 and 1998–2022. This analysis provides insights into the temporal and spatial variations and differences in extreme events. The findings of this study are expected to reveal the trends of extreme events in South Korea due to climate change. Furthermore, they will provide a scientific foundation for developing climate change adaptation and management strategies at both national and regional levels.

 

Acknowledgement
This work was supported by Korea Environment Industry & Technology Institute(KEITI) through R&D Program for Innovative Flood Protection Technologies against Climate Crisis Program(or Project), funded by Korea Ministry of Environment(MOE)(RS-2023-00218873).