Impacts of SST Pattern Represented by Ocean Temperature near Ieodo Ocean Research Station on Winter Climate Variation over the Korean Peninsula

Abstract

This study investigates the impacts of marginal sea surface temperature (SST) on temperature variations over the Korean Peninsula in winter via observation data analysis and numerical model simulation. The marginal SST variability is represented using ocean temperature variations at the Ieodo Ocean Research Station (IORS), wherein the oceanic and atmospheric variables are observed in real-time. The wind efficiency is defined as the Korean temperature response to given winds related to variability of Korean temperature. Based on the strong correlation between SST and land temperature, the wind efficiency is determined to estimate the effect of ocean temperature variation on the land temperature. Results confirmed that the wind efficiency is closely related to the marginal SST by modulating latent and sensible heat flux, which considerably affects the climate variation over the Korean Peninsula. A significant lagged relation between the wind efficiency and marginal SST further supports this finding. The numerical experiment using the weather research and forecasting model (WRF) has strong agreement with the observational analysis. Thus, real-time ocean observational data at IORS can be used as an indicator of climate prediction over the Korean Peninsula.