• Title/Summary/Keyword: Arctic region

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Arctic Governance and International Organization : A Focus on the Arctic Council (북극의 관리체제와 국제기구 : 북극이사회(Arctic Council)를 중심으로)

  • Jin, Dong-Min;Seo, Hyun-Kyo;Choi, Seon-Ung
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.85-95
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    • 2010
  • There is increasing consensus that global warming is seriously affecting the Arctic region. Sea Ice decreases and sea level rise have led to environmental change in Arctic Ecosystems, while also making the Arctic sea route more accessible to humans. There are complicated international governance dynamics in play, in addition to commercial and scientific interests in the Arctic region. This provides a unique opportunity for Korea to lead the future direction of Arctic policy in response to the global issues such as climate change and economic or scientific interests. Korea acquired Ad-hoc Observer status of the Arctic Council(AC) in 2008, which is the only pan-Arctic intergovernmental organization. It consists of six working groups: ACAP, AMAP, CAFF, PAME, EPPR, SDWG that implement research, survey, and monitoring. AC's Observer country has the opportunity to participate in a diverse range of activities such technical and expertise support, research and monitoring, financial support and conference organization. In order for Korea to expand its activities in the Arctic region, we suggest the following approach: First, Korea should become more actively engaged with the Arctic Council and its activities; Second, Korea should construct organized collaborative networks of national experts to respond to Arctic issues; Third, Korea should develop collaborations with Arctic states; Finally, Korea should intensify its research on international relations and international laws related to the Arctic region.

Simulation of optimal arctic routes using a numerical sea ice model based on an ice-coupled ocean circulation method

  • Nam, Jong-Ho;Park, Inha;Lee, Ho Jin;Kwon, Mi Ok;Choi, Kyungsik;Seo, Young-Kyo
    • International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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    • v.5 no.2
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    • pp.210-226
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    • 2013
  • Ever since the Arctic region has opened its mysterious passage to mankind, continuous attempts to take advantage of its fastest route across the region has been made. The Arctic region is still covered by thick ice and thus finding a feasible navigating route is essential for an economical voyage. To find the optimal route, it is necessary to establish an efficient transit model that enables us to simulate every possible route in advance. In this work, an enhanced algorithm to determine the optimal route in the Arctic region is introduced. A transit model based on the simulated sea ice and environmental data numerically modeled in the Arctic is developed. By integrating the simulated data into a transit model, further applications such as route simulation, cost estimation or hindcast can be easily performed. An interactive simulation system that determines the optimal Arctic route using the transit model is developed. The simulation of optimal routes is carried out and the validity of the results is discussed.

Projection of Circum-Arctic Features Under Climate Change (미래 기후 변화 시나리오에 따른 환북극의 변화)

  • Lee, Ji Yeon;Cho, Mee-Hyun;Koh, Youngdae;Kim, Baek-Min;Jeong, Jee-Hoon
    • Atmosphere
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    • v.28 no.4
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    • pp.393-402
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    • 2018
  • This study investigated future changes in the Arctic permafrost features and related biogeochemical alterations under global warming. The Community Land Model (CLM) with biogeochemistry (BGC) was run for the period 2005 to 2099 with projected future climate based on the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 scenario. Under global warming, over the Arctic land except for the permafrost region, the rise in soil temperature led to an increase in soil liquid and decrease in soil ice. Also, the Arctic ground obtained carbon dioxide from the atmosphere due to the increase in photosynthesis of vegetation. On the other hand, over the permafrost region, the microbial respiration was increased due to thawing permafrost, resulting in increased carbon dioxide emissions. Methane emissions associated with total water storage have increased over most of Arctic land, especially in the permafrost region. Methane releases were predicted to be greatly increased especially near the rivers and lakes associated with an increased chance of flooding. In conclusion, at the end of $21^{st}$ century, except for permafrost region, the Arctic ground is projected to be the sink of carbon dioxide, and only permafrost region the source of carbon dioxide. This study suggests that thawing permafrost can further to accelerate global warming significantly.

Rediscovery of the Arctic: A New Arena of Competition for Natural Resources in the 21st Century? (북극의 재발견: 국제 자원경쟁의 새로운 각축장?)

  • Lee, Seo-Hang
    • Strategy21
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    • s.30
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    • pp.200-235
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    • 2012
  • Over the past few years, due to the climate change of the earth, the Arctic's sea ice cover is undergoing a historic transformation - thinning, extent reduction in all seasons, and mitigation in the area of multi-year ice in the central Arctic Ocean. These changes allow for increases in maritime access throughout the Arctic Ocean and for potential longer seasons of navigation and possibly transarctic voyage in the summer. These changes also allow more exploration for oil, gas, and other minerals. The Arctic is now an archetype of the complex, multi-dimensional global problems of the twenty-first century. Military security, environmental security, and economic security interact. The potentially enormous economic stakes, sufficient to change the strategic balance among the states of the region, set off competitive pressures for national advantage. Korea, which is heavily dependent upon the sea lane in terms of transportation of its exports and imports, is very much interested in the Arctic sea routes. Korea believes that the Artic sea route, particularly the Northern Sea Route (NSR), could serve as a new useful sea lane, which will enable shorter times between East Asia and Europe, thus resulting in substantial cost saving for ship operators. In addition to shipping, Korea is interested in other Arctic-related maritime industries. Korea, as a leading shipbuilder in the global market, is interested in building ice breakers, drill ships, and other vessels which can contribute to safe operation in Arctic resource development and exploration. Korea, as one of the future stakeholders in Arctic maritime activities, should be ready to foster international cooperation in the region.

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Finite Element Analysis of Gas Pipelines Depend on the Arctic of Active Region (극한지 활동층 변화에 따른 천연가스배관의 유한요소해석)

  • Yeom, Kyu Jung;Kim, Kyung Il;Kim, Young-Pyo;Oh, Kyu Hwan;Kim, Woo Sik
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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    • v.18 no.5
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    • pp.72-77
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    • 2014
  • It is known that there is no demand for building the arctic environment in Korea. However, it is important to use the different energy source instead of fuel source due to global warming. It is now demanded of using gas of Alaska and Siberia for long term developing the natural gas. The design of gas pipelines in Korea is very different from the arctic region. The operation of gas in arctic region have to consider of arctic region such as permafrost and active regions. It is needed to understand of gas pipeline design with different arctic soil properties. Nowadays, the pipelines is designed with stress-based and but there is demanded for strain based design with more deformed pipeline. We study of arctic environment with different active region using Finite Element Method of thermal elasto-plastic analysis.

ENHANCED ARCTIC PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY FOLLOWING SEA ICE RAPID DECLINE

  • Comiso, Josefino C.
    • Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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    • v.2
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    • pp.1019-1022
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    • 2006
  • Satellite sea ice data from 1978 to the present reveal that the perennial ice (or ice that survives the summer) has been rapidly declining at almost 10% per decade. Warming due to increases in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is now also being reflected in winter with drastic reductions in the maximum extent observed in 2005 and 2006. The retreat of the perennial ice also exposes more open water and has revealed an asymmetric distribution of chlorophyll a pigment concentration in the Arctic basin. Phytoplankton blooms are most dominant at high latitudes, partly on account of sea ice, but in the Arctic basin, it appears that pigment concentrations in the Eastern (Laptev Sea) Region are on the average three times higher than those in the Western (Beaufort Sea) Region. Such asymmetry suggests that despite favorable conditions provided by the melt of sea ice, there are other factors that affects the productivity of the region. The asymmetry is likely associated with much wider shelf areas in the East than in the West, with sea ice processes that inhibits the availability of nutrients near the surface in deep water regions, and river run-off that affects nutrient availability. The primary productivity in the pan-Arctic region have been estimated using the pigment concentrations and PAR derived from SeaWiFS data and the results show large seasonal as well as interannual variability during the 1998 to 2005 period. The data points towards increasing productivity for later years but with only 9 years of data it is too early to tell the overall effect of the sea ice retreat.

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List of Korean Names for the Vascular Plants in Spitsbergen Island, in the Arctic Region (북극권 스피츠베르겐 섬의 관속식물 국명 목록)

  • Lee, Kyoo;Han, Dong-Uk;Hyun, Jin-Oh;Hwang, Young-Sim;Lee, Yoo-Kyung;Lee, Eun-Ju
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.34 no.1
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    • pp.101-110
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    • 2012
  • In this study, we attempted to provide Korean names to the arctic vascular plants observed around the Dasan Korean Arctic Station and Longyearbyen in Spitsbergen Island, in the Arctic region. To obtain recognizable results, plants were named according to the following naming rules. (1) When Korean names already existed, those names were used. (2) When there was no Korean name for a plant species, a scientific name for the plant was translated into a Korean name. (3) If the meaning of the scientific name was unclear, an English common name was translated into Korean name. (4) If the scientific names had meaning to the Arctic inhabitation, the Korean names included the word 'Buk-geuk'. (5) If the distribution of the plant was limited to the Arctic area or the original species lived in the polar region, the Korean name included the word 'Buk-geuk'. (6) If the plant had no Korean generic name, a particular suffix '~a-jae-bi' was added to the closely related genus name of the plant species, or a new Korean genus name was used by translating a common English name. (7) If the same generic name had two or more Korean names, a generic name that better reflected the characteristics of the plant was selected. In this paper, we reported Korean names for 46 plants species belonging to 15 families and 28 genera. Eight plants had an existing Korean name and the other species were given new Korean names based on the criteria outlined above. We also made new Korean generic names for three genera, Braya, Micranthes and Cassiope.

Stress Analysis of Arctic Thaw Settlement with Gas Pipeline using Finite Element Method (유한요소해석을 활용한 극한지 융해침하에 따른 천연가스배관의 응력해석)

  • Kim, Kyung Il;Yeom, Kyu Jung;Kim, Young-Pyo;Kim, Woo Sik;Oh, Kyu Hwan
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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    • v.18 no.5
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    • pp.78-84
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    • 2014
  • It is important to secure the supply of gas in arctic region which is not developed recently due to depleting of fossil fuel. It is competing in order to secure the arctic region. The need for the occurring the pipeline design in arctic region is essential for development. In this study, we develop the model of thaw settlements for analysis the stress and displacement which applied with pipe in arctic region between $-40^{\circ}C$ to $20^{\circ}C$. The soil was applied with Mohr-coulomb theory and pipe was elasto-plastic method.

Arctic and Subarctic Karst Landforms in North America

  • Oh, Jongwoo
    • Journal of the speleological society of Korea
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    • v.42 no.2
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    • pp.7-16
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    • 1995
  • Karst in Arctic and Subarctic region in North America contains a wide variety of surficial karst landform characteristics due to not only extensive glacial activities, but also interglacial karst processes during the Pleistocene age.(omitted)

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A Study on the Climate Change and the Policy of Natural Gas Exploitation on the Arctic Region (기후변화와 북극 유·가스전 개발에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Boyoung;Ryu, Siho;Park, Yonhe
    • Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.787-813
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    • 2009
  • Because of global warming, the thawing of the Arctic ice cap is slowly accelerating. That is the hot issue nowadays. According to the each country's climate change policy, it is boom in the world to lessen the consuming of the fossil fuel those are oil, coal and natural gas. But on the contrary the thawing of the Arctic ice cap is the chance to make the natural gas producing unit cost lower. The purpose of this paper is to search the Arctic policy of each country under the contradictory relationship between promoting the climate change policy and exploiting the natural gas on the Arctic. Specially, there are huge natural gas reserves in Russia on the Arctic region, Russia's exploiting the natural gas on the Arctic will affect on the natural gas supply-demand balance of world natural gas market strongly in the future. Therefore it needs to prepare the future energy alternative policy for Korea's energy security. Russia has Yamal Peninsular where is abundant on natural gas reserver, and she can supply natural gas by LNG ship all over the world via the Arctic route. This means that the structure of world natural gas market be changed gradually. It will be possible in 2030~2040. And such a change is very important because new natural gas trading type can do it through not only overcoming the geological restriction but also shifting the main trading type from PNG(Pipeline Natural Gas) to LNG(Liquified Natural Gas). Therefore it is necessary that we should let this be a good lesson to ourselves through the government action of other countries (China, Japan) those also have no sovereignty over the Arctic as Korea.

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