Spatio-Temporal Variability of Temperature and Precipitation in Seoul

Hyun-Ah Choi* ･ Woo-Kyun Lee** ･ So-Ra Kim*** ･ Han-Bin Kwak****

ABSTRACT
This study analyzes the spatial and temporal variability of temperature (℃) and precipitation (mm) in Seoul, Korea. The temperature and precipitation data were measured at 31 automatic weather stations (AWSs) in Seoul for 10 years from 1997 to 2006. In this study, inverse distance squared weighting (IDSW) was applied to interpolate the non-measured spaces. To estimate the temperature and precipitation variability, the mean values and frequencies of hot and cold days were examined. The maximum and minimum temperatures were 32.80℃ in 1999 and -19.94℃ in 2001, respectively. The year 2006 showed the highest frequency of hot temperatures with 79 hot days, closely followed by 2004 and 2005. The coldest year was in 2001 with 105 cold days. The annual mean temperature and precipitation increased by about 1℃ and 483mm during the 10-year period, respectively. The temperature variability differed between high-elevation forested areas and lowelevation residential areas. However, the precipitation variability showed little relation with the topography and land use patterns.
Keywords : Seoul, IDSW, temperature, precipitation, variability, land use