Investigation of Korean Precipitation Variability using EOFs and Cyclostationary EOFs

EOF와 CSEOF를 이용한 한반도 강수의 변동성 분석

Precipitation time series is a mixture of complicate fluctuation and changes. The monthly precipitation data of 61 stations during 36 years (1973-2008) in Korea are comprehensively analyzed using the EOFs technique and CSEOFs technique respectively. The main motivation for employing this technique in the present study is to investigate the physical processes associated with the evolution of the precipitation from observation data. The twenty-five leading EOF modes account for 98.05% of the total monthly variance, and the first two modes account for 83.68% of total variation. The first mode exhibits traditional spatial pattern with annual cycle of corresponding PC time series and second mode shows strong North South gradient. In CSEOF analysis, the twenty-five leading CSEOF modes account for 98.58% of the total monthly variance, and the first two modes account for 78.69% of total variation, these first two patterns' spatial distribution show monthly spatial variation. The corresponding mode's PC time series reveals the annual cycle on a monthly time scale and long-term fluctuation and first mode's PC time series shows increasing linear trend which represents that spatial and temporal variability of first mode pattern has strengthened. Compared with the EOFs analysis, the CSEOFs analysis preferably exhibits the spatial distribution and temporal evolution characteristics and variability of Korean historical precipitation.