The climate of 2015 was characterized by a strong El Niño, global warmth, and record-setting tropical cyclone (TC) intensity for western North Pacific typhoons. In this study, the highest TC intensity in 32 years (1984–2015) is shown to be a consequence of above normal TC activity—following natural internal variation—and greater efficiency of intensity. The efficiency of intensity (EINT) is termed the “blasting” effect and refers to typhoon intensification at the expense of occurrence. Statistical models show that the EINT is mostly due to the anomalous warmth in the environment indicated by global mean sea surface temperature. In comparison, the EINT due to El Niño is negligible. This implies that the record-setting intensity of 2015 might not have occurred without environmental warming and suggests that a year with even greater TC intensity is possible in the near future when above normal activity coincides with another record EINT due to continued multidecadal warming.

This study introduces an unequally weighted technique for Multi-model Ensemble (MME) forecasting for western North Pacific Tropical Cyclone (TC) tracks. Weights are calculated by partial least square regression, and members are selected by paired t-test. The performances for shorter forecast time ranges, such as 24, 48 and 72 h, are examined in order to improve the MME model, in which the weights for members are equally assigned. For longer forecast time ranges, such as 96 and 120 h, weights for MME members are thought to be less reliable, since the modeling is more likely to be influenced by the climate variability in the data period. A combination of both techniques for the shorter and the longer forecast time ranges is suggested as an alternative MME forecast procedure in operational meteorological agencies.

The rainfall amount data measured by 'Wootaek', a method of measuring how far the moisture had absorbed into the soil when it rains during the Joseon Dynasty, were estimated with the Chugugi data in the 12 sites where both the 'Wootaek' and 'Chugugi' data are available. Excluding the 5 sites (Ganghwa, Jinju, Jeonju, Chuncheon, Hamheung) poor in sample data, the 'Wootaek' data 1 'Ri' and 1 'Seo' in 'Chugugi' unit (Bun) in the 7 sites; Suwon, Gwangju (Gyeonggi-do), Gongju, Daegu, Wonju, Haeju and Pyeongyang, were 11.1/5.6 Bun, 9.4/3.2 Bun, 14.0/5.7 Bun, 9.3/3.9 Bun, 13.6/4.3 Bun, 11.3/4.8 Bun and 16.8/7.4 Bun, respectively. The Chugugi unit 1 'Bun' is equall to approximately 2 'mm'. The average of the 7 sites is 13.1/5.7 Bun, however it becomes small to 11.7/4.5 Bun when the Pyeongyang of which data is considerably distributed over wide range is excluded, showing that the 'Wootaek' data 1 'Ri' is approximately the 2.3 similar to 2.6 times of 1 'Seo'. It is recommended to use the individual estimates of the sites in utilizing the 'Wootaek' rainfall data of 352 stations across the country restored from the inverted right perpendicular Gaksa-deungnok inverted left perpendicular.

Korea is one of the country with the world's oldest meteorological observation records. Starting with first meteorological record of fog in Goguryeo in the year of 34 BC, Korea had left a great deal of quantitative observation records, from the Three Kingdoms Period to Goryeo to Joseon. During the Joseon Dynasty, with a great attention by kings, efforts were particularly made to measure rainfall in a systematic and scientific manner. In the 23rd year of King Sejong (1441), the world's first rain gauge called "Chugugi" was invented; in the following year (1442), a nationwide rainfall observation network was established. The King Sejong distributed Chugugi to 350 observation stations throughout the state, even to small towns and villages, for measuring and recording rainfall. The rainfall observation using Chugugi, initiated by King Sejong, had been in place for about 150 years, but halted during national disturbances such as Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. Since then, the observation had been forgotten for a long time until the rainfall observation by Chugugi was resumed in the 48th year of King Yeongjo (1770). King Yeongjo adopted most of the existing observation system established by King Sejong, including the size of Chugugi and observation rules. He, however, significantly reduced the number of Chugugi observation stations to 14, and commanded the 352 local authorities such as Bu, Gun, Hyeon to conduct "Wootaek", a method of measuring how far the moisture had absorbed into the soil when it rains. Later on, six more Chugugi stations were established. If the number of stations of Chugugi and Wootaek are combined together, the total number of rainfall observation station in the late period of Joseon Dynasty was 372. The rainfall observation with Chugugi during the Joseon Dynasty is of significance and excellence in three aspects: 1) the standard size of Chugugi was so scientifically designed that it is as great as today's modern rain gauge; 2) rainfall was precisely measured, even with unit of Bun (2 mm); and 3) the observation network was distributed on a nationwide basis.

Giant particles transported over long distances are generally of limited concern in atmospheric studies due to their low number concentrations in mineral dust and possible local origin. However, they can play an important role in regional circulation of earth materials due to their enormous volume concentration. Asian dust laden with giant particles was observed in Korea on 31 March 2012, after a migration of about 2000 km across the Yellow Sea from the Gobi Desert. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that 20% of the particles exceeded 10 μm in equivalent sphere diameter, with a maximum of 60 μm. The median diameter from the number distribution was 5.7 μm, which was larger than the diameters recorded of 2.5 and 2.9 μm in Asian dust storms in 2010 and 2011, respectively, and was consistent with independent optical particle counter data. Giant particles (>10 μm) contributed about 89% of the volume of the dust in the 2012 storm. Illite–smectite series clay minerals were the major mineral group followed by quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar, and calcite. The total phyllosilicate content was ~52%. The direct long-range transport of giant particles was confirmed by calcite nanofibers closely associated with clays in a submicron scale identified by high-resolution SEM and transmission electron microscopy. Since giant particles consisted of clay agglomerates and clay-coated quartz, feldspars, and micas, the mineral composition varied little throughout the fine (<5 μm), coarse (5–10 μm), giant-S (10–20 μm), and giant-L (>20 μm) size bins. Analysis of the synoptic conditions of the 2012 dust event and its migration indicated that the mid-tropospheric strong wind belt directly stretching to Korea induced rapid transport of the dust, delivering giant particles. Giant dust particles with high settling velocity would be the major input into the terrestrial and marine sedimentary and ecological systems of East Asia and the western Pacific. Analysis of ancient aeolian deposits in Korea suggested the common deposition of giant particles from Asian dust through the late Quaternary Period. The roles of giant particles should be reviewed with regard to regional circulation of mineral particles and nutrients.

The Chugugi and Wootaek data of Gyeongsang-do (Dagu, Jinju, Goseong) were restored from 'Gaksadeungnok', the governmental documents reported by the local government to the central during the Joseon Dynasty, and analyzed. The duration of the restored data represents 6 years for Daegu (1863, 1872, 1890, 1897, 1898, and 1902), 3 years for Jinju (1897, 1898, and 1900), and 2 years for Goseong (1871 and 1873). Total number of the restored data was 134, including 83 in Daegu, 25 in Jinju, and 26 in Goseong with the period ranging from March to September. The summer data from June to August accounts for approximately 50% (73 data), while the April data also shows relatively high number of 22, followed by September and March. Most data was collected from March to October, while this time winter data was not found even in October. The rainfall patterns using Chugugi data were investigated. First, the number of days with rainfall by annual mean showed 41 days in Daegu, 39 in Jinju, 33 in Goseong, respectively. In terms of the time series distribution of daily rainfall, the ratio between the number of occurrences with over 40 mm of heavy rainfall and the number of rainy days showed 14 times (8%) in Daegu, 24 (39%) in Jinju, and 4 (6%) in Goseong, respectively. The maximum daily rainfall during the period was recorded with 80mm in Jinju on August 24, 1900. The result of analyzing monthly amount of rainfall clearly indicated more precipitation in summer (June, July and August) with the relatively high records of 284 mm and 422 mm in April, 1872 and July, 1902, respectively, in Daegu, while Jinju recorded the highest value of 506 mm in June, 1898. When comparing the data with those observed by Chugugi in Seoul during the same period from. Seungjeongwonilgi., the monthly rainfall patterns in Daegu and Seoul were quite similar except for the year of 1890 and 1897 in which many data were missing. In particular, in June 1898 the rainfall amount of Jinju recorded as much as 506 mm, almost 4 times of that of Seoul (134 mm). Based on this, it is possible to presume that there was a large amount of the precipitation in the southern region during 1898. According to the calculated result of Wootaek data based on Chugugi observations, the unit of 1 'Ri' and 1 'Seo' in Daegu can be interpreted into 18.6 mm and 7.8 mm.

Dust air pollution has been routinely monitored in central Korea for the last two decades. In 2009, there were eight typical episodes of significant dust loadings in the air: four were caused by dust storms from deserts in Mongolia and Northern China, while the remaining were typical cases of anthropogenic air pollution masses arriving from the Yellow Sea and East China. These natural dust loadings occurred with cool northwesterly airflows in the forward side of an intense anticyclone coming from Mongolia and Siberia. The mean concentrations of the four natural dustfall cases for TSP, PM10 and PM2.5 were 632, 480 and 100 μg m−3, respectively. In contrast, the anthropogenic dust-pollution episodes occurred with the warm westerly and southwesterly airflows in the rear side of an anticyclone. This produced a favorable atmospheric and chemical condition for the build-up of anthropogenic dust air pollution in the Yellow Sea. The mean concentrations of the four anthropogenic dust loadings for TSP, PM10 and PM2.5 were 224, 187 and 137 μg m−3, respectively. The contents of fine dust loadings of PM2.5 were comparatively high in the cases of anthropogenic air pollution. High atmospheric concentrations of fine particles in the atmosphere cause poor visibility and constitute a health hazard. Satellite observations clearly showed the movement of dust-pollution masses from Mongolia and Northern China and from the Yellow Sea and East China that caused these dust pollution episodes in Korea.

A cloud screening method employing two successive procedures of variability test and coarse mode test was developed, aiming at better elimination of cloud-contaminated data in the sky radiometer retrievals. The performance of the new cloud screening method was evaluated by examining statistical features with cloud coverage observations and lidar measurements. The variability test appeared to effectively eliminate data contaminated by relatively thick low-level clouds, whereas the coarse mode test appeared to eliminate data likely contaminated by thin cirrus-type clouds. Overall, the new method was considered to improve the current Sky Radiometer Network (SKYNET) data. The cloud screening method was then applied to dust detection from sky radiometer measurements. The detection performance was evaluated using surface synoptic observations (SYNOP) dust reports and the yellow sand index from NIES lidar measurements. It was shown that the new method helped to detect dust, effectively eliminating cloud-contaminated signals that were similar to those of the dust.

Although the problems of the algal blooms have been world-widely observed in freshwater, estuary, and marine throughout the year, it is not yet certain what are the basic causes of such blooms. Consequently, it is very difficult to predict when and where algal blooms occur. The constituents of the Asian dust are in a good agreement with the elements required for the algal growth, which suggests some possible relationship between the algal blooms and the Asian dust. There have been frequently algal blooms in drinking water from rivers or lakes. However, there is no any algal blooms in upwelling waters where the Asian dust cannot penetrate into the soil due to its relatively weak settling velocity (size of particles, $4.5{\pm}1.5{\mu}m$), which implies the possible close relationship of the Asian dust with algal blooms. The present initiative study is thus intended firstly in Korea to illustrate such a relationship by reviewing typical previous studies along with 12 years of weekly iron profiles (2001~2012) and two slant culture experiments with the dissolved Asian dust. The result showed bacterial suspected colonies in the slant culture experiment that are qualitatively in a good agreement with the recent Japanese studies. Since the diatoms require cheap energy (8%) compared to other phytoplankton (100%) to synthesize their cell walls by silicate, the present results can be used to predict algal blooms by diatoms if the concentrations of iron and silicate are available during spring and fall. It can be postulated that the algal blooms occur only if the environmental factors such as light, nutrients, calm water surface layer, temperature, and pH are simultaneously satisfied with the requirements of the micronutrients of mineral ions supplied by the Asian dust as enzymatic cofactors for the rapid bio-synthesis of the macromolecules during algal blooms. Simple eco-friendly methods to regulate the algal blooms are suggested for the initial stage of blooming with limited area: 1) to cover up the water surface with black curtain and inhibit photosynthesis during the day time, 2) to blow air (20.9%) or pure oxygen into the bottom of the water and inhibit rubisco for carbon uptake and nitrate reductase for nitrogen uptake activities in algal growth during the night, 3) to eliminate the resting spores or cysts by suction of bottom sediments as deep as 5 cm to prevent the next year germinations.

The Asian dust forecasting model, Mongolian Asian Dust Aerosol Model (MGLADAM), has been operated by the National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring of Mongolia since 2010, for the forecast of Asian dust storms. In order to evaluate the performance of the dust prediction model, we simulated Asian dust events for the period of spring 2011. Simulated features were compared with observations from two sites in the dust source region of the Gobi desert in Mongolia, and in the downstream region in Korea. It was found that the simulated wind speed and friction velocity showed a good correlation with observations at the Erdene site (one of the sites in the Gobi desert). The results show that the model is proficient in the simulation of dust concentrations that are within the same order of magnitude and have similar start and end times, compared with PM10 observed at two monitoring sites in the Gobi regions. Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the dust simulation ranges up to 200 μg m−3 because of the high concentrations in source regions, which is three times higher than that in the downstream region. However, the spatial pattern of dust concentration matches well with dust reports from synoptic observation. In the downwind regions, it was found that the model simluated all reported dust cases successfully. It was also found that the RMSE in the downwind region increased when the model integration time increased, but that in the source regions did not show consistent change. It suggests that MGLADAM has the potential to be used as an operational dust forecasting model for predicting major dust events over the dust source regions as well as predicting transported dust concentrations over the downstream region. However, it is thought that further improvement in the emission estimation is necessary, including accurate predictions in surface and boundary layer meteorology. In the downwind regions, background PM10 concentration is considerably affected by other aerosol species, suggesting that a consideration of anthropogenic pollutants will be required for accurate dust forecasting.

Predicting Dust and Sand Storms (hereafter DSS) that are accompanied by strong winds and suspended aerosol particles, and understanding the mechanism involved, present significant challenges.These events exert a considerable effect on the ecosystem, by degrading the air quality and by modifying the radiation balance in Northeast Asia.DSS originates in the dry and semi-arid areas in southern Mongolia and northern China (Shao and Dong, 2006), as the result of strong winds associated with low-pressure systems (Fig. 1).Unlike DSS in Mongolia and China, the dustfall or the floating dust appears in downwind regions such as the Korean Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean.The historical term "Woo-Tou (雨土)," which means "dust-fall" in Korean, is the name of the substance descending from the atmosphere, which is unrelated with water droplets.This term is evident in historical records, exemplified by the documentary entry traced back to 174 A.D, during the reign of King Adalla of the Silla Dynasty (Chun et al., 2008).DSS occurrences often have an adverse impact on organisms' life styles and their environment, not only in the source region but also in the downwind regions.Suspended particles can cause low visibility, respiratory diseases, and damage to the precision industry.A strong international cooperation in East Asia is necessary in order to solve this transcendent, widespread problem.Data exchange is in high demand, both for figuring out characteristics of dust phenomena and for forecasting them properly.For example, PM 10 concentrations in the source region, along the pathway of dust deposition, are essential to forecasting dust events quantitatively.Given these points, a regional network for DSS, formed by Northeast Asian countries, such as Mongolia, China, Korea and Japan, would provide concrete opportunities for scientific cooperation against DSS.The Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting among China, Japan and Korea (TEMM) established Joint Research on DSS, among these nations, and policy for international cooperation.In Joint Research on DSS, two Working Groups have been formed-one to monitor and forecast DSS (WG I), and the other to prevent DSS by planting trees in arid areas (WG II).The first meeting of WG I was held in Seoul, Korea in 2008 to

A soil moisture retrieval algorithm using AMSR-E microwave satellite data has been developed by the NIMR. In this study, the relationship between soil moisture retrieved from the NIMR algorithm and the occurrence of Asian dust is statistically analyzed. The frequency of Asian dust events was recorded at 410 sites in China from 2003-2010 in three regions; the Gobi desert, Inner Mongolia and Northeast China. Results showed low soil moisture values of around 0.1 g/cm 3 in the Gobi desert and Inner Mongolia. Soil moisture values in Northeast China were marginally higher than in other regions. About 55% of Asian dust in the Gobi desert occurred when the monthly mean soil moisture was less than the monthly mean soil moisture for eight years. Approximately 75% of Asian dust in Northeast China occurred when soil moisture was the same as the monthly mean soil moisture for eight years.

Chugugi and Wootaeck rainfall data of Gyeonggi Province from 1830 to 1893 were restored from the 『Gaksadeungnok』 that is the government records between the central government and the local during the Joseon Dynasty. The restored data periods were 27, 10, 9 and 14 years for Kwangju, Suwon, Ganghwa and Gaeseong, and the total number of restored data was 655 for the Chugugi and 427 for the Wootaek, respectively. The variation pattern of monthly rainfall by Chugugi was investigated and it showed that the monthly rainfall more than 300 mm was recorded 25 times with 18 times in July, 5 times in August and 3 times in June. The cases of more than 500 mm were also recorded 8 times with the maximum 787 mm at the Kwangju in July 1862, showing the similar pattern to Seoul. The monthly mean rainfall for the Gyeonggi Province were 259 mm in July, 204 mm in August and 121 mm in June, which were about one third of that of Seoul. The correlation analysis between the Chugugi and Wootaek data was carried out to derive the quantitative values of Wootaek observations. It revealed that 1 ‘Ri’ of Wootaek observation was equal to approximately 1 ‘Chon (Chugugi unit)’ or 20 mm, while 1 ‘Seo’ was very variable between 2 and 6 ‘Boon (Chugugi unit)’ with the median value approximately 3 ‘Boon’ or 6 mm. Recalculated Wootaek data showed that the monthly rainfall in July, August, and June were 289 mm, 154 mm, and 124 mm, respectively. Through this study, some features of the rainfall variation pattern during 1830~1893 were figured out, and quantitative interpretation of Wootaek data became possible based on the restored rainfall data from the 『Gaksadeungnok』. Though many pages of the book have been lost during the last hundreds years, 『Gaksadeungnok』 is still very meaningful and of practical use, for it contains plenty of the local data throughout the whole country during the latter part of Joseon Dynasty. Therefore, further studies are strongly recommended on the restoration of climate related data and on the climatic tendency of 19th century of Korean peninsular.

The physical and chemical features of the Asian dust event that affected Mongolia, China, Korea and Japan in March 2009 were analyzed using shared PM10 concentrations monitored by each of the affected countries. This dust event was generated by a strong pressure gradient force at the surface located behind a low-pressure system that had developed in Mongolia. Dust was then transported over a long distance as the low-pressure system moved eastward and stagnated for two days. The daily average of the PM10 concentration could be interpreted as the evolution of dust from its emergence in the source region through to transport to downstream regions. The water-soluble ions in the samples collected in Seoul during the dust period 15–17 March 2009 revealed distinct features of Asian dust with haze, in terms of both fine and coarse particles. Furthermore, the size distribution of the chemical components revealed a double peak in coarse and fine mode. Reconstruction of the chemical forms was estimated. These reconstructions reveal that high concentrations of secondary transformation forms were present in fine mode as well as in coarse mode during this dust event mixed with haze.

This paper attempts to explain the cause of weakening or disappearing brightness temperature difference (BTD) signatures, in particular, over the Yellow Sea during the March 15–16, 2009 dust event. Using a simple correction approach that removes the effects of emissivity difference and water vapor effect difference, we confirmed that the weakening or disappearing BTD signatures noted over the Yellow Sea are largely due to the spectral emissivity contrast between land and ocean. The weakening or disappearing dust is hypothesized to be pronounced when the dust loading is weak because of the surface contribution to the top of atmosphere radiance, and that it is mainly due to the difference in spectral emissivity over the window band between land and ocean. It is further suggested that water vapor may be considered as a correction factor in spite of its smaller contribution.

This study aims to analyze the vertical distribution of Asian dust measured by LIDARs at three weather stations in Baengnyeongdo (BND), Munsan (MS), and Gunsan (GS) during 10~11 May 2010, and thereby investigate their effectiveness. Asian dust passed through from central to south-western part of Korea. Although dust particles were detected over the surface in MS and GS, LIDAR data showed that the Asian dust with non-spherical particles was observed in all of the three regions. It seems that the naked-eye observation could not detect dust over the surface of BND due to the temperature inversion below a height of 0.45 km. During the Asian dust events, the duration time of dust presented 9.5 hr (BND), 19.5 hr (MS), and 24.5 hr (GS), respectively with the longest time in GS, whereas dust altitudes ranged from 0.4 to 1.3 km (BND), 0.1 to 2.8 km and 4.1 to 4.2 km (MS), and 0.2 to 2.0 km (GS), respectively, while showing the highest altitude in MS. Aerosol optical thickness (AOT) retrieved by LIDAR and skyradiometer (SR), located close to the LIDAR sites, was compared. MS (LIDAR) and Seoul (SR) attained the AOT of 0.64 and 0.50, and GS (LIDAR) and Gongju (SR) attained the AOT of 0.38 and 0.54, respectively. As SR-derived angstrom exponents (AE) during the time period determined as Asian dust by LIDAR data were 0.17 in Seoul (near MS) and 0.30 in Gongju (near GS), it can be said that the characteristics of dust particles were appeared. During the study period, depolarization ratio could serve as a useful indicator to determine dust aerosol. But, it still seems essential to conduct further investigation with longer period of data to better describe the discrepancy of AOT between LIDARs and SR.

A data assimilation (DA) system using ground PM10 observation for Asian Dust Aerosol Model version 2 (ADAM2), which is the operational dust forecasting model of Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), has been developed with the optimal interpolation (OI) method. The observations are provided by the PM10 network operated by KMA. Three DA experiments are performed to simulate a dust event observed in Korea from 1 March to 31 May 2009 with different assimilation cycles of 24 (DA24), 12 (DA12), and 06 hours (DA06). 48-hour forecasts from the adjusted Initial Condition (IC) of dust concentration are compared with control simulation (CTL) and observation from independent stations. It is found that CTL simulates spatial patterns of dust emitted and transported associated with a developing low pressure system over the dust source regions quite well, compared with satellite measurement. However, it appears that there is considerable uncertainty in estimating the concentration of dust. With IC adjustment, the model simulates improved dust concentration, showing considerably reduced RMSE, particularly for the prediction within 12 hours of forecast. At the same time, it is shown that the time interval of DA affects the predictability of ADAM2, so that DA06 appears to have better predictability within a 12-hour simulation, reducing RMSE by 50% compared with CTL. This suggests that assimilating PM10 to the dust prediction model using OI has the potential to predict air quality in Korea when the cycle of assimilation is sufficiently short.

This study investigated meteorological, physical, and chemical characteristics of 2 severe Hwangsa (Asian dust, maximum average of PM10 above 1000 μg m−3) observed in Seoul, the capital city of Korea, during 30∼31st May, 2008 (DSS2008) and 25∼26th December, 2009 (DSS2009). DSS2008 and DSS2009 had a same source region and route. However, they have different meteorological conditions. DSS2009 had a shorter travel time from the source region to Korea and shorter duration time in Korea than DSS2008 due to a strong winter Siberian anticyclone. One of DSS2008 sample was affected by not only Asian dust but also a long-range transported haze due to consecutive influx after low pressure passed while DSS2009 sample collected only dust aerosol. For both cases, the mass concentration of coarse particles (PM10-1) increased by 3∼14 times compared to that during non Asian dust period, however, that of fine particles (PM1) increased only in DSS2008. For DSS2008 water-soluble ion balance between anions and cations in fine mode was close to 1:1 while cations were higher than anions in coarse mode. NH4 + and Ca2+ were found to be the main contributing factors for the neutralization. Cl− loss was observed about 60% indicating an active interaction of Na+ with pollutants. Reconstruction of chemical compositions showed relatively high concentrations of secondary pollutants (NH4NO3 and (NH4)2SO4), CaCO3, and Ca(NO3)2 compared to that during non Asian dust period. DSS2009 exhibited the typical characteristics of Asian dust having a high concentration of Ca2+ with higher equivalent concentration of cations than anions in all size bins. Cl− loss was hardly observed. The secondary pollutants were lower than that of non Asian dust cases. The result of reconstruction of ionic components indicated the CaCO3 derived from soil particle, CaSO4, and Ca (NO3)2 were dominant in DSS2009.

The Asian dust (Hwangsa) forecasting model, Asian Dust Aerosol Model (ADAM) has been modified by using satelliate monitoring of surface vegetation, which enables to simulate dusts occuring not only in springtime but also for all-year-round period. Coupled with the Unified Model (UM), the operational weather forecasting model at KMA, UM-ADAM2 was implemented for operational dust forecasting since 2010, with an aid of development of Meteorology-Chemistry Interface Processor (MCIP) for usage UM. The performance analysis of the ADAM2 forecast was conducted with PM10 concentrations observed at monitoring sites in the source regions in China and the downstream regions of Korea from March to December in 2010. It was found that the UM-ADAM2 model was able to simulate quite well Hwangsa events observed in spring and wintertime over Korea. In the downstream region of Korea, the starting and ending times of dust events were well-simulated, although the surface PM10 concentration was slightly underestimated for some dust events. The general negative bias less than 35 mu g m(3) in PM10 is found and it is likely to be due to other fine aerosol species which is not considered in ADAM2. It is found that the correlation between observed and forecasted PM10 concentration increases as forecasting time approaches, showing stably high correlation about 0.7 within 36 hr in forecasting time. This suggests the possibility that there is potential for the UM-ADAM2 model to be used as an operational Asian dust forecast model.