Numerical Study of Meteo-tsunami Caused by High Pressure System in Winter Season

The Yellow Sea is the area of the world where meteo-tsunamis are frequent along with the Mediterranean. Kim et al. (2016) reported that most meteo-tsunami events occur in spring (60%), but approximately 30% also occur in winter along the west coast of the Korean peninsula. Unlike meteo-tsunamis occurring in spring, a meteo-tsunami occurring in winter could be caused by mechanical atmospheric instability following the expansion of a high-pressure system like the Siberian high. In this study, Synoptic weather analysis was performed on some meteo-tsunami events during winter season. As a result, most of the meteo-tsunami events were caused by a discontinuity of the instability when the high-pressure system expanded to the west coast of the Korean peninsula.