A Feasibility Study of a Field-specific Weather Service for Small-scale Farms in a Topographically Complex Watershed

Abstract

An adequate downscaling of synoptic forecasts is a prerequisite for improved agrometeorological service to rural areas in South Korea where complex terrains and small farms are common. In this study, geospatial schemes based on topoclimatology were used to scale down the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) temperature forecasts to the local scale (~30 m) across a rural catchment. Then, using these schemes, local temperatures were estimated at 14 validation sites at 0600 and 1500 LST in 2013/2014 and were compared with the observations. The estimation errors were substantially reduced for both 0600 and 1500 LST temperatures when compared against the uncorrected KMA products. The improvement was most notable at low lying locations for the 0600 temperature and at the locations on west-and south-facing slopes for the 1500 LST temperature. Using the downscaled real-time temperature data, a pilot service has started to provide the field-specific weather information tailored to meet the requirements of small-scale farms. For example, the service system makes a daily outlook on the phenology of crop species grown in a given field using the field-specific temperature data. When the temperature forecast is given for next morning, a frost risk index is calculated according to a known relationship of phenology and frost injury. If the calculated index is higher than a pre-defined threshold, a warning is issued and delivered to the grower's cellular phone with relevant countermeasures to help protect crops against frost damage.

Improving the Usage of the Korea Meteorological Administration's Digital Forecasts in Agriculture: V. Field Validation of the Sky-condition based Lapse Rate Estimation Scheme

“…국내에서 개별 농지에 재배되고 있는 작물에 대해 기 상위험지수를 판단, 농민에게 일대일로 제공하는 '농가 맞춤형 기상위험관리' 서비스가 시범적으로 구현되고 있는데 Yun, 2015), 안정적인 서비스 를 위해서는 해당 지점의 기상조건을 실제에 가깝게 모 의하는 것이 관건이다. 특히 산간지와 그 주변에서 작은 규모로 과수⋅농작물을 경작하는 국내 영농 특징에 맞 게 복잡지형의 기온변이를 모의하기 위한 기온 상세화 기법이 사용된다.…”

Farmstead-Specific Weather Risk Prediction Technique Based on High-Resolution Weather Grid Distribution

“…The main production areas of fruits and vegetables are good examples of agriculturally utilizing the characteristics of environmental conditions at the watershed level. The weather outside of the long-acclimatized climate range almost always leads to crop failure [3,4].…”

“…main production areas of fruits and vegetables are good examples of agriculturally u ing the characteristics of environmental conditions at the watershed level. The wea outside of the long-acclimatized climate range almost always leads to crop failure [3 The WMO (World Meteorological Organization) evaluates these watershed-sp climatic conditions by using the mean climate data observed for at least 30 years [5] high and low temperatures in the news media are based on an average year, and growth of crops refers to fast or slow based on an average year, as well. An average y climate can be represented by the mean and standard deviation, and with enough o vations, the frequency of occurrence will approximate a normal distribution curve symmetrical left and right sides centered at the mean.…”