148 - Extreme Weather in South Korean Urban Areas: An Analysis of Environmental Data and Filter Media Resilience

Climate change projections suggest a continuous increase in global temperature and sea level over the following decades. Despite these projections being indicative of the scale of climate change that could be expected, their impacts on particular assets, such as filter media on stormwater treatment systems, remain uncertain and context-specific. In this study, the extreme weather conditions in seven major metropolitan cities in South Korea over the last 20 years were characterized. The analyzed environmental data extracted from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) included daily maximum and minimum temperatures, relative air humidity, maximum wind speed, daily precipitation, evaporation, and air quality. The highest maximum air temperature observed was 39.6 °C, while the lowest minimum air temperature was found to be -18.6 °C (ΔT = 58.2 °C). Both temperatures were observed in Seoul, which has a surface imperviousness of over 50%. Furthermore, Jeju was found to have the lowest observed maximum air temperature and highest observed minimum temperature, which may be attributed to a low percentage of surface imperviousness. Additionally, the impacts of extreme weather on climate change adaptation technologies, particularly filter media for stormwater treatment, were determined through a comprehensive review. It was revealed that extreme weather conditions, such as low temperatures, tend to decrease the nutrient removal efficiency of filter media, including gravel, sand, and woodchip. At length, the results of this study are seen as potential contributors to reinforcing the resilience of green infrastructure to extreme weather in urban areas inside and outside South Korean borders.