• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.557-567
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• 1998

In order to utilize the data obtained during the deep-sea resources exploration program, the analysis of data structure and database were conducted to develop an appropriate data operating system called Deep-sea Database System. The Relation Data Base Management System, RDBMS, was chosen as a data managing system and the MS Access$^{TM}$ as a DB engine, and the MapInfo$^{TM}$ software as GIS tools. Problems in networking and security were detected and solved during the operation test. Accordingly, development of standardized operative procedure was proposed in obtaining raw data. This proposal will also be reflected in the subsequent phase of the deep-sea program. The Deep-sea Database System could be applied to the selection of potential mining sites and the estimation of economical efficiency over th KODOS (Korea Deep Ocean Study) region. It is also expected that this system might improve the efficiency of detail survey and help in the relinquishment process as a fulfillment of the obligation as a pioneer investor.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.485-495
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• 2011

On February 11, 2011, upon request of the International Seabed Authority, 'the Seabed Dispute Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea(henceforth Chamber)' rendered its advisory opinion on the responsibilities and obligations of States sponsoring persons and entities with respect to activities in the Area. The advisory opinion covered three questions: What are the legal responsibilities and obligations of the sponsoring states with respect to the sponsorship of activities in the Area? What is the extent of liability of a State Party for any failure to comply with the LOS Convention and relevant instruments? What are the necessary and appropriate measures that a sponsoring State must take in order to fulfil its responsibilities? In particular, the Chamber delivered its opinion on the different responsibilities and obligations of developed and developing sponsoring states. This paper reviews the above three questions through analyzing the advisory opinion and makes some recommendations for the fulfillment of the responsibilities and obligations of Korea as a sponsoring states.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.133-145
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• 2003

Deep-sea surface sediments were collected using a multiple corer at 20 stations of Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone in the northeast equatorial Pacific to understand latitudinal and longitudinal variations of geotechnical properties. There was a distinct latitudinal variation of geotechnical properties in the study area. The northern sediments showed finer grain size, lower water content and porosity, higher bulk density and specific grain density, lower liquid limits and plastic limits than their southern counterparts. The northern sediments are classified into inorganic clays of low plasticity (fat clays) on plasticity charts and normal to active clay on activity chart, whereas, the southern sediments are classified into fine-grained, highly-plastic, inorganic and biogenic silt or organic clays on plasticity chart and normal to very active clay on activity chart. When shear strength are considered, the northern sediments were found to be in unconsolidated states, while the southern ones to be normal to over-consolidated states. These latitudinal variations in sediment characteristics are likely caused by differences in productivity of surface water that controls sediment compositions, sedimentation rates, and grain solubility.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.187-197
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• 2004

The purpose of this paper is to investigate economic feasibility of manganese nodules in Korea area (Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone). We assumed that the production scale of manganese nodules were 3.0MT or 1.5MT and analyzed that the capital cost and operating cost were estimated in the four sectors, exploration, mining, transportation and metallurgical process. The capital cost and operating cost evaluation reflects the latest technical practices. First, for analyzing economic feasibility, the scenario suggests that the production of 4 metals can be made for 25 years. Assuming the discount rate at 8.0%, equity capital at 50% and tax at 27%. When manganese nodule were mininged 3.0 MT, economic feasibility analyses showed that IRR was 12.8 and pay-back period was 9.2 years, and when manganese nodules were mininged 1.5 MT, economic feasibility analyses showed that IRR was 4.0 and pay-back period was 11.8 years. This study indicated there is economic validity of at the product of manganese nodules 3.0 MT. In addition, we carried out a sensitivity analysis at the change of cobalt price on mining 1.5 MT. The result of sensitivity analysis clearly showed that economic validity is high at increasing of cobalt price 50% up.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.265-272
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• 2004

This study was conducted to investigate the community structure and distributional pattern of meiobenthos in the deep-sea bottom of the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone of northeastern Pacific during July 2001. Examination of sediment samples collected on the eight survey station showed that there were 10 different types of meiobenthos. The most abundant meiobenthic animals were nematodes in all stations. Sarcomastigophorans, benthic harpacticoids were next abundant meiobenthos. Vertical distribution of meiobenthic animals showed the highest individual numbers in the surface sediment layers of 0-1 cm depth and showed more steep decreasing trend as sediment gets deeper on the stations of high latitude located in $16-17^{\circ}N$. Horizontal distribution of meiobenthic animal in the study area within CCFZ showed high densities of meiobenthos at the stations had few manganese nodules on their sediment surface in the site of low latitude. For size distribution analyses showed that animals which fit into the sieve mesh size of 0.063 mm were abundant.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.367-371
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• 2014

In early 1990s, the Korean government has launched a deep-sea research program to secure the stable long-term supply of strategic metallic minerals including Cr, Cu and Ni. Through the pioneering surveys, Korea registered $150,000km^2$ of Mn-nodule field in the Clarion-Clipperton area, the NE equatorial Pacific to the international sea-bed authority (ISA) in 1994. Following the ISA exploration code, the final exclusive exploration area of $75,000km^2$ was assigned in 2002, based on results of eight-year researches of chemico-physical properties of nodules, bottom profiles and sediment properties. Since that time, environmental studies, mining technical developments including robot miner and lifting system and establishment of smelting systems were accompanied with the detailed geophysical studies to decipher the priori mining area until 2009. Major points of the recent Korea Mn-nodule program are deployed on a commercial scale until 2015. In order to meet the goals, we developed a 1/5 scaled robot miner compared to commercial one in 2012 and performed a mining test at the water depth of 1,370 m in 2013. In addition, detailed 25,000 scaled mining maps in the priori area, which can provide operation roots of the miner, will be prepared and an environmental-friendly mining strategy will be pursued based on the environmental impact test and environmental monitoring.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.515-524
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• 2014

The Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology has acquired detailed biological, chemicophysical, and geological data in the northeastern Pacific through a manganese nodule program since 1983. Plenty of manganese nodules were collected to estimate the amount of resources by free-fall grab and box corer. The collected manganese nodules have been archived systematically in the rock and mineral storage section of the Library of Marine Samples (LIMS) since 2012. The LIMS provides essencial information on the stored samples including sample name, nodule type, sampling location, depth, and equipment. Although a high quality database of the information system is under construction, the samples have tagged information for manganese nodules like chemical composition, morphology, weight, size, abundance, and photograph. In this study, we attempted to provide information on the well-organized and easily accessible archived manganese nodule samples for future studies and to introduce the usefulness of the LIMS.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.455-463
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• 2014

This paper presents data from performance tests carried out to assess a manganese nodule crusher. Manganese nodules should be crushed into smaller pieces in order to assure the slurry flow of the lifting system. Both artificial nodules and real manganese nodules are used to evaluate nodule breaking ability of the crusher. The crushing performance of the crusher depends on the flow rate and pressure of the power transmission device. The size of the crushed manganese nodules also depends on the shape of the crushing drum. In this paper, several comparative tests are carried out to evaluate and improve the crushing performance and find the optimal design point of the crusher.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2011.12b
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• pp.382-384
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• 2011

최근 오일샌드, 극지유전, 심해저자원 등 극한지 자원개발이 활발해짐에 따라 수요가 증대되고 있는 극한지용 내마식 소재는 내마식성과 함께 저온 인성이 요구되고 있다. 철계 합금에서 관찰되는 변형유기 마르텐사이트 상변태는 입자의 충돌에 의한 충격을 흡수하고 소재의 표면을 가공경화시켜 내마식성 향상 및 저온 인성에 기여할 수 있을 것으로 기대되고 있지만 합금조성의 정교한 제어가 필요하기 때문에 오버레이 용접에 적용하기 위해서는 모재와의 희석률을 제어하는 방안이 필요하다. 용접플럭스 설계기술은 용접시 금속이행모드, 용융풀 거동 등과 같은 용접현상 제어를 통해 오버레이 용접재료의 용접성과 용접비드형상, 용접부 희석률을 최적화할 수 있는 기술이다. 본 연구에서는 내마식 고인성 오버레이 용접재료의 개발을 위해 다양한 용접플럭스를 첨가한 메탈코어드 와이어를 제조하고 일정 송급속도에서 GMA 용접시 용접전압과 용접전류 간의 관계를 분석하여 용접플럭스가 아크현상 및 희석률에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다.

• Proceedings of the Acoustical Society of Korea Conference
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• spring
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• pp.224-227
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• 1999

A high power deep-water sonar transducer of FFR (Free Flooded Ring) type has been designed using a coupled FE-BEM. The present sonar transducer is composed of rectangular piezoelectric ceramics and pie-shaped steels (or the advantage of simple fabrication. The dynamics of the sonar transducer is modelled in three dimensions and is analyzed with external electrical excitation conditions. Different results are available such as steady-state frequency response for TX and RX displacement modes, directivity patterns, back-scattering patterns, bandwidths, transmitting voltage responses and receiving sensitivity responses. The TV response shows a very high acoustic pressure of 150 dB/lV (ref $1{\mu}Pa$ at 1m) at 1900 Hz. This ultra high power response of the sonar transducer indicates a new possibility of the sonar transducer development.