• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.255-276
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• 2014

The dispute between China and Japan regarding $Di\grave{a}oy\acute{u}t\acute{a}i$ is believed to be quite similar to the controversy surrounding Dokdo in terms of historical and post-war processes except for the point that the phenomena of occupation is different with regard to Dokdo. China's claim to $Di\grave{a}oy\acute{u}t\acute{a}i$ is based on historical title and continuous use while the basis of Japan's claim is summarized as preoccupancy of ownerless land. Even though Japan acknowledges that China discovered $Di\grave{a}oy\acute{u}t\acute{a}i$, Japan claims that the act to establish sovereignty over the island from the standpoint of International Law was not taken by China. However, at that time, effective occupation was not an essential prerequisite for the acquisition of a territory. That is to say, from a legal perspective, the legal right for an area could be established based on the discovery of the land, and so it is thought that Japan is applying the current criteria of International Law in a manner that is inappropriate. When we review the post-war process, the San Francisco Peace Treaty does not directly mention $Di\grave{a}oy\acute{u}t\acute{a}i$. But based on the said treaty, we can note that Japan gave up all rights for the southern area that is north of the boundary line that equates to latitude $29^{\circ}$ and that includes the Ryuku Islands and $Di\grave{a}oy\acute{u}t\acute{a}i$. Of course, the provisions for the territory in the San Francisco Peace Treaty and its disposal are not the final factor for the judgment regarding dominium of $Di\grave{a}oy\acute{u}t\acute{a}i$. However, it seems clear that Japan's attitude and interpretation regarding the issues of $Di\grave{a}oy\acute{u}t\acute{a}i$, the Kuril Islands and Dokdo is problematic.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.85-106
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• 2017

The Lago Sofia conglomerate in southern Chile is a deep-marine gravelly deposit, which is hundreds of meters thick and kilometers wide and extends laterally for more than 100 km, filling the foredeep trough of the Cretaceous Magallanes Basin. For understanding the depositional processes and environments of this gigantic deep-sea conglomerate, detailed analyses on sedimentary facies, architecture and paleoflow patterns were carried out, highlighting the differences between the northern (Lago Pehoe and Lago Goic areas) and southern (Lago Sofia area) parts of the study area. The conglomerate bodies in the northern part occur as relatively thin (< 100 m thick), multiple units intervened by thick mudstone-dominated sequences. They show paleoflows toward ENE and S to SW, displaying a converging drainage pattern. In the southern part, the conglomerate bodies are vertically interconnected and form a thick (> 400 m thick) conglomerate sequence with rare intervening fine-grained deposits. Paleoflows are toward SW. The north-to-south variations are also distinct in sedimentary facies. The conglomerate bodies in the southern part are mainly composed of clast-supported conglomerate with sandy matrix, which is interpreted to be deposited from highly concentrated bedload layers under turbidity currents. Those in the northern part are dominated by matrix- to clast-supported conglomerate with muddy matrix, which is interpreted as the products of composite mass flows comprising a turbidity current, a gravelly hyperconcentrated flow and a mud-rich debris flow. All these characteristics suggest that the Lago Sofia conglomerate was formed in centripetally converging submarine channels, not in centrifugally diverging channels of submarine fans. The tributaries in the north were dominated by mass flows, probably affected by channel-bank failures or basin-marginal slope instability processes. In contrast, the trunk channel in the south was mostly filled by tractive processes, which resulted in the vertical and lateral accretion of gravel bars, deposition of gravel dunes and filling of scours and channels, similar to deposits of terrestrial gravel-bed rivers. The trunk channel developed along the axis of foredeep trough and its confinement within the trough is probably responsible for the thick, interconnected channel fills. The large-scale architecture of the trunk-channel fills shows an eastward offset stacking pattern, suggesting that the channel migrated eastwards most likely due to the uplift of the Andean Cordillera.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.161-167
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• 2018

We examined the effect of salinity and water temperature on hatching and survival rates of fertilized eggs of hybrid grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus ♀ ${\times}$ E. lanceolatus ♂) at different developmental stages, determining optimal conditions for their long-distance transportation. Deformities and hatching rates of fertilized grouper eggs were observed at salinities of 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, and 39 psu. The optimal salinity was determined to be 36 psu, with a survival rate of $70.0{\pm}2.0%$. Transportation experiments at 36 psu were conducted at water temperatures of 21, 24, 27, and $30^{\circ}C$, different developmental stages such as morula, 5-myomere, and tail beating for hatching and survival rates. The optimal water temperature and developmental stage for transporatation were $30^{\circ}C$ and tail beating stage and those hatching rates were $50.6{\pm}1.9%$ and $86.3{\pm}1.3%$, respectively. At $21^{\circ}C$, the survival rate by transportation water temperature was highest ($73.1{\pm}10.6%$), but the hatching rate ($17.1{\pm}3.1%$) was lowest. Therefore, the hybrid grouper fertilized eggs (E. fuscoguttatus ♀ ${\times}$ E. lanceolatus ♂) can be most efficiently produced under long-distance transportation conditions during the tail beating stage and at a water temperature of $30^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1599-1606
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• 2011

To evaluate the effects of microorganism agents on oil biodegradation, treatability and microcosm studies were conducted. Petroleum oil degrading bacteria were isolated from enriched cultures of oil-contaminated sediment samples using a mineral salts medium (MSM) containing 0.5% Arabian heavy crude oil as the sole carbon source. After a 5 day-incubation period using MSM, mixed microorganisms of three species (strains BS1, BS2 and BS4) degraded 48.4% of aliphatic hydrocarbons and 30.5% of aromatic hydrocarbons. Treatability and microcosm tests were performed in the three different treatment conditions (AO: Arabian heavy crude oil, AO+IN: Arabian heavy crude oil+inorganic nutrient, AO+IN+MM: Arabian heavy crude oil+inorganic nutrient+mixed microorganism agents). Among these, significantly enhanced biodegradation of aliphatic hydrocarbons were observed in AO+IN and AO+IN+MM conditions, without showing any different biodegradation rates in either condition. However, the degradation rates of aromatic hydrocarbons in an AO+IN+MM condition were increased by 50% in the treatability test and by 13% in the microcosm test compared to those in an AO+IN condition. Taken together, it can be concluded that mixed microorganism agents enhance the biodegradation of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons in laboratory, a treatability test, and a microcosm test. This agent could especially be a useful tool in the application of bioremediation for removal of aromatic hydrocarbons.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2018

We investigated the effects of environmental variations on the growth and survival rate of Stichopus japonicus to determine the optimum environmental conditions for its growth. Literature studies and a 12 month-long diver survey were carried out to understand the habitat, ecology and size of the surveyed area. Based on the collected data, we suggested optimum habitat conditions for releasing S. japonicus. Experiments on releasing S. japonicus were conducted in the breakwater of the Hwagye fishing cooperative in Hwagey-ri, Namhae-un, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea. To implement the experiments, we divided the surveyed area into 4 sub-areas with different characteristics: (1) sand and silt zone; (2) artificial sea cucumber bank zone; (3) artificial rock bank zone; and (4) marine algae zone. The experiment lasted for 12 months. We released 32,000 sea cucumbers over $120m^2$ of each of the sand and silt zone, artificial rock bank zone and marine algae zone and released 6,000 sea cucumbers over $120m^2$ of the artificial sea cucumber bank zone. The average density of the released sea cucumbers from day 30 to day 360 after the releasing was conducted was the highest in the artificial sea cucumber bank zone ($23.7animal/m^2$), which was followed by artificial rock bank zone ($2.0animal/m^2$), marine algae zone ($1.9animal/m^2$) and sand and silt zone ($0.8animal/m^2$). The analysis on growth showed that the initial average weight of 2.3 g increased on day 360 after the releasing to 12.5 g in the artificial sea cucumber rank zone, 20.2 g in the sand and silt zone, 23.3 g in the artificial rock bank zone and 22.9 g in the marine algae zone. Results from the experiment along with the literature analysis suggest the following optimum habitat conditions: $10-15^{\circ}C$ water temperature; 28-34 psu salinity; 5-10 m water depth; 0.2-0.5 m/s velocity; rock, stone and muddy sand as substrate; and less than 20% mud in the substrate.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.359-379
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• 2005

In order to understand the spatial and temporal variations of nutrients and factors controlling their distribution in Gwangyang Bay, this study was carried out bimonthly from June 2001 to July 2003, Inorganic silicate and nitrate concentrations ranged from $0.04{\mu}M\;to\;69.5{\mu}M(avg.\;12.9{\mu}M)$, and from $0.12{\mu}M\;to\;42.2{\mu}M\;(avg.\;7.83{\mu}M)$, respectively. Silicate concentrations measured just after the typhoon were the highest with an average of $43.2{\mu}M$ at the surface layer in June 2001, whereas the highest nitrate concentration $(avg.\;37.0{\mu}M)$ was observed in the surface layer in July 2003. River runoff apparently influenced variations in silicate and nitrate concentrations (r=0.701 and 0.728, p<0.000, respectively) as well as salinity (r=-0.628, p<0.000). Phosphate concentrations ranged from $0.24{\mu}M\;to\;5.70{\mu}M\;(avg.\;1.34{\mu}M)$ and were highest at stations 5, 6, and 7, near a fertilizer plant with an average of $2.01{\mu}M$. On the basis of N/P and Si/N molar ratios, limiting nutrients have varied temporary and spatially. During 2001-2002, nitrogen was a limiting nutrient in the study area, and Phosphate was limited when a large volume of freshwater flowed into the bay. Silicate was limited when the high standing crops of phytoplankton occurred in the whole study area throughout 2003, and in the inner bay in February and August 2002. During the study period, factors controlling the distribution of nutrients might be summarized as follows; 1) inflow of freshwater by heavy rain accompanied by typhoons and frequent rainfall in summer, showing high concentrations of silicate and nitrate, 2) release of high phosphate concentrations from the fertilizer plant located in the south of Moydo to adjacent stations, 3) release of nutrients from bottom sediment, 4) magnitude of occurrence of phytoplankton standing crops.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.115-128
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• 2016

This study examined the relationship between macrobenthic distribution patterns and environmental factors in salt marsh vegetation in Donggeomdo, Ganghwa on the west coast of Korea. Nine stations were fixed on a transect across the salt marsh vegetation, and field sampling was carried out monthly from July 1997 to June 1998. A total of 38 species of macrobenthos were recorded: each of faunal groups, 13 (34.2%) Arthropoda, 12 (31.6%) Polychaeta, 8 (21.1%) Mollusca, and 5 (13.2%) others. The mean density was $2,659individuals/m^2$, with a mean biomass of $178.6gWWt/m^2$. Mollusca dominated in terms of abundance and biomass, with a mean density of $2,172individuals/m^2$ (81.7%) and a mean biomass of $131.9gWWt/m^2$ (73.9%). The number of species decreased in winter (January-February), while mean density increased in the spring (May-June). The biomass was relatively in Summer and Fall (July-November), than any other season. The number of species was high in pure stands of Suaeda japonica in the lower salt marsh vegetation, and the mean density and biomass were high in mixed halophyte communities in the middle salt marsh vegetation. Two Mollusca, the bivalve Glauconome chinensis and gastropod Assiminea lutea, were dominant. The densities of these two species were high in mixed halophyte communities in the middle salt marsh vegetation. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (nMDS) showed that the study area could be divided into four groups corresponding to the vertical distribution of tidal levels and halophytes. Spearman's rank correlation revealed that the distribution patterns and community structure of macrobenthos were related to environment variables such as salinity of the substrates, exposure time, and grain size compositions of the sediment in the salt marsh vegetation. Particularly, the distribution and density of some dominant species showed differences along the vertical distributions of halophytes.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.89-102
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• 2016

In this study, we evaluated the model performance with respect to Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Net Heat Flux (NHF) by considering the characteristics of seasonal temperature variation and contributing factors and by analyzing heat budget terms in the Northwestern Pacific and East Asian Marginal Seas ($110^{\circ}E-160^{\circ}E$, $15^{\circ}N-60^{\circ}N$) using the HadGEM2-AO historical run. Annual mean SST of the HadGEM2-AO is about $0.065^{\circ}C$ higher than observations (EN3_v2a) from 1950 to 2000. Since 1960, the model has simulated well the long-term variation of SST and the increasing rate of SST in the model ($0.014^{\circ}C/year$) is comparable with observations ($0.013^{\circ}C/year$). Heat loss from the ocean to the atmosphere was simulated slightly higher in the HadGEM2-AO than that in the reanalysis data on the East Asian Marginal Seas and the Kuroshio region. We investigated the causes of temperature variation by calculating the heat budget equation in the two representative regions. In the central part of the Kuroshio axis ($125^{\circ}E-130^{\circ}E$, $25^{\circ}N-30^{\circ}N$: Region A), both heat loss in the upper mixed layer by surface heat flux and vertical heat advection mainly cause the decrease of heat storage in autumn and winter. Release of latent heat flux through the heat convergence brought about by the Kuroshio contributes to the large surface net heat flux. Positive heat storage rate is mainly determined by horizontal heat advection from March to April and surface net heat flux from May to July. In the central part of the subtropical gyre ($155^{\circ}E-160^{\circ}E$, $22^{\circ}N-27^{\circ}N$: Region B), unlike Region A, vertical heat advection predominantly causes the decrease of heat storage in autumn and winter. In spring and summer, surface heat flux contributes to the increase of heat storage in Region B and the period is two times longer than the period for Region A. In this season, shoaling of the mixed layer depth plays an important role in the increase of SST.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.47-57
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• 2016

Effects of environmental factors on the zoospore release and germling growth of Chaetomorpha linum were examined. Zoospore release and germling growth experiments were carried out under a combination of temperatures ${\times}$ irradiances, and a single factor of irradiances, salinities, daylength and nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus). Zoospore release was maximal under condition of $20^{\circ}C{\times}100{\mu}mol\;photons\;m^{-2}s^{-1}$ in a factorial experiment (temperatures ${\times}$ irradiances), at $100{\mu}mol\;photons\;m^{-2}s^{-1}$ in irradiance experiment and at 34 psu in salinity conditions. After 24 days in culture, germling growth was maximal at $25^{\circ}C{\times}100{\mu}mol\;photons\;m^{-2}s^{-1}$ in temperatures ${\times}$ irradiances and at normal seawater (34 psu) in salinity. Germling growth is faster at higher irradiance under same temperature condition and it increased with increasing daylengths (8-16 h). Chaetomorpha linum grew in wide range of N and P concentrations. The growth of germling was maximal at $50{\mu}M\;{PO_4}^{3-}$ and $40{\mu}M\;{NH_4}^+$. Germling growth was more effective under nitrogen addition than phosphorus addition in culture. In conclusion, optimal environmental conditions for zoospore release were $20^{\circ}C$, $100{\mu}mol\;photons\;m^{-2}s^{-1}$, and 34 psu. In addition, the optimal germling growth was observed at $25^{\circ}C$, $100{\mu}mol\;photons\;m^{-2}s^{-1}$, 34 psu, 16 h, $50{\mu}M\;({PO_4}^{3-})$ and $40{\mu}M\;{(NH_4}^+)$.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.9-31
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• 2007

Most seismic sea waves in the East Sea originate from earthquakes occurring near the Japanese west coast. While the waves propagate in the East Sea, they are deformed by refraction, diffraction and scattering. Though the Boussinesq equation is most applicable for such wave phenomena, it was not used in numerical modelling of seismic sea waves in the East Sea. To examine characteristics of seismic sea waves in the East Sea, numerical models based on the Boussinesq equation are established and used to simulate recent tsunamis. By considering Ursell parameter and Kajiura parameter, it is proved that Boussinesq equation is a proper equation for seismic sea waves in the East Sea. Two models based on the Boussinesq equation and linear wave equation are executed with the same initial conditions and grid size ($1min{\times}1min$), and the results are compared in various respects. The Boussinesq equation model produced better results than the linear model in respect to wave propagation and concentration of wave energy. It is also certified that the Boussinesq equation model can be used for operational purpose if it is optimized. Another Boussinesq equation model whose grid size is $40sec{\times}30sec$ is set up to simulate the 1983 and 1993 tsunamis. As the result of simulation, new propagation charts of 2 seismic sea waves focused on the Korean east coast are proposed. Even though the 1983 and 1993 tsunamis started at different areas, the propagation paths near the Korean east coast are similar and they can be distinguished into 4 paths. Among these, total energy and propagating time of the waves passing over North Korea Plateau(NKP) and South Korea Plateau(SKP) determine wave height at the Korean east coast. In case of the 1993 tsunami, the wave passing over NKP has more energy than the wave over SKP. In case of the 1983 tsunami, the huge energy of the wave passing over SKP brought about great maximum wave heights at Mukho and Imwon. The Boussinesq equation model established in this study is more useful for simulation of seismic sea waves near the Korean east coast than it is the Japanese coast. To improve understanding of seismic sea waves in shallow water, a coastal area model based on the Boussinesq equation is also required.