• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2010

In order to understand the biological environmental characteristics with temporal variations of the physico-chemical factors in 2012 Yeosu Expo site of Korea, we investigated at one station, once per week, from April 2006 to December 2007. The surface water temperature ranged from 6.8 to $27.8^{\circ}C$ and the bottom water temperature ranged from 6.3 to 25.9 $25.9^{\circ}C$. The salinity varied from 12.8 to 33.0 psu in the surface water and from 25.2 to 33.6 psu in the bottom water. A strong halocline was observed between the surface and bottom layers in the summer when a rapid decrease of salinity coincided with heavy rainfall. The DIN concentration ranged from 1.36 to $82.7{\mu}M$ in the surface water and from 0.82 to $25.2{\mu}M$ in the bottom water. Phosphate concentration varied from 0.06 to $2.13{\mu}M$ in the surface water and from 0.07 to $1.38{\mu}M$ in the bottom water. Silicate was $1.68-52.0{\mu}M$ in the surface water and $1.37-30.7{\mu}M$ in the bottom water. The nutrient concentrations were generally high during heavy rainfalls and low water temperature periods, and considerably decreased in spring and autumn. The N/P ratio ranged from 4.43 to 325 in the surface water and from 3.8 to 321 in the bottom water. It increased rapidly during the heavy rainfall season and remained at a value of approximately 16 in other periods. The chlorophyll a concentration ranged from 0.46 to $65.0{\mu}g$ $L^{-1}$ in the surface water and from 0.71 to $15.0{\mu}g$ $L^{-1}$ in the bottom water. $Chl-{\alpha}$ concentration remained low in periods of low water temperature, however rapidly increased in periods of high water temperature. From the results of principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple regression analysis (MRA), we conclude that temporal variations of physico-chemical and biological factors were greatly affected by the influx of fresh water, and that nutrients were well controlled by their uptake and assimilation by phytoplankton. Also, during the low water temperature periods, environmental structure in this study site was affected by recycled nutrients through nutrient cycling and mineralization.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.1-18
• /
• 2023

The East Sea, one of the regions where the most rapid warming is occurring, is known to have important implications for the response of the ocean to future climate changes because it not only reacts sensitively to climate change but also has a much shorter turnover time (hundreds of years) than the ocean (thousands of years). However, the processes underlying changes in seawater characteristics at the sea's deep and abyssal layers, and meridional overturning circulation have recently been examined only after international cooperative observation programs for the entire sea allowed in-situ data in a necessary resolution and accuracy along with recent improvement in numerical modeling. In this review, previous studies on the physical characteristics of seawater at deeper parts of the East Sea, and meridional overturning circulation are summarized to identify any remaining issues. The seawater below a depth of several hundreds of meters in the East Sea has been identified as the Japan Sea Proper Water (East Sea Proper Water) due to its homogeneous physical properties of a water temperature below 1℃ and practical salinity values ranging from 34.0 to 34.1. However, vertically high-resolution salinity and dissolved oxygen observations since the 1990s enabled us to separate the water into at least three different water masses (central water, CW; deep water, DW; bottom water, BW). Recent studies have shown that the physical characteristics and boundaries between the three water masses are not constant over time, but have significantly varied over the last few decades in association with time-varying water formation processes, such as convection processes (deep slope convection and open-ocean deep convection) that are linked to the re-circulation of the Tsushima Warm Current, ocean-atmosphere heat and freshwater exchanges, and sea-ice formation in the northern part of the East Sea. The CW, DW, and BW were found to be transported horizontally from the Japan Basin to the Ulleung Basin, from the Ulleung Basin to the Yamato Basin, and from the Yamato Basin to the Japan Basin, respectively, rotating counterclockwise with a shallow depth on the right of its path (consistent with the bottom topographic control of fluid in a rotating Earth). This horizontal deep circulation is a part of the sea's meridional overturning circulation that has undergone changes in the path and intensity. Yet, the linkages between upper and deeper circulation and between the horizontal and meridional overturning circulation are not well understood. Through this review, the remaining issues to be addressed in the future were identified. These issues included a connection between the changing properties of CW, DW, and BW, and their horizontal and overturning circulations; the linkage of deep and abyssal circulations to the upper circulation, including upper water transport from and into the Western Pacific Ocean; and processes underlying the temporal variability in the path and intensity of CW, DW, and BW.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.347-360
• /
• 2015

Trace metals(As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Pb and Zn) concentrations in surface sediments of Jinhae bay in August of 2013 were measured to investigate the characteristics of trace metals distribution and to evaluate the metal pollution. Assessment for metal pollution was carried out using the sediment quality guidelines(SQGs) such as threshold effects level(TEL) and probable effects level(PEL) proposed by the ministry of onceans and fisheries(MOF) in Korea and geochemical assessment techniques(enrichment factor(EF) and geoaccumulation index ($I_{geo}$)). The mean concentration of trace metals in the sediments are as follows: 11.1 mg/kg for As, 0.52 mg/kg for Cd, 14.1 mg/kg for Co, 69.8 mg/kg for Cr, 57.2 mg/kg for Cu, 3.7 % for Fe, 0.064 mg/kg for Hg, 600 mg/kg for Mn, 40.1 mg/kg for Pb, 167.2 mg/kg for Zn. The spatial distributions of As, Co, Cr and Fe were not distinguished clearly in whole area. However, Cd, Hg, Pb and Zn were high in northern area of bay, and Cu and Mn were high in southeastern and eastern area of bay, respectively. The distribution pattern of trace metals, correlation matrix and R-mode factor analyses results revealed that the distribution of trace metals were mainly effected by the sediment grain size(Co, Cr and Fe), redox condition of sediments(Mn) and anthropogenic factors(As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb and Zn). Comparing the concentrations of several trace metals(As, Cd, Cr, Hg and Pb) with SQGs from Korea(TEL and PEL), the concentrations of Hg, Cd and Pb in sediment of northern area of bay were higher than TEL. EF and $I_{geo}$ values of As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Mn, Pb and Zn showed that these metals in sediments are enriched by anthropogenic activities in some areas, and pollution status for Cd, Hg and Pb in northern area and Cu in southeastern area of bay were concerned about current level, although those for As, Mn and Zn were not.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.558-567
• /
• 2003

The regional dependency of cloud-radiative forcing at the top of atmosphere is studied using ERBE (Earth Radiation Budget Experiment), ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) and NCEP/NCAR (National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research) reanalysis data for 60 months from January 1985 to December 1989 over tropical ocean. In the interannual time scale, the dependency of cloud-radiative forcing on the sea surface temperature over the equatorial eastern Pacific ocean is about 7.4Wm$^{-2}$K$^{-1}$ for longwave radiation and about -4.4Wm$^{-2}$K$^{-1}$ for shortwave radiation, respectively. This shows that the net cloud-radiative forcing due to the increase of sea surface temperature over the equatorial eastern Pacific ocean heats the atmosphere. But the dependency is reversed over tropical oceans with -3.4Wm$^{-2}$K$^{-1}$ for longwave and 1.9WmWm$^{-2}$K$^{-1}$ for shortwave radiation, indicating that the net cloud-radiative forcing cools the atmosphere over tropical oceans. In raw data including seasonal cycle, the dependency of cloud-radiative forcing over the equatorial eastern Pacific ocean is very similar to that in interannual time scale in both the magnitude and the sign. But the dependency of cloud-radiative forcing on the sea surface temperature over tropical oceans is about 0.2Wm$^{-2}$K$^{-1}$ for longwave and 2.7Wm$^{-2}$K$^{-1}$ for shortwave radiation, respectively. These results represent that the role of seasonal cycle on the cloud radiative forcing is gradually more important than role of interannual time scale as the ocean area is broadening from the tropical central Pacific to the tropical ocean.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.8-18
• /
• 2003

In order to investigate the oceanic condition of fishing ground in the adjacent sea of Naro Island, the oceanographic observation were carried out by the training vessel of Yosu National University on winter, spring, summer, and autumn in 2000. Main features in the observation are as follows; 1) the ranges of temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll-a were from 4.$3\circ_C$ to 10.$1\circ_C$, from 33.1 psu to 34.9 psu, and from 0.1 $ug$/$\Omega$ to 26.2 $ug$/$\Omega$ in winter, from 8.$1\circ_C$ to 13.$7\circ_C$, from 33.1 psu to 34.3 psu, and from 0.1 $ug$/$\Omega$ to 24.4 $ug$/$\Omega$ in spring, from 14.$5\circ_C$ to 24.$2\circ_C$, from 30.5 psu to 34.1 psu, and from 0.1 $ug$/$\Omega$ to 30.0 $ug$/$\Omega$ in summer, and from 14.$8\circ_C$ to 18.$6\circ_C$, from 30.1 psu to 34.0 psu, and from 0.1 $ug$/$\Omega$ to 19.1 $ug$/$\Omega$ in autumn, respectively, 2) the temperature in the coastal region was higher than that in the open ocean while salinity was lower, and the convection was identified between the surface and the bottom during in winter and autumn, and the thermocline were made between surface and 20m layer with vertical gradients of 4.$0\circ_C$/7m in summer, 3) the chlorophyll-a in the this region was varied in each season, being highly distributed in spring, on bottom and coastal region, and 4) an evidence of sea water intrusion toward Sori Island was observed, and of inner water intrusion from Yeoja Bay was observed.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.66-75
• /
• 2014

This study aims to understand environmental factors that determine spatial distribution of macrozoobenthic community in the southern area (ca 100-500 m depth) of East Sea, Korea, known as a candidate site for carbon storage under the seabed. From sixteen locations sampled in the summer of 2012, a total of 158 species were identified, showing density of $843indiv/m^2$ and biomass of $26.2g\;WW/m^2$, with increasing faunal density towards biologically higher diverse locations. Principal component analysis showed that a total of 33 environmental parameters were reduced to three principal components (PC), indicating sediment, bottom water, and depth, respectively. As sand content was increasing, number of species increased but biomass decreased. Six dominant species including two bivalve species favored high concentrations of ${\Omega}$ aragonite and ${\Omega}$ calcite, indicating that the corresponding species can be severely damaged by ocean acidification or $CO_2$ effluent. Cluaster analysis based on more than 1% density dominant species classified the entire study area into four faunal assemblage (location groups), which were delineated by characteristic species, including (A) Ampelisca miharaensis, (B) Edwardsioides japonica, (C) Maldane cristata, (D) Spiophanes kroeyeri, and clearly separated in terms of geography, bottom water and sediment environment. Overall, a discriminant function model was developed to predict four faunal assemblages from five simply-measured environmental variables (depth, sand content in sediment, temperature, salinity and pH in bottom water) with 100% accuracy, implying that benthic faunal assemablages are closed linked to certain combinations of abiotic factors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.583-590
• /
• 2015

Submarine cable installation is essentials for grid connection between existing power grid and newly produced electricity which will be from offshore wind farm in Southwest sea area of Korea. Especially, submarine cable route and protection method is designed in order to ensure the economical efficiency, workability and stability of submarine cable installation. On this paper, we will give the basic information about the submarine cable route and protection method of offshore wind farm which will be built in Southwest sea area of Korea. For this, we have a numerical simulation at high and low tide based on the third-generation wave model SWAN(Simulating WAves Nearshore) using the long term wave data from Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology(KIOST). The results of the study, year mean Hs is 1.03m, Tz is 4.47s and dominant wave direction is NW and SSW When the incident wave direction is NW(Hs: 7.0 m, Tp: 11.76s), the distribution of shallow water design wave height Hs was calculated about 4.0~5.0m at high tide and 2.0~3.0m at low tide. When the incident wave direction is SSW(Hs: 5.84 m, Tp: 11.15s), the distribution of shallow water design wave height Hs was calculated about 3.5~4.5m at high tide and 1.5~2.5m at low tide. The wave direction on a dominant influence in the section of longitude UTM 249749~251349(about 1.6 km) and UTM 251549~267749(about 16.2 km) in the submarine cable route are each NW and SSW. Prominently, wave focusing phenomenon appears between Wi-do and Hawangdeung-do, in this sea area is showing a relatively high wave hight than the surrounding sea areas.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.19-36
• /
• 2013

Physiochemical characters of sea waters during summer flood- and winter dry-seasons and their spatial variations were investigated along the coastal area off the eastern South Sea, Korea. Using the hierarchical clustering method, in this study, we present comprehensive analyses of coastal waters masses and their seasonal variations. The results revealed that the coastal water of the study area was classified into six water masses (A to F). During summer season, the surface water was mainly occupied by the coastal pseudo-estuarine water (water mass B) with low salinity and high nutrients and the river-dominated coastal water (water mass C) with low nutrients, respectively. The bottom water was dominated by cold water (water mass D) with very low temperature, high salinity and high nutrients, compared to masses of surface water. Notably, the water mass B, with high concentrations of nutrients (silicate and nitrogen) and low salinity, which is strongly controlled by the water quality of river freshwater, seems to play an important role in controlling the water quality and further regulating physical processes on ecosystem in the eastern coastal area of South Sea. The water mass D (bottom cold water) coupled with a strong thermocline, which exists in near-bottom layer along the western margin of Korea Strait, has a low temperature, pH and DO, but abundant nutrients. This water mass disappears in winter owing to strong vertical mixing, and subsequently may act as a pool for nutrients during winter dry-season. On the other hand, vertically well-mixed water column during the winter season was typically occupied by the Tsushima (water mass E) and the coastal water (water mass F) with a development of coastal front formed in a transition zone between them. These winter water masses were characterized by low nutrient concentration and balance in N/P ratio, compared with summer season with high nutrient concentrations and strong N-limitation. Accordingly, the analysis of water masses will help one to better chemical and biological processes in coastal area. In most of the study area, characteristically, the growth of phytoplankton community is limited by nitrogen, which is clearly different with coastal environment of West Sea of Korea, with a relative lack of phosphorus. It showed the western and the southern coasts in Korea are substantially different from each other in environmental and ecological characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.43-50
• /
• 2000

The obseuations on the seasonal fluctuations of phytoplankton community in Haechang Bay of the Korean southern sea were carried out during four seasons from 1997 to 1998. A total of 77 species of phytoplankton including 10 freshwater species, belonging to 51 Benera was identified. Seasonal succession of dominant species was evident in Haechang Bay; Chaetoceros cunisetus, Skeletonema costatum, Eurampia zodiacus, Dictyocha fibula and Ceratium furca in summer, C. curisetus in autunm, C. cunisetus Rhizosoienia setigera and E. zodiacus in winter and S. costatum in spring. The phytoplankton community in Haechang Bay showed various species composition and was occupied with centric diatoms all the year round, Densities of the phytoplankton cell number by the samples of Haechang Bay ranged from $8.4{\times}10^3\;cells/l\;to\;2.0{\times}10^5\;cells/l$ with the mean value of $9.2{\times}10^4\;cells/l$ in summer, from $3.2{\times}10^3\;cells/l\;to\;4.6{\times}10^6\;cells/l$ with mean of $6,2{\times}10^4\;cells/l$ in autumn, from $8.4{\times}10^3\;cells/l\;to\;4.3{\times}10^4\;cells/l$ with mean $2.2{\times}10^4\;cells/l$ in winter and from $1.0{\times}\;10^3\;cells/l to\;4.6{\times}10^4\;cells/l$, with mean of $1.1{\times}10^4\;cells/l$ in spring. Phytoplankton standing crops fluctuated with an annual mean of $4.7{\times}10^4 cells/l$ between the lowest value of $1.0{\times}10^3\;cells/l$ in spring and the highest value of $4.6{\times}10^5 cells/l$ in autumn, That is, phytoplankton standing crops was high in summer and autumn, while it was very low in winter and spring.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.34 no.5
• /
• pp.507-516
• /
• 1999

More than twenty-five major international bodies of water bear the names of particular nations or states. Many of these are not names are widely accepted, but considerable disagreement has developed in some cases. A systematic examination of the level of conflict over the use of national names for international bodies of water indicates that conflict is most likely to develop where shifting power relations among interested states produce concern about the hegemonic ambitions of the state after which the body of water is named. This is the case in the three situations where considerable contention exists over the use of a national name for an international body of water: the Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea, the Sea of Japan/East Sea, and the South China SealBien Dong. Cases evidencing little contention are those where either no state has a significant interest in the naming issue, or where the name that is attached to the body of water is that of a state that has not been a historic threat to others in the region. Naming international bodies of water after nations or states is potentially problematic because such appellations can connote ownership or control by a single people or political entity. An understanding of the controversies surrounding these place names requires consideration of the geopolitical context in which they are embedded.