• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.211-220
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• 2000

Even though recurring eddies at the terminal end of the East Korean Warm Current have been identified in the thermal infrared imagery from the NOAA/AVHRR sensor and ocean color data from Orbview-2/SeaWiFS sensor, it is difficult to make observation in the field regarding recurring eddies located around the Wonsan coastal area in North Korea. But we could get in situ data related to an eddy from an ARGOS satellite tracking drifter trapped in the eddy on January 4th, 1999. An ARGOS drifter, a NOAA satellite tracked buoy was trapped by the eddy during January 4th.March 18, 1999. The ARGOS drifter rotated 10 times per 72 days on the edge of the eddy located at $39^{\circ}N$, $129^{\circ}E$. The diameter of the eddy was about 100 km. The horizontal rotation velocity of the recurring cold-core anti-cyclonic eddy was 1.53 km/h(42 cm/sec). The sea surface temperatures of the eddy varied from $14.7^{\circ}C$ on January 5, 1999 to $9.6^{\circ}C$ on March 18,1999. To study the mechanism of the recurring eddy. we tried to find out the relationship between the vector of the drifter moving in the eddy and the wind vector in Sokcho and Ulleung Island located near the eddy in southern Korea, and the difference in sea level between Ulleung Island and Mukho. We hope the results of this study would be useful for calibration and validation data of simulation and numerical modeling studies of the recurring eddy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.114-125
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• 2020

In order to understand the currents around Hampyung Bay and Haeje Peninsula, 2D numerical simulations for tidal currents and tide-induced residual currents were carried out. Dominant semidiurnal tidal currents have reversing form and flow NNE-SSW from northern Haeje Peninsula to Songi Island, E-S at northern Haeje Peninsula and NNW-SSE in Hampyung Bay. In flood, a part of currents from Imja Island~Nakwhol Island flow along the main stream flowing northeast at offshore region and the rest flow into Hampyung Bay flowing east along the northern coast of Haeje Peninsula. In ebb, currents from Hampyung Bay flow west along the northern coast of Haeje Peninsula and run together with the main stream flowing southeast at offshore region. The currents create an anticyclonic circulation in flood and a cyclonic circulation in ebb around Haeje Peninsula including Hampyung Bay. Tidal currents are accumulated on Doripo which located at the entrance of Hampyung Bay and show high current velocities. Tidal currents and tide induced residual currents are weak at the inside of Hampyung Bay which has narrow entrance, shallow water depth and wide intertidal zone. An anticyclonic eddy is formed around Gaksi Island as a result of tide induced residual currents. In northern coast of Haeje Peninsula, slow constant currents flow east. It is expected that a gradual change of sediment and an increase of flushing time for suspended materials are carried by tidal currents occurring in Hampyung Bay.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.57-71
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• 2004

Based on the data obtained under the China-Korea joint project (1997-2001) and historic observations, the distribution, transportation and sedimentation of sediment in the southern Yellow Sea (SYS) are discussed, and the controversial formation mechanism of muddy sediments is also explored. The sediment transport trend analysis indicates that the net transport direction of sediment in the central SYS (a fine-grained sediment deposited area) points to $123.4^{\circ}E,\;35.1^{\circ}N$, which is a possible sedimentation center in the central SYS. The sediment transport pattern is verified by the distribution of total suspended matter (TSM) concentration and ${\delta}^{13}C$ values of particulate organic carbon (POC), the latter indicates that the bottom water plays a more important role than the surface water in transporting the terrigenous material to the central deep-water area of the SYS, and the Yellow Sea circulation is an important control factor for the sediment transport pattern in the SYS. The carbon isotope signals of organic matter in sediments indicate that the Shandong subaqueous delta has high sedimentation rate and the deposited sediments originate mainly from the modern Yellow River. The terrigenous sediments in deep-water area of the SYS originate mainly from the old Yellow River and the modern Yellow River, and only a small portion originates from the modern Yangtze River. The analytical results of TSM and stable carbon isotopes are further confirmed by another independent tracer of sediment source, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Five light mineral provinces in the SYS can be identified and they indicate inhomogeneity in sources and sedimentary environment. The modern shelf sedimentary processes in the SYS are controlled by shelf dynamic factors. The muddy depositional systems are produced in the shelf low-energy environments, which are controlled by some meso-scale cyclonic eddies (cold eddies) in the central SYS and the area southwest of the Cheju Island. On the contrary, an anticyclonic muddy depositional system (warm eddy sediment) appears in the southeast of the SYS (the area northwest of the Cheju Island). In this study, we give the cyclonic and anticyclonic eddy sedimentation patterns.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.151-162
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• 1980

To clarify the dispersion of pollutants introduced in the coastal region, a series of current measurements, the drogue and drift bottle experiments as well as the dye diffusion experiments were carried out in Onsan Bay and in the coastal waters of Ubong-ri near Ulsan. In the southeastern coastal region of Korean peninsula, that is, in the outside of Onsan Bay, the flood tidal current flows south-south-westward, and the ebb current flows north-north-eastward at a maximum speed of 1.0-1.1 knots at spring tide. In an inlet south of Cape Ubong, an anticyclonic eddy of 1 km in diameter is usually formed during both flood and ebb flows. The tidal current predominates in Onsan Bay at around spring tide. The maximum speed around spring tide was observed to be approximately 0.14 knot, while it was slower than 0.1 knot and variable at neap tide when the wind drift current played an important role. The flood tidal current flows westward while the ebb flow flows eastward in the northern region of the bay. The flood tidal current in the southern region of the bay flows west-north-westward, while the ebb current east-north-eastward. Wind drift currents in the coastal region of southern Korea are generally deduced to be southward in winter, the monthly mean speed being approximately 0.1 knot. Dye solution released at the northwestern corner in Onsan Bay was transported by eastward ebb tidal current toward the mouth of the bay dispersing by the wind. The apparent diffusion coefficient at 150 minutes after release in the bay was calculated to be $4.4\times10^4\;cm^2.sec^{-1}$, whereas that in the anticyclonic eddy was more or less smaller.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.332-350
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• 2019

Zonal hydrographic section measurements at $39.7^{\circ}N$ were conducted between $129.0^{\circ}E$ and $131.3^{\circ}E$ from August 7 to 25 in 2017 using an underwater glider. The glider traveled about 440 km for about 18 days along the 106 line of the regular shipboard measurements in the National Institute of Fishery Science (NIFS) and obtained twice a hydrographic section with high horizontal resolution. Even under the strong East Korea Warm Current with maximum speed of 0.8 m/s across the section, the glider successfully maintained the designated path within an RMS distance of 400 m. By comparing with the NIFS shipboard hydrographic section, it is confirmed that high spatial resolution measurements obtained from a glider were necessary to properly observe front and eddy variability in the East Sea where a typical spatial scale is smaller than the open oceans. From the glider section measurements, a new lens-shaped eddy was found in the thermocline. The lens-shaped anticyclonic eddy had 10~13 km in horizonal width and about 200 m in height like a typical submesoscale eddy resided within the thermocline, which was firstly named as Korea intrathermocline eddy (Keddy). The Keddy has the distinguishing characteristics of a typical intrathermocline eddy, such as a central core with anomalously weak stratification, a convex shaped lens bounded by the stratification anomaly, an interior maximum of velocity at 170 m, no surface appearance of the geopotential field, a small or comparable horizontal width relative to the first baroclinic Rossby radius of deformation, and the Rossby nubmer of 0.7.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.48-62
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• 1998

Seasonal volume transport on the Texas-Louisiana continental shelf is investigated in terms of objectively fitted transport streamfunction fields based on the current meter data of the Texas­Louisiana Shelf Circulation and Transport Processes Study. Adopted here for the objective mapping is a method employing a two-dimensional truncated Fourier representation of the streamfunction over a domain, with the amplitudes determined by least square fit of the observation. The fitting was done with depth-averaged flow rather than depth-integrated flow to reduce the root-mean-square error. The fitting process filters out $11\%$ of the kinetic energy in the monthly mean transport fields. The shelf-wide pattern of streamfunction fields is similar to that of near-surface velocity fields over the region. The nearshore transport, about 0.1 to 0.3 Sv $(1 Sv= 10^6\;m^3/sec)$, is well correlated with the seasonal signal of along-shelf wind stress. The spring transport is weak compared to other seasons in the inner shelf region. The transport along the shelf break is large and variable. In the southwestern shelf break, transport amounts up to 4.7 Sv, which is associated with the activities of the encroaching of energetic anticyclonic eddies originated in Loop Current of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The first empirical orthogonal function (EOF) of streamfunction variability contains $67.3\%$ of the variance and shows a simple, shelf-wide, along-shelf pattern of transport. The amplitude evolution of the first EOF is highly correlated (correlation coefficient: 0.88) with the evolution of the along-shelf wind stress. This provides strong evidence that the large portion of seasonal variation of the shelf transport is wind-forced. The second EOF contains $23.7\%$ of the variance and shows eddy activities at the southwestern shelf break. The correlation coefficient between the amplitudes of the second EOF and wind stress is 0.42. We assume that this mode is coupled a periodic inner shelf process with a non-periodic eddy process on the shelf break. The third EOF (accounting for $7.2\% of the variance) shows several cell structures near the shelf break associated with the variability of the Loop Current Eddies. The amplitude time series of the third EOF show little correlation with the along-shelf wind.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.169-177
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• 2002

An eddy-resolving free-surface primitive-equation model with nonlinear terrain-following coordinates is established to study the exchange of water masses among the Asian marginal seas and their adjacent waters. A curvilinear coordinate system is used to generate the horizontal grid with a variable resolution for the regional oceans from $5^{\circ}$S to $45^{\circ}$N and $100^{\circ}$E to $155^{\circ}$E. The higher resolution region has about a 10 km by 10 km grid covering the complex geometry of the coastal marginal seas, while the lower resolution region has about a 30 km by 30 km grid covering the eastern Pacific. The model is initialized by the Levitus annual climitology and forced by the monthly mean air-sea fluxes of momentum, heat, and freshwater derived from the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set. High-resolution and low-viscosity are identified as the key factors for a better representation of the exchange of waters through narrow straits and passages between the marginal seas and their adjacent waters. The dynamics of the loop currents and eddies in the South China Sea and Celebes Sea are examined in detail. It has found that the anticyclonic loop and detached eddies from the Kuroshio through the Luzon Strait play an important role in transporting warm and salty water into the South China Sea, while the cyclonic circulation of the Mindanao Current in the Celebes Sea plays a role in contributing cold water to the Indonesian throughflow. The deep undercurrent of the western Pacific is shown to provide fresher water to the South China Sea and Celebes Sea. These modeling results suggest that the exchange processes via the narrow straits and passages are of fundamental importance to the maintenance of water masses for the marginal sea region.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.252-263
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• 2019

In order to understand the tidal current and mean flow at the west channel of Yeoja Bay in the South Sea of Korea, numerical model experiments and vorticity analysis were carried out. The currents flow north at flood and south at ebb respectively and have the reversing form in the west channel. Topographical eddies are found in the surroundings of Dunbyong Island in the east of the channel. The flood currents flow from the waters near Naro Islands through the west channel and the coastal waters near Geumo Islands through the east channel. The ebb currents from the Yeoja Bay flow out along the west and the east channels separately. The south of Nang Island have weak flows because the island is located in the rear of main tidal stream. Currents are converged at ebb and diverged at flood in the northwest of Jeokgum Island. Tidal current ellipses show reversing form in the west channel but a kind of rotational form in the east channel. As the results of tide induced mean flows, cyclonic and anticyclonic topographical eddies at the northern tip but eddies with opposite spin at the southern tip are found in the west channel of Yeoja Bay. The topographical eddies around the islands and narrow channels are created from the vorticity formed at the land shore by the friction between tidal currents and the west channel.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.395-405
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• 2006

We measured the fugacity of $CO_2$ $(fCO_2)$, temperature, salinity, nutrients and chlorophyll a in the surface water of the western North Pacific $(4^{\circ}30'{\sim}33^{\circ}10'N,\;144^{\circ}20'{\sim}127^{\circ}35'E)$ in September 2002. There were zonally several major currents which have characteristics of specific temperature and salinity (NECC, North Equatorial Counter Current; NEC, North Equatorial Current; Kuroshio etc.). Surface $fCO_2$ distribution was clearly distinguished into two groups, tropical and subtropical areas of which boundary was $20^{\circ}N$. In the tropical Int surface $fCO_2$ was mainly controlled by temperature, while in the subtropical area, surface $fCO_2$ was dependent on total inorganic carbon contents. Air-sea $CO_2$ flux showed a large spatial variation, with a range of $-0.69{\sim}0.79 mmole\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$. In the area of AE (Anticyclonic Eddy), SM(Southern Mixed region) and NM (Northern Mixed region), the ocean acted as a weak source of $CO_2$ $(0.6{\sim}0.79 mmole\; m^{-2}day^{-1})$. In NECC, NEC, Kuroshio and ECS (East China Sea), however, the fluxes were estimated to be $-0.3mmole\; m^{-2}day^{-1})$ for the first three regions and $-1.2mmole\; m^{-2}day^{-1})$ for ECS respectively, indicating that these areas acted as sinks of $CO_2$. The average air-sea flux in the entire study area was $0.15mmole\;m^{-2}day^{-1})$, implying that the western North Pacific was a weak source of $CO_2$ during the study period.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.96-106
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• 2004

A total of 116 surface sediment samples were obtained on the Yellow Sea and analyzed for grain size and geochemical elements in order to interpret the present sediment transportation. Thirty-nine cores and 3,070 line-km shallow seismic profiles are analyzed for sedimentary records of Yellow Sea in the past. Results show that the boundary of sediment transport between Korean side and Chinese side is about between $123^{\circ}E$ and $124^{\circ}E$. The similar result is produced from Shi et al. (in this publication). Two cyclonic patterns of surface sediments are recognized in the northeastern and southwestern Yellow Sea, while the strong front zone of the mud patch and sandy sediments are found in the southeastern Yellow Sea (the southwestern part of Korean coasts). The formation of fine-particle sediment packages, called for Northwest Mudbelt Deposit (NWMD), Hucksan Mudbelt Deposit (HSMD) and Jeju Mudbelt Deposit (JJMD), are resulted from eddies (gyres) of water circulations in the Yellow Sea. NWMD has been formed by cyclonic (anticlockwise) eddy. NWMD is composed of thick, homogeneous, relatively semi-consolidated gray clay-dominated deposit. On the other hand, HSMD and JJMD are formed by anticyclonic (clockwise) eddies. They are thick, homogeneous, organic-rich gray, silt-dominated deposit. Both core and surface sediments show that the middle zone across Chinese and Korean side contains bimodal frequency of grain-size distribution, indicating that two different transport mechanisms exist. These mud packages are surrounded by sand deposits from both Korea and China seas, indicating that Yellow Sea, which is the shallow sea and epicontinental shelf, is formed mostly by sand deposits including relict sands. The seismic profiles show such as small erosional/non-depositional channels, sand-ridges and sand-waves, Pleistocene-channelfilled deposits, a series of channels in the N-S major channel system, and thick Holocene sediment package, indicating that more complex sedimentary history exists in the Yellow Sea.