• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.163-170
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• 2013

The correlation and interaction mechanisms between marine debris and the vegetation zone were studied on the Jinu-do natural beach of the Nakdong river estuary. Laboratory wind tunnel experiments were carried out under the wind-field and bottom-sand conditions using wind tunnel test equipment to investigate the sedimentation characteristics of wind-drift sand deposition around marine debris and the vegetation zone. The major environmental factors/loads considered in this study were the motion of sand by wind on the beach, deposition of marine debris, and change in the vegetation zone/line. When the marine debris was installed in the wind tunnel, deposition at the front of the structure appeared first by wind action, and then deposition developed from behind at 70% of the front ground level. In contrast, in the case of vegetation, the deposition phenomenon appeared first from behind the vegetation zone/line, and was 60% higher than the front. When the height of the debris and vegetation was the same, the required experimental time to bury the vegetation completely was about twice that of the marine debris.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.167-174
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• 2012

Transport of marine debris between countries is a potential source of diplomatic conflicts. U-i Island in Shinan County, Jeonnam Province has been reported by media as being damaged by marine debris from foreign countries. However, scientific researches on those marine debris have not been published. So, the features of foreign marine debris on Seongchon Beach in U-i Island were surveyed on Feb. 2012. The ratio of marine debris from foreign countries was 34.7% by number of items, 56.3% by weight, and 48.5% by volume in $200m^2$ transacts. Most of them, 98.9% in number, were inferred to be originated from China. The most abundant items were plastic beverage bottles and black floats. The total number of black floats was 539 within the 1,100m beach. Fifteen of them had information on manufactured locations, of which 87.6% were Liaoning Province in northern China. As domestic policy cannot prevent the inflow of the marine debris from foreign countries, countermeasures should be sought out from the international cooperation with the neighboring countries. For the black floats, recycling method should be developed as lots of the same types of black floats are drifted ashore in winter. And, as the U-i Island is a National Park with its valuable natural heritages, methods should be designed to minimize impacts on dune topography and ecology.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 2011

A study on the occurrence and movement of marine debris is required for protecting the marine environment and ecosystem from marine pollution. The aim of this study is to show annual production and movement characteristics through analysis for the flow path, composition and the sources of marine debris. This study analyzed the distribution and characteristics of marine debris collected in the region of $100\;m{\times}20\;m$($=2,000\;m^2$) at the Daekwang Beach in the Yellow Sea. During the collection period from 2008 to 2010, the total weight of the marine debris was 1,445 kg in this site. The most marine debris was plastic amounting to 46.5% of the whole collection; the rest were styrofoam(20%) and wooden material(12.6%). The amount of marine debris mused from foreign country observed 155.5 kg, more than 90% of them was plastic came from China such as buoys. Additionally, this study analyzed seasonal change if marine environment to understand occurrence amount change if marine debris. 2009 and 2010 was high occurrence ratio in season that the north wind is very strong and the occurrence rate appeared highest by 40% in the summer(July) of 2008 that appeared westbound tidal current. Overall, marine Debris mused from foreign country was high occurrence ratio in January, May and then November has a lot of quantity secondly. While, occurrence ratio was the highest by 46% summer(July) in 2008, but in 2009 and 2010 showed the lowest rate to 4%.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.104-115
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• 2014

Abundance and composition of marine debris on 13 beaches of Tongyeong City, South Korea were surveyed in 2013 Autumn. The average quantity of macro debris (>25 mm) was about 30 particle/$m^2$ and that of micro debris (1 mm-25 mm) was about 26,971 particle/$m^2$. This is a very high level compared with other areas of South Korea and the other countries. Among the 7 material types of debris (styrofoam, hard plastic, fiber, metal, glass, wood and others), styrofoam composed a large portion: 75% of macro debris and 98% of micro debris. And among the 'whole' styrofoam debris items whose original volume is remained more than 50%, styrofoam buoy debris composed 93%. This result suggests that the beaches surveyed are seriously contaminated by marine debris, and most of its sources are aquaculture styrofoam buoys. Management of styrofoam buoy debris used for oyster aquaculture in Tongyeong City is important not only for Tongyeong city, but also for other areas, because Tongyeong city hosts the biggest number of oyster aquaculture areas in South Korea.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.127-136
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• 2014

When the mouth of the Nakdong River, opens its floodgate, thousands of tons of litter should flown into the South Sea, moving towards nearby coast, thus causing serious social and economic damage. For this reason, in the present study, research was performed on one certain area in northeast coast of Geoje island, which is assumed as area damaged due to rainy season and typhoon in 2012, and research for trace of movement route was implemented by using buoy to identify characteristic of movement of floating debris caused from Nakdong River. Flows related to the movement of floating debris was also identified by analyzing ocean meteorological environment. As a result of the study, total 40 tons of litter composed of grasses and trees(or plants litter) were flown into Heungnam beach on 16th, Jul which is the rainy season. Plus, the location tracking buoy, which was dropped when the typhoon SANBA was coming, was passed by southern sea of Gadeok-do and was flown into Geoje beach 1 ~ 2 days after it was dropped. The wind direction was mostly northeasterly wind around the Geoje beach at the time the buoy and floating debris were flown into northeast coast and there was common sea surface currents which was flowing into the coast.