• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.93-108
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• 2019

To investigate the temporal-spatial distribution of picophytoplankton in relation to different water masses in the northern East China Sea (ECS), picophytoplankton abundance were investigated using flow cytometry with environmental factors in 2016-2017. The results from the analysis of flow cytometer data showed that Synechococcus appeared across all seasons, exhibiting its minimum abundance in winter and maximum abundance in summer. Furthermore, high abundance was detected in the surface mixed layer during spring and summer when vertical stratification occurs; in particular, Synechococcus exhibited maximum abundance in thermocline layer, indicating a close correlation to water temperature and thermocline formation. In addition, the abundance of Synechococcus indicated a decrease in the western seas in 2017 compared to 2016 under the strong influence of the Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW). This was determined by the significant influence of the CDW on the abundance of Synechococcus during summer in the northern waters of the ECS. In contrast, Prochlorococcus did not appear during winter and spring, and its distribution was limited during summer and autumn in the eastern seas under the influence of the Kuroshio current. The largest range of Prochlorococcus distribution was confirmed during autumn without the influence of the CDW. Thus, the distribution pattern of each picophytoplankton genus was found to be changing in accordance to the extension and reduction of sea current in different seasons and periods of time. This is anticipated to be a useful biological marker in understanding the distribution of sea currents and their influence in the northern waters of the ECS.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.67-85
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• 2007

A three-dimensional hydrodynamic model with the fine grid is applied to simulate the barotropic tides, tidal currents, residual currents and salinity dispersions in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea. Data inputs include seasonal hydrography, mean wind and river input, and oceanic tides. Computed tidal distributions of four major tides($M_2,\;S_2,\;K_1$ and $O_1$) are presented and results are in good agreement with the observations in the domain. The model reproduces well the tidal charts. The tidal residual current is relatively strong around west coast of Korea including the Cheju Island and southern coast of China. The current by $M_2$ has a maximum speed of 10 cm/s in the vicinity of Cheju Island with a anti-clockwise circulation in the Yellow Sea. General tendency of the current, however, is to flow eastward in the South Sea. Surface residual current simulated with $M_2$ and with $M_2+S_2+K_1+O_1$ tidal forcing shows slightly different patterns in the East China Sea. The model shows that the southerly wind reduces the southward current created by freshwater discharge. In summer during high runoff(mean discharge about $50,000\;m^3/s$ of Yangtze), low salinity plume-like structure(with S < 30.0 psu) extending some 160 km toward the northeast and Changjiang Diluted Water(CDW), below salinity 26 psu, was found within about 95 km. The offshore dispersion of the Changjiang outflow water is enhanced by the prevailing southerly wind. It is estimated that the inertia of the river discharge cannot exclusively reach the around sea of Cheju Island. It is noted that spatial and temporal distribution of salinity and the other materials are controlled by mixture of Changjiang discharge, prevailing wind, advection by flowing warm current and tidal current.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.59-75
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• 2012

The species composition of plankton is essential to understand the material and energy cycling within marine ecosystem. It also provides the useful information for understanding the properties of marine environments due to its sensitivity to the physicochemical characteristics and variability of water masses. In this study we adopted metagenomics to evaluate eukaryotic plankton species diversity from coastal waters off Busan. Characteristics of water masses at sampling sites is expected to be very complex due to the mixing of various water masses; Nakdong River runoff, Changjiang diluted water (CDW), South Sea coastal water, and Tsushima warm current. 18S rDNA clone libraries were constructed from surface waters at the three sites off Busan. Clone libraries revealed 94 unique phylotypes from 370 clones; Dinophyceae(42 phylotypes), Ciliophora(15 phylotypes), Bacillariophyta(7 phylotypes), Chlorophyta(2 phylotypes), Haptophyceae(1 phylotype), Metazoa(Arthropoda( 17 phylotypes), Chaetognatha(1 phylotypes), Cnidaria(2 phylotypes), Chordata(1 phylotype)), Rhizaria (Acantharea(2 phylotypes), Polycystinea(1 phylotype)), Telonemida(1 phylotype), Fungi(2 phylotypes). The difference in species diversity at the closely located three sites off Busan may be attributed to the various physicochemical properties of water masses at these sites by the mixture of water masses of various origins. Metagenomic study of species composition may provide useful information for understanding marine ecosystem of coastal waters with various physicochemical properties in the near feature.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.34 no.6_1
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• pp.953-968
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• 2018

In order to understand the change of surface water temperature in the East China Sea (ECS), this study analyzed the relationship between sea surface temperature (SST), air temperature (AT) and heat flux using satellite and model reanalysis data from 2003 to 2017. SST in the ECS showed the lowest (average : $13.72^{\circ}C$) in March and the highest (average : $28.12^{\circ}C$) in August. AT is highly correlated with SST and shows a similar seasonal change. In August, SST is higher than AT and then continuously higher than AT until winter. To analyze the change of the summer SST in the ECS, we used the SST anomaly value in August to classify the periods with positive (04', 06', 07', 13', 16', 17') and negative (03', 05', 08', 09', 10', 11', 12', 14', 15') values. Spatial similarity between the two periods indicates that SSTs are relatively larger variations in the northern part than in the southern part, and in the western part than in the eastern part in the study area. AT and net heat flux values also show similar changes with SST. However, the periods of the positive SST anomaly have the relatively increasing SST, AT and heat flux values compared to the periods of the negative SST anomaly in the summer season of the ECS. Although the change of SST in the summer season generally well correlates with AT, there were the periods when it was different from general trends between SST and AT (10', 12', 15', 16'). SST in August 2010 and 2012 decreased by $0.5^{\circ}C$ from AT. It suggests that the decreasing SST was considered to be caused by the effects of the typhoon passing through the study area. In August 2015, AT was relatively lower than SST (> $0.5^{\circ}C$), which is might be weakening of the East Asian Summer Monsoon. In August 2016, SST and AT show the highest values during the whole study periods, but SST is higher than AT (> $1^{\circ}C$). From satellite and heat flux data, the variations of SST have been shown to be relatively higher in the area of the expansion Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW) originated from the China coast. More research is needed to analyze this phenomenon, it is believed as not only the effect of rising AT but also the expansion of the low-salinity water.