• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.35-44
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• 2003

Considering possible legal and policy problems with regard to the Cheju Strait, a central issue is whether the Cheju Strait should be treated as Korean territorial sea or an international strait The claim that the strait is territorial sea has been based on the use of a straight baseline method of dermarcation With the use of straight baseline, Korea claims that the breadth of the Cheju Strait is only 20.7 miles at its narrowest point and therefore the strait becomes the territorial sea of Korea. The consideration cf marine pollution has weighed heavily in claiming the Cheju Strait as territorial sea. Pollution resulting from the accidents cf tankers caused by fire, collision, or stranding in the Cheju Strait and the Korea Strait would be enormous, affecting the entire coastal waters of the south coasts cf Korea's mainland and Japan's Tsushima Islands areas. Catastrophic pollution in the Cheju Strait could also come from the accidents cf large-size oil tankers passing through the Korea Strait from the Malacca Strait Although the Korean government considers the geographic and socioeconomic conditions sufficient to justify Korea's claim of the Cheju Strait as territorial sea, it believes that declaring it so would raise considerable legal conflicts with maritime states. In view of the legal difficulties and the need to meet the problems arising from the growing vessel traffic in the Cheju Strait, the sea lanes and traffic separation schemes may be considered an alternative to the internationalization of the Cheju Strait Even if the Korean government dose not do so, the regime of innocent passage should be applied to vessels passing through the Strait and should not suspend innocent passage through the Strait. Therefore, the Korean government needs to have a more legal, pragmatic, functional and managerial approach than a purely sovereign and selfish approach to the solution of legal matters of the Cheju strait For this purpose, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea would serve as a guide and also self-restraint and cooperative approaches would become norms governing the resolution of the law of the sea issues in the Cheju Strait.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.87-100
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• 2003

The monthly observations of hydrography in the Cheju Strait from September 1995 to June 1998 show that the Cheju Strait is occupied mostly by Tsushima Current Water in winter and coastal waters in summer. In summer, the Yangtze Coastal Water appears in the upper layer and cold water in the lower layer. Especially, the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water appears in August 1997, and the clockwise flow of warm water along the northwestern coasts of Cheju Island is disturbed by an eastward expansion of the cold water from the northwest. The cold water expansion seems to be partly associated with strong southeasterly winds. Current measurements in the Cheju Strait suggest that there exists steady eastward barotropic component of about 5 cm/sec, which corresponds to 0.2 Sv barotropic transport in the Cheju Strait. Geostropic transport (baroclinic component) ranges from 0.1 Sv in winter to 0.4 Sv in summer. By adding the barotrophic component of 0.2 Sv, the total transport varies from 0.3 Sv to 0.6 Sv, which is consistent with previous estimations. The transport increase in summer seems to be caused by the expansion of coastal water to the Cheju Strait.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.203-215
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• 1995

Two hydrographic surveys along with direct current measurements using drogues and moored current meters were conducted in Cheju Strait during April and May, 1983. The data clearly demonstrate that a branch of the Kuroshio characterized by high temperature and high salinity enters the Cheju Strait after turning around the western coast of Cheju-Do. The width of the current turning west of Cheju-Do is about 60 km and reduces to 20∼30 km in the strait, resulting in a high speed(＞10 cm/s) at the western entrance and in the middle of the strait, compared with a low speed (＞5 cm/s) west of Cheju-Do. The Tsushima Current water also originating from the Kuroshio shows its influence in the eastern part of the Cheju Strait. Thermohaline fronts formed between the warm current waters and the coastal waters suggest the southward extension of the Yellow Sea Coastal Water west of the Cheju Strait. A warming of the warm current waters occurs in May, while a cooling takes place in other areas. The major freshening and cooling of water take place in the middle of the Cheju Strait in May due to the intrusion of cold and low salinity water from the west of the Cheju Strait.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.129-152
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• 2000

The Cheju Current (CC), defined here as a mean eastward flow in the Cheju Strait, mostly carries water of high temperature and salinity originating from the Kuroshio in winter and spring, the Cheju Warm Current Water (CWCW). The strong core of the eastward component of the CC is found close to Cheju Island (Cheju-Do, hereafter) in winter and spring with a peak speed of about 17.0 cm/s. The eastward flow weakens towards the northern Cheju Strait, and a weak westward flow occurs occasionally close to the southern coast of Korea. The volume transport ranges from 0.37 to 0.45 Sv(1 Sv=10$^6$ m$^3$/s) in winter and spring. Seasonal thermocline and harocline are formed in summer and eroded in November. The occurrence of the CWCW is confined in the southern Cheju Strait close to Cheju-Do below the seasonal thermocline in summer and fall, and cold water occupies the lower layer north of the CWCW which is thought to be brought into the area from the area west of Cheju-Do along with the CWCW. Stratification acts to increase both the speed of the CC with a peak speed of greater than 30 cm/s and the vertical shear of the along-strait currents. The strong core of the CC detached from the coast of Cheju-Do and shifted to the north during the stratified seasons. The volume transport in summer and fall ranges 0.510.66 Sv, which is about 1.5 times larger than that in winter and spring. An annual cycle of the cross-strait sea level difference shows its maximum in summer and fall and minimum in winter and spring, whose tendency is consistent with the annual variability of the CC and its transport estimated from the ADCP measurements. Moored current measurements west of Cheju-Do indicate the clockwise turning of the CC, and the moored current measurements in the Cheju Strait for 1530 days show the low-frequency variability of the along-strait flow with a period of about 37 days.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.170-178
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• 2000

Low salinity water was observed during May in the Cheju Strait. Its structure and source were studied by using both the hydrographic data collected not only in the Cheju Strait during 1987-1989 but also in the wider area around Cheju Island extending to the Bank of Changjiang river in 1994 and the current data taken in the Strait during 1987-1989. The water had lower values of temperature, salinity, and density compared with the surrounding water and it was found in the surface layer outside of Tsushima Current Water 10-50 km off Cheju coast. The density of low salinity water was more dependent on salinity than on temperature. The low salinity water flowed into the Strait from the west as a series of intermittent waters whose size was variable in width and in thickness. The low salinity water was originated from the Chanajiang River Diluted Water. In the Cheju Strait, the water showed changes within 3 days on time and 30-50 km on space, and its sudden appearance was marked especially in May. Such strong variability and sudden appearance may be attributed to the beginning stage in May when the fresh water of Changjiang River Diluted Water starts to arrive in the Cheju Strait.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.117-134
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• 1998

The study on the Assembling Mechanism of the Hairtail, Trichiurus lenpturus, at the Fishing Grounds of the Cheju Strait had been investigated by analyzing the relationship of the oceanographic conditions and the fishing ground of the Hairtail in the Cheju Strait. 1. The fishing grounds of the hairtail at the Cheju Strait are formed at the bottom of a high temperature of the tidal front at the coast. area of northern Cheju Island, the tip of the linguiform is high in salinity at the eastern and western entrances of Cheju Island, low salinity eddy on the surface and its surrounding front, various water masses in the Strait and coastal waters of the South Sea in Korea. 2. The fishing grounds of the Hairtail at the Cheju Strait begins with the sea surface temperature higher than $15^{\circ}C$ and the incoming of low salinity water now from the East China Sea. 3. Estimation of optimum temperature and salinity per season based upon analysis for relationship between temperature of water and salinity of the bottom layer and the catch is : 15.2~$16.4^{\circ}C$, 34.20~34.40${\textperthousand}$ in spring(June); 14.4~ $17.0^{\circ}C$, 33.70~34.30${\textperthousand}$ in summer(July~September); and 15.7~ $18.6^{\circ}C$, 33.70~34.50$\textperthousand$ in autumn(October~December). Hairtail are mostly caught at the Yellow Sea Warm Current and Tsushima Current with temperature over $14.5^{\circ}C$ and salinity over 33.70${\textperthousand}$ at the bottom layers of the Cheju Strait. 4. Considering the relationship between the amount of hairtail catch and the water temperature of bottom layer, when the bottom water being above $14.0^{\circ}C$ flowed into Cheju Strait through the western entrance of the strait in summer, the ca-h appears to have been abundant. In contrast, the catch has been poor when the temperature of such water was recorded to be below $13^{\circ}C$ Therefore, distribution patterns of water at the bottom layer can be used as a forecast index whether the catch of a certain year will be good or poor.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.296-301
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• 1998

The physical and chemical characteristics were examined in the southern sea of Korea including the Cheju Strait, and the entrance of the Korea Strait in the period of May 30 to June 8, 1995. The results are as follows. Firstly, the variation ranges of the temperature and salinity at the Cheju Stratit during 24 hours observation were larger in the surface layer than that in the deep layers. Secondly, daily variations of nutrients show that total inorganic nitrogen, phosphate phosphorous, and silicate silicon concentration are higher at night than at day. Thirdly, water temperature and salinity distributions show highest values at the entrance of Korea Strait, which is thought to be influenced directly by Tsushima Warm Current, while they show the lowest values in Cheju Strait. This means that the surface waters in Korea Strait are greatly influenced from the entrance of Korea Strait and bottom waters is greatly influenced from Cheju Strait. Fourthly, nutrients distribution shows highest values in Korea Strait but dissolved oxygen shows lowest values in the area. These seem to be caused by the oxygen consumption used in the inorganization of nutrients to decompose organisms and the liquidation of nutrients.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.759-770
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• 1997

The general flow patterns in the Cheju Strait have been investicated by analyzing the current observations measured in $1986\~1989$ by current meter mooring in 3 north-south sections in the Cheju Strait and at 4 observation points around Cheju Harbour, and measured in $1981\~1987$ by drogue tracking. 1. In the Cheju Strait, there are eastward or northeastward residual currents, which implies that sea waters flow into through the whole western section and flow out through the whole eastern section in the Cheju Strait. The velocity of residual currents are $5.2\~30\;cm/sec$ in 10 m layer and $1.3\~24cm/sec$ in mid-bottom layer. Generally, the flow is strong along the deepest through and the northern part, and weak in the shallow areas near Chuja Islands and Bogil Island. 2. In the western entrance of the Cheju Strait, the observed mean residual velocity is 6.93 cm/sec and the volume transport is 0.384 Sv. There are a big discrepancy between the observed residual currents and the geostrophic currents. 3. Near the frontal areas northwest to Chuja Islands, warm and saline offshore waters, flow northward about 5 miles into the southern coastal areas of the Korean Peninsula in flood, and flow back rather eastward or southeastward than southward in ebb. So, warm and saline waters flow along coastal areas, being mixed with coastal waters. As a result, the northwestern area of Chuja Islands plays a role of the entrance of influx of warm and saline offshore water to the southwestern coastal areas of the Korean Peninsula. It should be stressed that this flow pattern is not due to the residual flows, but to the temporal (tidal) flows.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.111-128
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• 1994

The distributions of sea surface temperature across the Cheju Strait and the Korea Strait have been measured by using a thermometer installed on board No.1 Cheju, a ferry that operates regularly between Pusan and Seogwipo. The data from 14 October 1991 to 15 August 1992 were analyzed in this paper. A clear temperature front is wormed at the adjacent sea of Geomundo, and its position is not fixed and moves north and south. The slow northward movement of the front can easily be traced, but the southward movement from March to October is obscure. The temperature contrast in the Cheju Soait and the Korea Strait is very we in this period. Some periodical fluctuations with a period of several tens of days are observed in the region of the temperature front from November to February. This fluctuation seems to be caused by winter heat flux exchange and the strong southeastward wind force. The result shows that continous observation of the sea surface temperature distribution across the Cheju Strait and the Korea Strait yields a good method for monitoring the presence of Tsushima Warm Current and the fluctuations of South Korea Coastal Water. The formation and structure of shelf front in the Cheju Strait and the Korea Strait was analysed based on the detailed oceanographic data observed during the period of 1990-1992. The analysis shows that well-defined fronts were formed through yearly around the Chuja Island, particularly, in summer. In nature, its structure and formation position can be changed easily from year % year and by season. But, in region of the Korea Strait this front is relatively weak.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2002

Biomass distribution of zooplankton showed its lowest level in June in the Cheju Strait, and the highest one was noticed in November when the secondary productivity is considered high. The highest biomass of zooplankton appeared in the sea areas of Sta. 14 and 11 respectively with relation to oceanographic conditions and wet weight of biomass. The positions were the center part of the Cheju Strait, while the sea area of the South Sea of Korea and the northern coast of Cheju Island showed relatively low biomass distribution. The characteristic of the sea area where biomass was densely distributed was it was in patch shape. Meanwhile, biomass distribution was higher in the northern sea area of Cheju Island than In the coastal sea of the South Sea of Korea. It shows formation of hairtail fishing grounds is closely related to biomass distribution in the Cheju Strait. In addition, high biomass is displayed in the center part of the saddle shaped ocean, a boundary of the heterogeneous water mass as a feature of fall oceanographic condition. Good fishing grounds of a hairtail In the Cheju Strait were formed outside of the sea area that showed patch-shaped high biomass distribution.