• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.423-435
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• 2014

Verifying the similarity of environmental characteristics between an artificial impact site and a preserved or reference site is necessary to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the environmental impact of mining activity. Although an impact site (BIS station) and a preserved site (called KOMO station) that have been selected in the Korea manganese nodule contract area may share similar environmental characteristics, similarities in terms of the water column environment between both sites has not been investigated. In this study, we compared the chemical properties of the water columns and sinking particle fluxes between BIS and KOMO stations through two observations (August 2011 and September 2012). Additionally, we observed particle fluxes at the KOMO station for five years (July 2003~July 2008) to understand long-term natural variability. Vertical distributions of water column properties such as dissolved oxygen, inorganic nutrients (N, P, Si), total organic carbon below surface layer (within the depth range of 200 m) were not considerably different between the two sites. Especially, values of water column parameters in the abyssopelagic zone from 4000 m to bottom layer (~5000 m) were very similar between the BIS and KOMO sites. Sinking particle fluxes from the two sites also showed similar seasonality. However, natural variation of particle flux at the KOMO site varied from 3.5 to $129.9mg\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$, with a distinct temporal variation originating from ENSO events (almost forty times higher than a minimum value). These results could provide valuable information to more exactly evaluate the environmental impact of mining activity on water columns.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.518-524
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• 2010

Continuous removal of organic matters (CROM) using freshwater bivalve Anodonta woodiana was operated to evaluate the effect of water current on the water quality improvement (clearance) of eutrophic lake. The CROM system comprised three treatment steps such as flow control, treatment and analysis, and operated at the two different currents ($24L\;h^{-1}$ and $48L\;h^{-1}$) with mussels at density of $312.5indiv.\;m^{-2}$ for 12 consecutive days. Water quality including suspended solids (SS) and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) was daily measured at the same time. Results indicate that although both the system strongly decreased the concentration of SS and chl-a, a slow CROM system was more effective to diminish the SS contents than a fast CROM system; 82% and 66%, respectively (ANOVA, P<0.0001). Clearance rates, based on chl-a, were also significantly higher in a slow system than a fast system (ANOVA, P<0.0001), although the mussel mortality was conversely. In both systems, there showed a remarkable excretion of dissolved inorganic nutrients (i.e. $NH_3-N$ and $PO_4-P$), while a slow CROM system was higher than a fast system, significantly (ANOVA, P<0.0001). Therefore, it may suggest that a slow current CROM system is more suitable to maximize the efficacy of water quality improvement, but further study is needed to diminish the mortality of mussel and to reuse the nutrient released during the operation.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.694-703
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• 2012

To understand the characteristics of sedimentary and benthic environments in habitats of naturally-occurring intertidal benthic macroalgae, various geochemical parameters of sediment (grain size, ignition loss [IL], chemical oxygen demand [COD], and acid volatile sulfur [AVS]) and pore water (temperature, salinity, pH, and nutrients) were measured in the southern intertidal zone of Hampyeong Bay at two month intervals from April to October 2009. Ecological characteristics including the distribution and biomass of benthic macroalgae were also investigated. Benthic macroalgae were distributed below 4 to 5 m depth from mean sea level near the lower portion of the intertidal zone where air exposure time is relatively short. The distribution area and biomass of benthic macroalgae gradually decreased during the study period. The surface sediments in the benthic algal region were mainly composed of finer sediments, such as slightly gravelly mud and mud. The temperature, salinity, pH, and nutrient concentrations (except dissolved inorganic nitrogen) in pore water did not differ in regions with and without benthic macroalgae, whereas the mean grain size and the concentrations of IL, COD, and AVS in sediments were much higher in regions harboring benthic macroalgae. The correlation between mean grain size and IL in sediments displayed two distinct gradients and the slope was much steeper in regions harboring benthic macroalgae, indicating that the content of organic matter in benthic algal region is not solely dependent on mean grain size. Our results indicate that the benthic macroalgae in the southern intertidal zone of Hampyeong Bay play an important role in the accumulation of organic matter in sediment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.315-328
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• 2009

Long-term trends and distribution patterns of water quality were investigated in the Garolim coastal areas of Yellow Sea, Korea from 1998 to 2007. Water samples were collected at 3 stations and physicochemical parameters were analyzed including water temperature, salinity, suspended solids(SS), chemical oxygen demand(COD), dissolved oxygen(DO) and nutrients. Spatial distribution patterns were not clear among stations but the seasonal variations were distinct except pH and ammonia. The trend analysis by principal component analysis(PCA) during twenty years revealed the significant variations in water quality in the study area. Annual water qualities were clearly classified into 4 clusters by PCA; year cluster 1997, 1998 and 2000-2002, 1999 and 2003-2006/2008. By this multi-variate analysis the annual trends were summarized as follows; In recent years, salinity increased, whereas dissolved inorganic nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and COD decreased and water quality generally continued to be in good condition in Gsrolim coastal areas without inflow of freshwater from land. Garolim coastal areas are required to be conserved continuously as important coastal areas for fisheries.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.392-400
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• 1993

The present study was accomplished to understand the occurrence and time serial variations of oxygen-deficient watermass in wonmun Bay from 1989 to 1991. From the results of this work, oxygen-deficient water was periodically observed in bottom layer and in Summer in this region. The stratification of water began to develop in Spring and the strong formation of oxygen-deficient water showed in Summer but it gradually disappeared in Autumn. It seems that the occurring and continuing period of very low dissolved oxygen watermass is intensively controlled by meteorological conditions and vortical stratification of water column. On formation of oxygen-deficient watermass, high nutrient concentrations in the bottom layer appear to be due to release of nutrients from bottom sediment. The dissolved inorganic phosphate versus AOU shows two linear curves according to the level of AOU. In the relationships between phosphate and AOU, the gradient of a linear curve over approximately 5mg-AOU/l was significantly large, presumably indicating dissolution of phosphate from the sediment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.23-36
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• 2000

Bottom sea waters in eight stations including from inner bay to outer bay to understand the importance of the submarine groundwater discharge for the environmental assessment of Chinhae Bay was collected in August 1999 and January 2000. Generally, /sup 222/Rn is very useful tracer to assess the submarine groundwater discharge because it is 2-4 orders of magnitude more concentrated in groundwater compared to surface water. The /sup 222/Rn activities ranged between about 33 to 182 dpm/100kg within the bay. Higher activities more than 100 dpm/100kg were found at the inner bay. The /sup 226/Ra activities, its parent, however, were little different between stations. /sup 222/Rn activities at the same station varied with season. It suggests that the major source of /sup 222/Rn is not from the bottom sediment, but from the change of submarine groundwater discharge by precipitation. The contents of Cl/sup -/ and SO/sub 4//sup 2-/ in the groundwater of Wonjeon-ri were very high as 1,312 and 369 ppm, respectively, indicating that this groundwater along the Chinhae coast was affected by seawater. Therefore, the submarine groundwater in the inner Bay may discharge to the overlying water. It indicates that these submarine groundwater discharges may play an important role as another important source of nutrients in the Chinhae Bay, because groundwater around the Chinhae Bay showed high concentration of dissolved inorganic nutrients (average , nitrate>174 μM, silicate>262 μM). Therefore, further studies are required to assess the contribution by the submarine groundwater discharge in the biogeochemical processes of the Chinhae Bay.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.362-372
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• 2010

In order to understand what leads to the appearance of harmful Chattonella algae in the Yeosu coastal waters of Korea, we measured environmental parameters every week at one station from May to November, 2006, and April to October, 2007. Four species of Chattonella appeared during the monitoring period: C. antiqua, C. globosa, C. marina and C. ovata. The range of water temperature and salinity were $15.0-27.9^{\circ}C$ and 17.6~33.0 psu, respectively, when Chattonella appeared, and their maximum cell density (4,840 cells/L) was at $27.1^{\circ}C$ and 33.0 psu. During the monitoring periods, the range of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), phosphate (DIP) and chlorophyll $\alpha$ (Chl-$\alpha$) concentrations in surface waters were $1.20-52.23\;{\mu}M$ ($8.59{\pm}8.97\;{\mu}M$), $0.03-1.56\;{\mu}M$ ($0.47{\pm}0.31\;{\mu}M$) and $0.45-31.12\;{\mu}g/L$ ($3.58{\pm}4.77\;{\mu}g/L$), respectively. Chattonella occurred at low cell density when the Chl-$\alpha$ concentration increased because of supplied nutrients, whereas their cell density increased during the periods of rapid decrease in Chl-$\alpha$. The results of growth experiments based on batch culture showed that the half saturation constant ($K_s$) of C. antiqua on ammonium (${NH_4}^-$), nitrate (${NO_3}^-$) and phosphate (${PO_4}^{2-}$) were $3.89{\mu}M$, $5.01\;{\mu}M$ and $0.63\;{\mu}M$, respectively. These Ks values are higher than those reported for diatoms and other flagellates at the DIP concentration (average $0.47{\mu}M$) of Yeosu coastal waters. Although the maximum specific growth rate (${\mu}_{max}$) of C. antiqua was lower than diatoms, it was higher than those of other flagellates. Therefore, our results indicate that the DIP level in the study area was too low to support Chattonella blooms, although Chattonella species have physiological characteristics that enable them to grow more rapidly than other flagellates when nutrient levels are higher than their $K_s$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.13 no.1 s.28
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• pp.93-102
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• 2007

Particle materials sink in bottom and dissolved inorganic substances release from sediment and many kinds of materials continuously exchange in sediment and water column as well as transfer and transformation in sediment. The study of sediment quality means the state of sediment pollution relation of the water quality, sediment biota, materials fluxes between sediment and water column, transformation of materials in sediment is being important in recent. The state of sediment quality imply that the history of water pollution for long time, because the sediment quality does not change temporally. The sediment quality of bottom water can be used as a good indicator of pollution at present and in future. The major index of sediment qualities are the content of nutrients and hazard materials such as metals, Ignition Loss (IL), Total Sulfur (TS), Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP), sediment COD, color, odor and the release of nutrients from sediment. However, there are some arguments between researchers about compare to estimation of sediment quality and sampling and analysis of sediment. In this study, I will introduce the method of sediment sampling, analyzing and estimating of the sediment pollution.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.198-207
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• 2012

In this study, we investigated the effect of ocean fertilization by deep sea water, using an ecosystem model which contains not only phytoplankton but also zooplankton. The model is based on NEMURO which consists of eleven compartments - two species of phytoplankton, three species of zooplankton, $NO_3$, $NH_4$, $Si(OH)_4$, particulate organic nitrogen, dissolved organic nitrogen and particulate silicon. We introduced nitrogen cell quota in the both species of phytoplankton, and silicon cell quota in the large phytoplankton in addition to the eleven compartments of NEMURO. We made the experiment at Izu Oshima Island in order to investigate the effect of ocean fertilization. In this experiment, we could not find clear differences between the cases with and without deep sea water. We investigated the causes of the experiment results by the model simulations. One of the causes was high concentrations of nutrients in surface seawater used in the experiment. Another was that the increase of total concentration of inorganic nitrogen does not necessarily accelerate the photosynthetic rate because inorganic nitrogen uptake rate is related to the ratio of $NO_3$ to $NH_4$. Because the model can represent the results of the experiment, we investigated the effect of ocean fertilization by deep sea water using this model. We found that the effect of ocean fertilization hardly appeared when the interval of the addition of deep sea water was too short, or the amount of deep sea water was too much. It is supposed that if the addition of deep sea water is too frequent or too much, the dilution of plankton's concentrations will exceed the effect of promoting phytoplankton's photosynthesis.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.65-75
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• 2000

The roles of environmental factors affecting on heterotrophic bacterial distribution at Hangam Bay and Masan Bay in which occurred frequently red tide, during June to November 1996 were investigated. The aquatic environment of Masan Bay and Haengam Bay showed difference in the contents of inorganic nutrients. Haengam Bay may be defined as nitrogen limited aquatic environment. On the other hand, Masan Bay appeared to the appropriate N/P molar ratio of mean 15.9 during the periods of study. By the results of simple regression, chlorophyll a showed significant correlation with precipitation (r=0.813, P<0.05) and phosphorus (r=0.846, P<0.05) at Haengam Bay, but not showed significant correlation with parameters at Masan Bay. The heterotrophic bacteria showed significant correlation with many environmental parameters at Masan Bay (Precipitation, r=0.990, P<0.01 : NO₃-N, r=0.901, P<0.05 : Dissolved inorganic nitrogen, r=0.899, P<0.05 ; N/P molar ratio, r=0.952, P<0.05 : Salinity, r: -0.934, P<0.05) than Haengam Bay (SiO₃-Si, r=0.960, P<0.01). By the results of multiple regression, the chlorophyll a was varied with only 2 factors in Masan Bay (R²=0.100) and 3 factor in Haengam Bay (R²=0.903). The major factor which affected to chlorophyll a was SiO₃-Si (R²%=67.8) in Masan Bay, and -N/P (R²%=37.6) in Haengam Bay. The heterotrophic bacteria were varied with 4 factors in Masan Bay (R²=100) and 2 factor in Haengam Bay (R²%=0.878). The major factor, which affected to heterotrophic bacteria, was SiO₃-Si (R²%=42.3) and salinity (R²%=32.1) in Masan Bay, and SiO₃-Si (R²%=76.3) in Haengam Bay. Resultingly, the influx of freshwater in Masan and Haengam Bay was enriched in inorganic nutrients, and plays an important role in the change of heteroterophic bacteria and chlorophyll a during early summer to autumn.