• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.133-156
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• 2009

We have named the sea surrounded by the Korean Peninsula, Primorye of Russia, and Japanese Islands as the East Sea. Historically this region has been variously named the East Sea, Chosun Sea, and, more recently, Japan Sea and Sea of Japan. Since the scientific research papers can play important roles on the naming the sea, the status of naming the East Sea in international scientific journals was investigated. Among 472 papers in 46 international journals that we assessed, Japan Sea (or Sea of Japan) was used in 322 papers (68.2%), East Sea was used in 21 papers (4.4%), and parallel usage of East Sea and Japan Sea accounted for 27.3% (129 papers). In all scientific papers before the early 1980s, East Sea was not used. Since the first parallel usage of East Sea and Japan Sea in 1985, these designations has been increasingly used. After 2004, the parallel usage has replaced the single designation of Japan Sea.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.212-221
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• 2004

Concentrations of suspended particulate matters (SPM) and their distribution patterns were monitored three times in the East China Sea during the winter season in 1998 and 1999. SPM concentrations showed significant temporal variations controlled by the atmospheric conditions and sea states. In coastal area, SPM values were about 10-20 mg/l in fair weather conditions, but exceeded 100mg/l during the storm periods. Turbid waters were distributed widespread in the continental shelf of the East China Sea and the coastal area of the Korean Peninsula, and these two areas were connected along a NE-SW direction. The distribution patterns of turbid waters were interpreted as representing the transport behavior of suspended matter. Although the primary source of inner shelf mud deposits of Korea seems to be the Korean Peninsula, contribution from the East China Sea to the coastal area of Korea increases especially during the winter season.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.187-195
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• 2002

The characteristics of surface circulation in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are discussed by analyzing a great deal of current data observed by 142 sets of mooring buoy and 58 sets of drifters trajectories collected in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea through domestic and abroad measurements. Some major features are demonstrated as bellow: 1) Tsushima Warm Current flows away from the Kuroshio and has multiple sources in warm half year and comes only from Kuroshio surface water in cold half year. 2) Taiwan Warm Current comes mainly from the Taiwan Strait Water in warm half year and comes from the intruded Kuroshio surface water and branches near 27N in cold half year. 3) The Changjiang Diluted Water turns towards Cheju Island in summer and flows southward along the coastal line in winter. 4) The study sea area is an eddy developing area, especially in the southern area of Cheju Island and northern area of Taiwan.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.161-169
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• 2000

A seasonal circulation in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea and its possible cause have been studied with CSK data during 1965-1989. Water mass distributions are clear in winter, but not in summer because the upper layer waters are quite influenced by atmosphere. To solve the problem, a water mass analysis by mixing ratio is used for the lower layer waters. The results show that the distribution of Tsushima Warm Current Water expands to the Yellow Sea in winter and retreats to the East China Sea in summer. It means that there is a very slow seasonal circulation between the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea: Tsushima Warm Current Water flows into the Yellow Sea in winter and coastal water flows out of the Yellow Sea in summer. By the circulation, the front between Tsushima Warm Current Water and coastal water moves toward the shelf break in summer so that the flow is faster in the deeper region. The process eventually makes the transport in the Korea Strait increase. The Kuroshio does not seem to influence the process. A possible mechanism of the process is the seasonal change of sea surface slope due to different local effects of surface heating and diluting between the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Biology Conference
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• 2001.12a
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• pp.76-77
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• 2001

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.155-163
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• 1996

CREAMS (Circulation Research of the East Asian Marginal Seas) is an international research program, which began in 1993 in order to understand the water mass structure and circulation in the East Sea. Since the beginning of CREAMS, there have been four cruises in the summer and two in the winter, covering most parts of the East Sea for the first time in more than 60 years since the historical survey reported by Uda (1934). CREAMS investigations have provided many new insights into the various aspects of oceanographic problems in the East Sea such as water masses, deep sea currents and circulation, eddies, particle fluxes and so on. In this paper, we briefly review understandings before CREAMS and summarize initial new findings from CREAMS expeditions in terms of water masses and currents.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.120-129
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• 2001

Thirty-six dinoflagellate cysts, representing 15 genera were identified in the surface sediments obtained from the northwestern East China Sea. Three cyst morphotypes found in this survey have not previously been described in the East China Sea and adjacent waters: Seleno­pemphix sp. 2, Selenopemphix sp. 3 and Trinovantedinium sp. 1. In the northwestern East China Sea, Operculodinium centrocarpum, Spiniferites bulloideus and ellipsoidal cysts of Alexandrium were commonly observed. Moreover, it was recognized that the ellipsoidal cysts of Alexandrium, whose motile cells of A tamarense and/or A catenella are responsible to paralytic shellfish poisoning, distributed not only restricted to the coastal areas but also to the offshore stations far from the Changjiang River mouth.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.87-97
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• 1999

To estimate absolute transports by advection in the southwestern East Sea (Japan Sea), an inverse method was applied to CTD data obtained in July 1993. The relative velocities are calculated using the thermal wind equation. The inverse model was formulated to obtain a reference velocity based on the mass conservation in each of four vertical layers within a region enclosed by hydrographic sections and the coastal boundary. The flow patterns in the surface layer are clockwise and anti-clockwise in the regions south and northwest of Ulleung Island, respectively, and a strong northward flow appears in between them. In the second layer, the flow fields are generally weak. The inverse calculation yields the southward flow along the coast, and this suggests that the subsurface low salinity water in the Ulleung Basin is supplied by the southward transport along the east coast of Korea.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.164-172
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• 1996

CREAMS (Circulation Research of the East Asian Marginal Seas) Expeditions have provided a rare opportunity to carry out precise measurements of salinity, temperature and chemical tracers extensively in all major basins of the East Sea (Japan Sea) in 1993-1996 for the first time in more than 60 years since Uda's investigation (Uda, 1934). Studies revealed unequivocal evidence that the East Sea Proper Water (ESPW), previously known as a single homogeneous water mass, is indeed made of several distinct water masses. CREAMS data further confirmed the earlier observations of Gamo et al. (1986) that properties in Deep Waters in the East Sea have been changing during at least the last 25 years. There is evidence, especially from the analysis of the DO profile, that these changes may result from a major change in the mode of deep water formation: from bottom water formation in the past to intermediate/deep water formation in recent years. The causes for these changes are not clear at the present time, but nay include natural variation and may also reflect recent global changes in regional scale. A moving-boundary box model is presented to describe current observations, predicting the turnover time of the total deep and bottom waters to the cold surface waters to be ${\sim}$80 years in 1996.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.60-67
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• 2003

Typhoon Rusa passed over the East China Sea and crossed over the Korea Peninsula on August 31, 2002. The core of the typhoon passed directly over a data buoy mooring site at ($127^{\circ}45'E,\;34^{\circ}25'\;N$) and several ARGOS-tracked drifters capable of measuring salinity. Peak hourly mean wind speed reached 28 m/s at the mooring site and wind pattern in the East China Sea changed from southerly wind to northwesterly wind after the typhoon passage. Two or three days before the typhoon tile drifter displacement changed significantly and the region-wide circulation pattern changed from a northeastward current to a westward current one week after the typhoon had passed. The surface water in the East China Sea was cooled to about $4^{\circ}C$ under the typhoon core and a general cooling occurred in most of the East China Sea with the exception of the Chinese coast. The salinity as observed by the drifters in the East China Sea increased about 2 psu but the near-shore water along the Korean coast observed by the mooring was freshened about 3 psu. The freshening of near-shore water was caused by an intrusion of off-shore water rather than local freshening by typhoon precipitation.