• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.299-304
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• 1983

A tongue-like warm water which is a part of the Tsushima Warm Current appears whole year around in the east entrance of the Jeju Strait. Because of this warm water, the current direction flowing into the Jeju Strait from its west area seems to be changed in the Jeju Strait. Therefore the intermediate and bottom water of the Jeju Strait may greatly influence the formation of the coastal water in the South Coast of Korea. Since this tongue-like warm water is stronger in winter than in summer in its formation, Tsushima Warm Current comes closer to the South Coast of Korea in winter and its north boundary frequently approaches close to the coast of Geomun Island and Sori Island.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.393-403
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• 2016

A steady, strong southward flow was observed in the lower layer beneath the Tsushima Warm Current in the deepest trough of the Korea Strait. Known as the Korea Strait Bottom Cold Water (KSBCW), this bottom current had a mean velocity of 24 cm/s and temperatures below 8–10℃. The direction of the bottom current was highly stable due to the topographic effects of the elongated trough. To determine the path of the southward bottom current, ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) data from 14 stations between 1999 and 2005 were examined. Persistent southward flows with average speeds of 4–10 cm/s were observed at only three places to the north of the strait where the bottom depths were 100–124 m. The collected data suggest a possible course of the southward bottom current along the southeast Korean coast before entering the deep trough of the Strait.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.10-18
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• 1974

The cold water mass around the southeast coast of the Korean Peninsula is analyzed by using CSK data from 1966 through 1970. It is shown that this water mass flows down from the region offshore of Jukbyun to the area of Youngil Bay along the 100meter contour line of bottom topography. In ordinary summer conditions when the current velocity in the Korea Strait is usually above about 50cm/sec and the wind direction is southwest, the cold water ascends to the surface and makes the surface temperature gradient large, unless disturbed by a tropical cyclon. The bottom water of the Korea Strait is formed by the stratification after the Tsushima intermediate water and the Japan Sea intermediate water have been mixed. In winter the Tsushima intermediate water with high salinity sinks rapidly around the inlet of the Japan Sea and prevents the Japan Sea intemediate water from entering the Korea 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.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2014

This study investigates spatial and temporal variations in the generation and propagation of internal tides around the Korea Strait using a three-dimensional high resolution model (Regional Ocean Modeling System; ROMS). The model results were verified through comparison with in-situ current measurements from an array of 12 acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) deployed in the Korea Strait. Fluxes and distributions of internal tidal energy were calculated using simulation results gathered in February and August. Our analyses reveal that energetic semidiurnal internal tides are generated in a region around the Korea Strait shelf break ($35.5^{\circ}N$, $130^{\circ}{\sim}130.5^{\circ}E$), where the strong cross-slope semidiurnal barotropic tidal currents interact with a sudden topographical change. The semidiurnal internal tidal energy generated in summer displays values about twice as large as values in winter. Propagation of semidiurnal internal tides also reveals seasonal variability. In February, most of the semidiurnal internal tides propagate only into the open basin of the East Sea due to weak stratification in the Korea Strait, which inhibits their southwestward propagation. In August, they propagate southwestward to $35.2^{\circ}N$ along the western channel of the Korea Strait because of strong stratification. In addition, semidiurnal internal tides generated in a region west of Tsushima Island are found to propagate to the coast of Busan. This can be explained by the intensified stratification due to the strong intrusion of bottom cold water in the western channel of the Korea Strait during summer.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.687-692
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• 2010

This study is to improve the marine traffic environment along the west coast of the Korean peninsular so as to prevent the traffic accidents of the dangerous cargo carriers. The most used routes of the vessels were investigated from GICOMS database and the questionnaire survey. Gwanjanghang Sudo strait and Maenggol Sudo strait were considered to have some potential risks to the vessels. In this study, the alternative routes were developed to substitute the current routes near Gwanjanghang Sudo strait and the new boundary line of The Traffic Prohibited Area for Tanker was suggested to contain the Maenggol Sudo strait.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.133-143
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• 1999

We carried out simultaneous and long-time observations of currents across the western channel of the Korea Strait during the period of May, 1994 to September, 1996 in order to understand the spatial and temporal variability of tidal and nontidal currents in the Strait. Results show that currents in the Strait are quite variable in space and time, and they largely consist of mean current and diurnal and semidiurnal tidal currents of about equal magnitudes. The mean currents include the Tsushima Current and the Korea Strait Undercurrent at the center of the channel. The former occupies the upper two-thirds and the latter the lower one-third of the water column. The semidiurnal and diurnal currents are largely rectilinear in the direction of NE-SW and their amplitude variation across the channel appears to be small. However, the diurnal currents at some locations show rotational characteristics with significant nontidal effects. The station close to the Korean coast leads the phase and the phase difference of the semidiurnal current across the channel appears to be less than half an hour while that of the diurnal current is over five hours.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.37-51
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• 2012

We investigated the distribution and species composition of zooplankton in relation to hydrographical characteristics in the Korea Strait during the winter (February) and summer (July) of 2009. Satellite images of sea surface temperatures and in situ CTD data showed that the southeastern water zone (St3-5) off Jeju Island was strongly influenced by the Tsushima Current during both the winter and summer, whereas the Changjiang Diluted Water, characterized as water with relatively low salinity, was evident in the coastal waters of Jeju Island during the summer. During winter, zooplankton abundance was significantly higher than in the summer, with dominance by copepods, ostracods, siphonophorans, appendicularians, and nauplii. In both seasons, copepods represented >70% of the total zooplankton population. Calanus sinicus, a large calanoid copepod, was dominant in near the coast, and that may be associated with the intrusion of low salinity water (i.e., the Changjiang Diluted Water) along the coast. The abundance of P. parvus s.l. and A. omorii, known as neritic copepods, was mainly associated with the Korea Southern Coastal Water. Foraminiferans, Ostracods, O. plumifera, and P. aculeatus were concentrated in the southeastern water off Jeju Island during both seasons; showing their association with the Tsushima Current, which is characterized warm, high salinity water. Our results suggest that the distribution, abundance, and species composition of zooplankton are highly influenced by different water masses in the Korea Strait.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers Conference
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• 1992.08a
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• pp.1-4
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• 1992

New cotidal charts of the Tusima Strait has been edited by ODAMAKI (1989a) using tidal current observation data. For the semidiurnal tide as shown in Fig.1, two distinctive features are detected. One is an anti-amphidromic area located in the south coast of Korea. Another is the amplitude gap between west and east coasts of the Tusima.(omitted)