• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2016

Recently, there has been a growing interest in physical-biological ocean-modeling systems by communities in the fields of science and business. In this paper, we present preliminary results from a coupled physical-biological model for the Northwestern Pacific marginal seas. The ocean circulation component is an implementation of the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), and the lower trophic level ecosystem component is a Nutrient-Phytoplankton-Zooplankton-Detritus (NPZD) model. The ROMS-NPZD coupled system, with a 25 km resolution, is forced by climatological atmospheric data and predicts the physical variables and concentrations of nitrate, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and detritus. Model results are compared with remote-sensed sea surface temperature and chlorophyll, and with climatological sea surface salinity and nitrate. Our model adequately reproduces the observed spatial distribution and seasonal variability of nitrate and chlorophyll concentrations as well as physical variables, showing a high correlation in the East Sea (ES) and Kuroshio/Oyashio Extension (KOE) region but relatively low correlation in the Yellow Sea (YS) and East China Sea (ECS). Although some deficiencies were found in the biological components, such as the over/underestimation of the intensity of phytoplankton blooms in the ES and KOE/the YS and ECS, our system demonstrates the capability of the model to capture and record dominant seasonal variability in physical-biological processes and this holds out the promise of coming to a better understanding of such processes and making better predictions .

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.171-180
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• 1997

Daily mean sea level variability and its response to atmospheric pressure along the coasts of the northwestern Pacific Ocean are investigated. Daily values of sea level and atmospheric pressure covering the period 1976-1986 from 72 stations are analyzed. The sea level and the air pressure in all the data set have a definite seasonal signal, and higher frequency oscillations at time scales of several days to several weeks are also observed. Among the short-period oscillations of sea level with periods shorter than six months, the period of around 3 or 4 months is dominant in most study stations. According to the statistical analysis of sea level and air pressure, the length scale of sea level variability is smaller than that of air pressure for the present study area. The overall variability of sea level is found to be the smallest around Hokkaido, Japan and the largest in the China coasts. Large short-period (< 6 months) sea level variability is found in the southern coasts of China and Hokkaido, and large long-period (> 6 months) variability in the southern coasts of Japan and Korea along Tsushima Current and Kuroshio. The patterns of air pressure are very similar to those of sea level. The air pressure field is found to account for 31% of the overall sea level variability in the study area. Conside.ins the fact that the results (40%) of Pang and Oh (1995) were obtained through monthly sea level, the present result implies that the short-period sea level variability is less affected by air pressure. Generally the sea level response to air pressure are found to be isostatic, but significantly nonisostatic for the periods around 4 months and for those of 2 to 4 days. In particular, nonisostatic response for higher frequencies seem to be due to the restrictions to water transport necessary for barometric responsein the Korea Strait.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.456-466
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• 2021

The distribution and abundance of euphausiids were investigated in Korean waters in 2016. Euphausiids were sampled with a Bongo net. A CTD (Sea Bird Electronics 9 plus) measured the water temperature and salinity while sampling. Mean water temperature ranged from 4.2-31.0℃. The highest temperatures occur in September and lowest temperatures in February. The mean water salinity ranged from 27.9-34.8 psu, with the highest salinities in March and lowest in September. Euphausiid species in group W consisted of four species. Among the euphausiid species, Euphausia pacifica was the dominant species with peak densities in September. The E. pacifica from group W was distributed in the bottom cold water during summer when a thermocline was formed. Five euphausiid species occurred in group S. E. pacifica and E. nana were the dominant species. In group S, E. nana was located in the warm and saline Tsushima Warm Current, a branch of the influential Kuroshio Current. Five euphausiid species occurred in group E. E. pacifica and T. longipes were the dominant species. In group E, E. pacifica and T. longipes were distributed in the deep and cold waters, these species prefer low water temperatures and perform vertical migration. The distribution of euphausiids in Korean waters were highly influenced by mass water characteristics, such as temperature and salinity.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.85-95
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• 2021

Recently, as data mining and artificial neural network techniques are developed, analyzing large amounts of data is proposed to reduce the dimension of the data. In general, empirical orthogonal function (EOF) used to reduce the dimension in the ocean data and recently, Self-organizing maps (SOM) algorithm have been investigated to apply to the ocean field. In this study, both algorithms used the monthly Sea level anomaly (SLA) data from 1993 to 2018 around the East Asia Coasts. There was dominated by the influence of the Kuroshio Extension and eddy kinetic energy. It was able to find the maximum amount of variance of EOF modes. SOM algorithm summarized the characteristic of spatial distributions and periods in EOF mode 1 and 2. It was useful to find the change of SLA variable through the movement of nodes. Node 1 and 5 appeared in the early 2000s and the early 2010s when the sea level was high. On the other hand, node 2 and 6 appeared in the late 1990s and the late 2000s, when the sea level was relatively low. Therefore, it is considered that the application of the SOM algorithm around the East Asia Coasts is well distinguished. In addition, SOM results processed by SLA data, it is able to apply the other climate data to explain more clearly SLA variation mechanisms.

• Atmosphere
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.45-60
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• 2021

The synoptic structures and precipitation impact of extratropical cyclones (ETCs) influencing on the three adjacent megacities in East Asia, i.e., Beijing (Beijing ETCs), Seoul (Seoul ETCs) and Tokyo (Tokyo ETCs), are analyzed using ERA-interim reanalysis data from 1979 to 2018. Individual ETC tracks are identified with the automated tracking algorithm applied to 850-hPa relative vorticity field. Among four seasons, ETCs are the most frequent in spring. In this season, Beijing ETCs are mainly generated at the leeside of Altai-Sayan Mountains and primarily develop through interaction between the upper-level trough and lower-level cyclonic circulation. For Seoul ETCs, the leesides of Altai-Sayan Mountains (Seoul-N ETCs) and Tibetan Plateau (Seoul-S ETCs) are main genesis regions and the features of ETCs are different according to the genesis regions. While Seoul-N ETCs mainly develope by the same mechanism of Beijing ETCs, strong diabatic heating due to vapor transport is responsible for the genesis of Seoul-S ETCs. Tokyo ETCs are originated from the leesides of Tibetan Plateau and Kuroshio-Oyashio Extension regions, and strong diabatic heating as well as interaction between upper and lower levels determines the genesis of these ETCs. The precipitation impact resulting from ETCs become strong in the order of Beijing ETCs, Seoul-N ETCs, Seoul-S ETCs, and Tokyo ETCs and accounts for up to 40%, 27%, 52%, and 70% of regional precipitation, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.189-206
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• 2015

The present study was conducted to investigate the oceanic characteristics of the northern East China Sea through identification of long-term variation patterns of oceanic environment factors, for the objective of gaining understanding of oceanic environment characteristics of the northern waters of East China Sea, which closely influence the oceanic environments of waters nearby South Korea. The study methodology included the use of oceanographic data (water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and chlorophyll-a) on the northern East China Sea from the Korea Oceanographic Data Center (KODC), collected by season for 20 years between 1995 and 2014. Moreover, for the study on the distribution of nutrients, chlorophyll-a. The main water masses that affected the northern East China Sea during the study period were classified as Changjiang diluted water (CDW), Tiawan current warm water (TCWW), Yellow Sea cold water (YSCW), and Kuroshio source water (KW). The forces of CDW and TCWW that forms on the surface and sub-surface layers had weakened for 20 years and the force of KW that forms on the intermediate layer showed a distinctively decreasing trend. However, YSCW showed a trend of expanding its force. Phosphate and silicate exhibited a decreasing tendency and phosphate showed a pattern of being depleted on the surface layer after 2009. It is determined that one of the reasons for this is the concentration of nutrients introduced through CDW and TCWW being too low. The concentration of chlorophyll-a exhibited an increasing tendency during the study period, the reasons for which are determined to be the influences of increase in water temperature, supply of nutrients via YSCW, and increases in light transmission from decrease in suspended solid due to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.677-697
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• 1995

The analysis of long- period sea level variations with tidal record data around Korea, Japan, and Russia shows that about half of the variations are due to atmospheric influences. The sea level variation by water movements is the largest in the coasts along the Tsushima Current, and becomes smaller in the distant areas. It suggests that the sea level varications are related with the Tsushima Current. The effect of sea level variations to ocean circulation has been studied with a numerical model allowing barotropic sea level fluctuations, like the result with GCM (Semtner) model by Pang et al.(1993), the present model also shows that waters basically flow along isobaths over the last China Sea after geostyophic adjustment around Taiwan. However, barotropic sea level fluctuation makes the basic circulation in the Yellow Sea, which waters flow into the central Yellow Sea and out along the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. Besides this, barotropic sea level fluctuation makes long period waves over the shelf area as the Kuroshio varies. By the waves, the basic circulation in the Yellow Sea is disturbed, so that the flow pattern of oppositely flowing into the Yellow Sea along the west roast of the Korean Peninsula appears. In the Yellow Sea circulation, it seems that northwest winds strengthen the basic circulat ion In winter, and southeast winds strengthen the disturbed circulation in summer. Another point appeared by the long period wave is that the Tsushima Current possibly originates in different areas. There have been two opposing argues on the area in which the Tsushima Current originates the southwest sea of Kyushu Island and the adjacent sea of Taiwan. Through this study, we found that both of them seem to be important areas for the origin of the Tsushima Current, and one of them is possibly strengthened by long period waves. The long period waves given by the variation of the Kuroshio Current in the adjacent sea of Taiwan propagate to the Korea Strait as forced waves. The wave continuously propagates to the last Sea through the eastern channel, but reflects in the western channel due to bottom topography. The reflected waves propagate southwestward along the last China Sea as free waves and determine the sea level variations with forced waves.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.133-142
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• 2009

In order to understand the present environmental condition and future impingement of Changjiang(Yangtze River) outflow upon the adjacent seas after the scheduled completion of the Sanxia (Three Gorges) Dam in 2009, we tried to estimate the mixing ratios among surface waters of three end-members: Changjiang Water (CW), Kuroshio Water (KW), and East China Sea Water (ECSW) using $^{228}Ra/^{226}Ra$ activity ratio and salinity as tracers. Water samples were collected from 32 stations in November 2005 (R/V Tamgu 3), from 20 stations in July 2006 (R/V Ocean 2000) and from 17 stations in August 2006 (R/V Ieodo) in the northern part of the East China Sea. Radium isotopes in ~300 liters of surface seawater were extracted onboard by filtering through manganese impregnated acrylic fibers and following coprecipitation as $Ba(Ra)SO_4$. Activities of radium isotopes were determined by a high purity germanium detector. Results show that the fraction of CW was in the range of 1-23% in the study area, while KW was in the range of 0-30 % and ECSW 58-100 %. The eastward plume of Changjiang outflow, commonly observed in satellite images during summer and also displayed by the eastward-decreasing CW fraction in this study, could be attributed to Ekman transport caused by the SE monsoon prevailing in this region during summer. Results of this study showed that in the drought season, there was a little or no fraction of CW in the study area. Concentration of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) showed strong positive relationship with the fraction of CW, suggesting Changjiang as the major source of nitrogen. The mixing curve of DIN indicates the removal of nitrate by biological uptake during the mixing of CW with ambient seawater in the study area.

• 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.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.27-41
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• 2008

Distribution characteristics of phytoplankton community were investigated by HPLC and flow cytometry in Jeju Strait and the Northern East China Sea (NECS) in May 2004, in order to understand the relationship between physical environmental factors and distribution pattern of phytoplankton communities. Based on temperature and salinity data, three distinct water masses were identified; warm and saline Tsushima Warm Current (TWC), which is flowing from northwest of Jeju Island, warm and low saline water at the center of Jeju Strait, which is originated from China Coastal Water (CCW) and relatively cold and high saline water originated from Yellow Sea at the bottom of the Jeju Strait. At Jeju Strait, less saline water (<33 psu) of 15 km width occupied surface layer up to 20 m which located at 20 km offshore and strong thermal front between warm and saline water and cold and less saline water was found in the middle of the Jeju Strait. Vertical transect of temperature and salinity at the NECS also showed that low saline (<33 psu) water occupied the upper 20 m layer and cold and saline water was present at the eastern part. Chl a was measured as $0.06{\sim}3.07\;{\mu}g/L$. Spring bloom of phytoplankton was recognized by the high concentrations of Chl a at the low saline water masses influenced by the CCW and subsurface chlorophyll maximum layer appeared between $20{\sim}30\;m$ depth, which was at thermocline depth or below. Abundances of Synechococcus and picoeukaryote were $0.2{\sim}9.5{\times}10^4\;cells/mL$ and $0.43{\sim}4.3{\times}10^4\;cells/mL$, respectively. Dinoflagellate, diatom and prymnesiophyte were major groups and minor groups were chlorophyte+prasinophyte, chrysophyte, cryptophyte and cyanophyte. Especially high abundance of dinoflagellate was identified by high concentration (>1\;{\mu}g/L$) of peridinin at the bottom of the thermocline, which showed an outbreak of red tide by high density of dinoflagellates. Abundances of picoeukaryote in Jeju Strait were about $5{\sim}10$ times higher than abundance measured in Kuroshio water and showed a good correlation with Chl b (Pras+Viola), which implies the most of population of picoeukaryote was composed of prasinophytes. Prochlorococcus was not detected at all, which suggests that Kuroshio Current did not directly influenced on the study area. Based on the strong negative correlations between biomass of phytoplankton (Chl a) and temperature+salinity, the primary production and biomass of phytoplankton in the study area were controlled by the nutrients supply from CCW.