• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.58-60
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• 2004

Sea level variations and sea surface circulations in the Korean seas were observed by Topex/Poseidon altimeter data from 1993 through 1997. In sea level variations, the West and South Sea showed relatively high variations with comparison to the East Sea. Then, the northern and southern area in the West Sea showed the range of 20∼30cm and 18∼24cm, and the northern west of Jeju island and the southern west of Tsushima island in the South Sea showed the range of 15∼20cm and 10∼15cm, respectively. High variations in the West Sea were results to the inflow in sea surface of Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC) and bottom topography. Sea level variations in the South Sea were due to two branch currents (Jeju Warm Current and East Korea Warm Current) originated from Kuroshio Current (KC). In sea surface circulations, there existed remarkably three eddies circulations in the East Sea that are mainly connected with North Korea Cold Current (NKCC), East Korea Warm Current (EKWC) and Tushima Warm Current (TWC). Their eddies are caused basically to the influence of currents in sea surface circulations; Cyclone (0.03 cm/see) in the Wonsan bay off shore with NKCC, and anticyclone (0.06 cm/see) in the southwestern area of Ulleung island with EKWC, and cyclone (0.01 cm/see) in the northeastern area of Tushima island with TWC, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.879-881
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• 2003

Sea level variations and sea surface circulations in the Korean seas were observed by Topex/Poseidon altimeter data from 1993 through 1997. In sea level variations, the West and South Sea showed relatively high variations with comparison to the East Sea. Then, the northern and southern area in the West Sea showed the range of 20${\sim}$30cm and 18${\sim}$24cm, and the northern west of Jeju island and the southern west of Tsushima island in the South Sea showed the range of 15${\sim}$20cm and 10${\sim}$15cm, respectively. High variations in the West Sea was results to the inflow in sea surface of Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC) and bottom topography. Sea level variations in the South Sea was due to two branch currents(Jeju Warm Current and East Korea Warm Current) originated from Kuroshio Current (KC). In sea surface circulations, there existed remarkably three eddies circulations in the East Sea that are mainly connected with North Korea Cold Current (NKCC), East Korea Warm Current (EKWC) and Tushima Warm Current(TWC). Their eddies are caused basically to the influence of currents in sea surface circulations; Cyclone (0.03 cm/sec) in the Wonsan bay off shore with NKCC, and anticyclone (0.06 cm/sec) in the southwestern area of Ulleung island with EKWC, and cyclone (0.01 cm/sec) in the northeastern area of Tushima island with TWC, respectively.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.395-405
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• 2006

We measured the fugacity of $CO_2$ $(fCO_2)$, temperature, salinity, nutrients and chlorophyll a in the surface water of the western North Pacific $(4^{\circ}30'{\sim}33^{\circ}10'N,\;144^{\circ}20'{\sim}127^{\circ}35'E)$ in September 2002. There were zonally several major currents which have characteristics of specific temperature and salinity (NECC, North Equatorial Counter Current; NEC, North Equatorial Current; Kuroshio etc.). Surface $fCO_2$ distribution was clearly distinguished into two groups, tropical and subtropical areas of which boundary was $20^{\circ}N$. In the tropical Int surface $fCO_2$ was mainly controlled by temperature, while in the subtropical area, surface $fCO_2$ was dependent on total inorganic carbon contents. Air-sea $CO_2$ flux showed a large spatial variation, with a range of $-0.69{\sim}0.79 mmole\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$. In the area of AE (Anticyclonic Eddy), SM(Southern Mixed region) and NM (Northern Mixed region), the ocean acted as a weak source of $CO_2$ $(0.6{\sim}0.79 mmole\; m^{-2}day^{-1})$. In NECC, NEC, Kuroshio and ECS (East China Sea), however, the fluxes were estimated to be $-0.3mmole\; m^{-2}day^{-1})$ for the first three regions and $-1.2mmole\; m^{-2}day^{-1})$ for ECS respectively, indicating that these areas acted as sinks of $CO_2$. The average air-sea flux in the entire study area was $0.15mmole\;m^{-2}day^{-1})$, implying that the western North Pacific was a weak source of $CO_2$ during the study period.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.24-34
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• 1993

In order to study the seasonal characteristics of species composition and abundance, zooplankton samples were collected from April 1987 to June 1988 with bimonthly intervals in the Mid-Eastern part of the Yellow sea. Among the 24 species of 18 genera occurred in this study area, 17 species are copepods. Noctiluca scintillant has greatly influenced on the distribution of the zooplankton in the coastal area and some copepods may be excluded by its great occurrence. the seasonal variation of abundance of copepods accounting for 30-63.4% of total zooplankton were more varied among stations in the coastal area than in the offshore. It suggests that environmental factors are more variable in the coastal area than in the offshore. In the Copepod community, Acartia omorii, Paracalanus parvus and Corycaeus affinis were predominant in April and June, from August to December and in December, respectively. Sagita enflata as a Kuroshio indicator species, occurred in the study area from August to December. The great occurrence of warm water species, Doliolum sp. in October and the occurrence of Sagitta enflata from August to December suggested that there is a influx of the tributaries of Kuroshio current into the study area. It appeared that the seasonal characteristics of species composition and abundance of zooplankton were affected by the seasonal variation of water mass.

• Proceedings of the Korean Association of Geographic Inforamtion Studies Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.108-111
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• 2003

Altimeter data from the Topex/Poseidon (T/P) were analyzed to study the sea surface circulation and its variability in the North East Asian Seas. Long term averaged T/P sea level time series data where compared with in situ sea level measurements from a float-operated type tide gauge around of south Korea and Japan. Tf data are a large contaminated by 60-day tidal aliasing effect, very near the alias periods of M2 and S2. When this 60-day effect is removed, the data agree well with the tide gauge data with 4.6 cm averaged RMS difference. The T/P derived sea level variability reveals clearly the well-known, strong current-topography such as Kuroshio. The T/P mean sea level of North Pacific (NP) was higher than Yellow Sea (YS) and East Sea (ES). The T/P sea level variability, with strong eddy and meandering, was the largest in eastern part of Japan and this variability was mainly due to the influence of bottom topography in Kuroshio Extension area.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.165-170
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• 2003

A significant surface net heat loss appears around the Kuroshio and the Tsushima Warm Current regions. The area where the surface heat loss occurs should require heat to be supplied by the current to maintain the long-term annual heat balance. Oceanic heat advection in these regions plays an important role in the heat budget. The spatial distribution of the heat supply by the Tsushima Warm Current near the surface was examined by calculating the horizontal heat supply in the surface layer of the East/Japan Sea, directly from historical sea surface temperature and current data. We have also found a simple estimation of the effective vertical scale of heat supply by the current to compensate net heat loss using the heat supplied by the current in the surface 10m layer. The heat supplied by the current for the annual heat balance was large in the Korea/Tsushima Strait and along the Japanese Coast, and was small in the northwestern part of the East/Japan Sea. The amount of heat supplied by the current was large in the northwestern part and small in the southeastern part of the East/Japan Sea. These features suggest that the heat supplied by the Tsushima Warm Current is restricted to near the surface around the northeastern part and extends to a deeper layer around the southeastern part of the East/Japan Sea.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.151-166
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• 1999

Both benthic and planktonic foraminifera from Core 97-02 obtained in the northern East China Sea are quantitatively analyzed for reconstructing the paleocenography of late Quaternary. Since the earliest time of the core sediment (last not older than 18000 yr B.P.), the paleo-water depth has changed from less than 20 m to near 100 m at present, which is reflected by the benthic foraminiferal assemblages: before 14000 yr B.P., the water depth was shallower than 20 m; from 14000 to 7500 yr B.P., water depth was 20-50 m; and after 7500 yr B.P., water depth was 50-100 m. The foraminiferal fauna also disclose the water mass history: during the last glacial maximum, the water that dominated the study area might be the coastal water; at the end of the last glacial maximum(14000-9500 yr B.P.), the Yellow Sea Cold Water mostly affected this area; then it gave way to the Yellow Sea Warm Current after 9500 yr B.P.; and finally, the warm water has dominated this area since 9500 yr B.P. because of the westward shift and enhancement of the Kuroshio Current.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.245-252
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• 2004

The mechanism of cold core eddy formation was investigated using boundary conditions between the East China coastal cold water and the Kuroshio Warm Current, wind data related to the monsoon which was measured by QuikSCAT, and the bottom topography of the East China Sea. When winds blow from the southeast at an intensity comparable to that in the winter period in 1999 and 2003, the warm Kuroshio and Tsushima Current became stronger, and temperatures were considerably higher than those of the extended cold water of the coast of the East China. At that time, the cold water was captured by warm water from the Kuroshio and the Tsushima Current. This facilitated the formation of mesoscale cold core eddies with diameter of 150km in the East China Sea in May, 1999 and February, 2003. The cold core eddy which was detected by NOAA, SeaWiFS and QuikSCAT satellites. The East China Sea is considered to be important not only as a good fishing ground but also nursery and spawning area for many kinds of fishes. Therefore, it would be worth studying spatio-temporal variations of the cold core eddy in the environmental conditions of the northwestern East China Sea using systematic remote sensing techniques.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1385-1395
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• 2010

Harmful dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides blooms have been frequently occurred in coastal areas of the East Sea since 1995. We compared the oceanic conditions in years 1995, 2001 and 2003 when the C. polykrikoides bloom was strong, and in years 1998 and 2004 when the C. polykrikoides bloom was not appeared. We studied temporal and spatial variation of upwelling and geostrophic currents on the western channel of Korean Strait, an entrance of the East Sea. The period and occurrence area of C. polykrikoides bloom was depended on variation of upwelling in summer. In the distributions of geostrophic current, southward current was dominant near the coast in August, 1998 and 2000. Whereas northward current was dominant near and off the coast in August, 1995 and 2003 which the C. polykrikoides bloom was strong. When compared dominant phytoplankton of the coastal areas in each year, Kuroshio indicator species Proboscia alata and Chaetoceros affine were dominant, respectively, in 2001 and 2003 at every stations. However, the dominant species was variable at each coastal area in 1998 and 2000. In 2003, the abundance of Sagitta elegans which is known as the cold water indicator was low, but the abundance of S. enflata, warm water indicator, was very high in Gangneung compared to Sokcho. It seemed that the distribution of S. elegans is restricted by strong warm water current. In conclusion, it was estimated that the distribution of C. polykrikoides bloom in the coastal area of the East Sea was closely related with the strength of East Korea Warm Current and upwelling.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.696-700
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• 2004

In the Korean seas, Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Thermal Fronts (TF) were analyzed temporally and spatially during 8 years from 1993 to 2000 using NOAA/AVHRR MCSST. As the result of harmonic analysis, distributions of the mean SST were $10~25^{\circ}C,$ and generally SST decreased as latitude increased. SST increased in the order as following; the South Sea $(20\~23^{\circ}C),$ the East Sea $(17\~19^{\circ}C)$, and the West $Sea(13\~16^{\circ}C).$ Annual amplitudes and phases were $4\~11^{\circ}C,\;210\~240^{\circ}$ and high values were shown as following; the West Sea $(A1,\;9\~11^{\circ}C),$ the Northern East Sea $(A5,\;8\~9^{\circ}C),$ the Southern East Sea $(A4,\;6\~8^{\circ}C),$ the South Sea $(A3,\;6\~7^{\circ}C),$ the East China Sea $(A2,\;4\~7^{\circ}C)$ and phases; $A3\;(238\~242^{\circ}),\;A4\;(235\~240^{\circ}),\;A5\;(225\~235^{\circ}),\;Al\;(220\~230^{\circ}),\;A2\;(210\~235^{\circ}),$ respectively, Both of them were related inversely except the area A2, therefore the rest areas were affected by seasonal variations. TF were detected by Soble Edge Detection Method using gradient of SST. Consequently, TF were divided into 4 fronts; the Subpolar Front (SPF) based on the Cold Water Mass (low SST and salinity Subartic Water), resulting from the North Korea Cold Current (NKCC) and the East Sea Proper Cold Water in the middle and low layer, and the Warm Water Mass (high SST and salinity Subtropical Water), resulting from the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) in area A4 and 5, the Kuroshio Front (KF) based on the Kuroshio Current (KC) and shelf waters in the East China Sea (ESC) in A2, and the South Sea Coastal Front (SSCF) based on the South Sea Coastal Water (SSCW) and TWC in A3. Also, the Tidal Front was weakly appeared in AI. TF located in steep slope of submarine topography. Annual amplitudes and phases were bounded in the same place, and these results should be considered to influence of seasonal variations.