• ALGAE
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.277-288
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• 2008

The relationship between nutrients and phytoplankton dynamics was investigated daily from 12 April to 22 July 2003 in Sagami Bay, Japan. According to multidimensional scaling (MDS) and cluster analysis, phytoplankton community was divided into four distinct groups. The first group was consisted of centric diatom species, such as Guinardia spp., Detonula spp., Letocylindrus danicus, Skeletonema costatum, Eucampia zodiacus and Chaetoceros spp.. The second and third clusters comprised mainly diatoms and dinoflagellates, respectively. The other cluster was restricted to the samples collected during the last sampling period when the rainfall and river discharge was frequently recorded. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was applied to analyze four groups respectively, which focused on the effects of nutrients concentration and ratio on phytoplankton variations. Based on CCA analysis, most species of centric diatom were negatively correlated with DSi concentrations and Si/N ratio. Nutrients were strongly limited phytoplankton growth during the summer when the rainfall was not observed, whereas river discharge by rainfall and counterclockwise coastal currents (although the surface circulation pattern is often altered by Kuroshio Current, the counterclockwise coastal currents are generally dominant) has brought phytoplankton population accumulation and triggered the micoalgae growth in western part of the bay. Phosphorous (P) was strongly limited after significantly increases in the phytoplankton abundances. However, silicate (Si) was not a major limiting factor for phytoplankton production, since Si/DIN and Si/P ratio did not create any potential stoichiometric limitation. This indicates that high Si availability contributes favorably to the maintenance of diatom ecosystems in Sagami Bay.

• 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.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.52-58
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• 1974

The water temperature distribution and the water movement closely related with it, in the east side of Korea, was condidered. Special emphasis was paid on the low temperature phenomenon near Ulgi. It was known from the temperature distribution in the east side of Korea that the Tsushima current continues to flow northward at the surface near Sokcho. Also the influence of the cold water extends from the North to the South with increasing depth. The formation of the cold core near Ulgi was explained as due mainly to the existence of the boundary layer near the surface, and partly to the effect of the wind. This inclination of the boundary layer has the value of about 3.0m/Km, and the lower cold current velocity computed using this value lies in the range of those observed by Nishida(1926, 1927). The upwelling velocity was computed approximately as 1.4 10$\^$-3/ cm/sec, and the maximum distance to which the boundarylayer can rise or fall from it's equilibrium position was considered as below 10m.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.331-340
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• 1988

Using the oceanographic data during 196s~ 1983, the seasonal variation of the water type in the Tsushima Current is discussed by analyzing the thermosteric anomaly $(\delta_T)$. By investigating with the index of $33.8\%_{\circ}$ in salinity, it is shown that the low saline water inflowed through the Korea Strait affects the variations of water type in surface layer from summer to fall. On the sea surface, the value of $\delta_T$ is affected mainly by the sea surface temperature (SST). However, in summer, $\delta_T$ is temporarily influenced by the transitional characteristic of the surface salinity. It has the minimum value in winter when the SST is the highest and the sea surface salinity is the lowest. In fall, it decreases as the SST decreases. Specifically, the value of $\delta_T$ is 779 cl/t in August in the region of Korea Strait and 667 cl/t in September in the East Coast of Korea. These values are larger than that of the Kuroshio where is 622 cl/t in August. This phenomenon is due to the inflow of low saline water into these area during summer. In loom depth, the seasonal variation of the $\delta_T$ is not so significant as the surface and is mainly dependent on the annual temperature variation. In general, $\delta_T$ decreases as the Tsushima Current flows to the north.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.291-297
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• 1983

This paper describes the variations of the distribution of dissolved oxygen in the Japan Sea in summer during 1974-1977. In the Tsushima Current region of the Japan Sea the salinity maxima appears frequently in summer and the dissolved oxygen at the salinity maximum is less than that in the Japan Sea Proper Water. The Japan Sea is divided into three parts with respect to the type of vertical profiles of dissolved oxygen: The southern region of about $35^{\circ}N$ which has low dissolved oxygen similar to those in the Kuroshio region, the Japan Sea Proper Water region, and the area between about $36^{\circ}N$ and $40^{\circ}N$ which has high dissolved oxygen. The ranges of the dissolved oxygen and thermosteric anomaly(${\delta}_T$) at the salinity maximum are roughly between 4.9 and 6.5 m/l and between 210 and 240 cl/t respectively. The most frequent ranges of those values are between 5.5 and 5.7 ml/l and between 230 and 240 cl/t. The northern boundary of the Tsushima Current can be known by the characteristics of the distribuion of dissolved oxygen.

• 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.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.119-135
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• 2004

A three-dimensional numerical model using POM (the Princeton Ocean Model) is established in order to understand the dispersion processes of the Yangtze River water in the Yellow and East China Seas. The circulation experiments for the seas are conducted first, and then on the bases of the results the dispersion experiments for the river water are executed. For the experiments, we focus on the tide effects and wind effects on the processes. Four cases of systematic experiments are conducted. They comprise the followings: a reference case with no tide and no wind, of tide only, of wind only, and of both tide and wind. Throughout this study, monthly mean values are used for the Kuroshio Current input in the southern boundary of the model domain, for the transport through the Korea Strait, for the river discharge, for the sea surface wind, and for the heat exchange rate across the air-sea interface. From the experiments, we obtained the following results. The circulation of the seas in winter is dependent on the very strong monsoon wind as several previous studies reported. The wintertime dispersion of the Yangtze River water follows the circulation pattern flowing southward along the east coast of China due to the strong monsoon wind. Some observed salinity distributions support these calculation results. In summertime, generally, low-salinity water from the river tends to spread southward and eastward as a result of energetic vertical mixing processes due to the strong tidal current, and to spread more eastward due to the southerly wind. The tide effect for the circulation and dispersion of the river water near the river mouth is a dominant factor, but the southerly wind is still also a considerable factor. Due to both effects, two major flow directions appear near the river mouth. One of them is a northern branch flow in the northeast area of the river mouth moving eastward mainly due to the weakened southerly wind. The other is a southern branch flow directed toward the southeastern area off the river mouth mostly caused by tide and wind effects. In this case, however, the tide effect is more dominant than the wind effect. The distribution of the low salinity water follows the circulation pattern fairly well.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.305-319
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• 2000

A total of 50 diatom species and 1 subspecies belonging to 31 genera except Chaetoceros resting spores were identified in the 45 sediments subsampled from a gravity core GH98-1223 collected from the western Hokkaido Island located in the northeastern East Sea (Sea of Japan). The most dominant species is Thalassionema nitzschioides (Grunow) Hustedt, ranging 29 to 59% of the total assemblages, and most species including Denticulopsis seminae (Simonsen and Kanaya) Simonsen and Pseudoeunotia doliolus (Wallich) Grunow were less than 5% in average. Frequencies of cold-water species are generally higher than those of warm-water species and the vertical distribution of cold-water species was largely opposite to that of warm-water species in spite of ecological habitat difference. Frequency of cold-water species, D. seminae is reverse to that of P. doliolus, an indicator of the Tsushima Warm Current, which is consistent with diatom temperature value (T$_{d}$ value). The variation of T$_{d}$ values shows that the upper part of core with greater-than-average T$_{d}$ values represents postglacial warming trend. These T$_{d}$ values clearly demonstrate that the study area located in the northern part of the East Sea is gradually influenced by Tsushima Warm Current. In addition, the zig-zag variation in the lower part reflects the unstable seawater for diatom habitat. Chaetoceros resting spores indicating productivity and upwelling was 5.3 to 40%, with maximum peak at 80 cm. Chaetoceros resting spores/Chaetoceros vegetative cells, an indicator of relative amounts of biogenic material in the sediments was high at the upper 80 cm level, corresponding to the change of T$_{d}$ values. On the basis of diatom assemblages, the northeastern part of East Sea has experienced the effects of Tsushima Warm Current during the postglacial period of Holocene, which is similar to the modem climatic environment. However, the variation of P. doliolus reflects that the intensity of Tsushima Warm Current has been oscillated in the East Sea.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.464-474
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• 2006

The paleoceanography since 14 ka was reconstructed based on the planktic foraminiferal assemblages of core sediments from the outer shelf of the Korea Strait. Planktic foraminifera in the core sediments can be divided into four assemblages: A, B, C, and D. Assemblage A consists mainly of Globigerinoides ruber group and Globigerinoides conglobatus with low abundance (less than 10%), indicating the tropical-subtropical water mass. Assemblage B is composed of Pulleniatina obliquiloculata and Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, the indicator of Kuroshio Current, and shows the aspect of the inflow of the Tsushima Current into the Korea Strait. Assemblage C yields polar-subpolar species, mainly Neogloboquadrina incompta and N. pachyderma. It decreases upward of the core. Assemblage D contains coastal water species such as Globigerina bulloides and G. quinqueloba. It is abundant in the lower to middle region of the core. From the analysis of distributions of each assemblage and the result of age datings in the core, it is suggested that the Korea Strait played a role of channelling the East China Sea and the East Sea after the LGM (ca. 14 ka). During this time, the coastal water, affected by fresh waters originated from the river systems of China and/ or the Korean Peninsula, flourished around the Korea Strait and theses coastal water might entered to the East Sea. Around 8.5 ka, the effect of the Tsushima Current started to strengthen in this region, and the present current system seems to be formed at about $7{\sim}6ka$.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.239-252
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• 1981

The East China Sea is an important region as nursery and spawning grounds for pelagic fishes such as jack mackerel, common mackerel etc. , and thus constitutes a major fishing area for purse-seine fishery. The environment surrounding in this region is under the influence of the Yellow Sea Cold Water, China Coastal Water and Kuroshio Current. The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of oceanographic conditions and thermal fronts on the formation of the fishing grounds for the mackerels in the East China Sea. Through the analyses of fisheries statistics during 1968-1976 and temperature data, the following facts are found: 1) Approximately $70\%$ of the total mackerel(common) catches appeared to be come from the Tsushima Current region which includes Sakai coast of the Japan Sea, eastern Tsushima and Shirase Island, and Jeju Island of Korea. This area covers only about $8\%$ of the East China Sea. 2) Main fishing grounds for the jack mackerel are also centered around the area of southwestern Goto, Shirase and eastern Tsushima Island where the catches accounted for about $54\%$ of the total jack mackerel catches. 3) Fluctuations in annual catches are relatively small in the Tsushima Current region, compared to other regions such as Yellow Sea, southwestern coast of Kyushu and mid-western part of the East China Sea, where the fisheries yields varied considerably due to unstable fishing conditions. 4) It appears that the fishing grounds for the jack mackerel are mainly distributed along the warmer region ($15-20^{\circ}C$) of the thermal front, and those for the common mackerel are in somewhat colder region ($13-16^{\circ}C$) in the Tsushima Current.