• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• v.2
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• pp.740-743
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• 2006

We identify two distinct finer-scale frontal bands: 'Mainland China Coastal Front' (MCCF) and 'Kuroshio Front' (KF). The MCCF is along the 50-m isobath with large temperature gradient. The front is a boundary between the Mainland China Coastal Current and the offshore shelf waters. On the other hand, the KF is extending from the northeastern coast of Taiwan toward the northeast and into the shelf of south ECS. It forms a broad semicircle-shape and curving along 100-m isobath, it also deviates from eastward at around 26.5N-122E and leaves the shelf of ECS. This front should be the boundary between the Kuroshio water and the other shelf waters.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.spc3
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• pp.397-407
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• 2011

To understand the vertical structure of ocean currents from raw data observed by lowered-ADCP (LADCP), these data require post-processing. Data were processed using Krahman's version 10.8 processing software based on Matlab. It is estimated the influence of auxiliary data affecting the processed current structure. The bottom-tracked velocities and the GPS information significantly contribute the offset on reference velocities in the bottom layer and barotropic ones in the middle layer, respectively. Good quality data can be obtained when LADCP is least tilted in pitch and roll during observation. In situ application of LADCP to the (northward) volume transports of Kuroshio in the East China Sea proved to be 24.8. Sv (= $1{\times}10^6m^3s^{-1}$) in October 2007, and 28.2 Sv in June 2008, respectively. The volume transport is relatively large over the continental slope when compared to the shelf or the deep sea.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 1985

A simple analytic model of the sea surface temperature(SST) is developed in order to understand the effects of the Asian monsoon and the Kuroshio on the annual variations of SST by the Asian monsoon is almost in phase with the incoming radiation whereas that by the Kuroshio is out of phase with the incoming radiation. In the Yellow Sea, due to the heat advection by the Asian monsoon, the yearly mean SST is low and the annual range of SST exceeds 20$^{\circ}C$. The annual range of SST in the northwestern Japan Sea is large because of the combined effects of the Asian monsoon and the cold water advection. In the Kuroshio and in the Tsushima Current regions, the annual range of SST is small and the mean SST is high due to the heat advection by warm currents.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.291-306
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• 2021

From the climate change scenario experiments of 21 models participating in Coupled Climate Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 6, future changes of sea surface temperature (SST) and Kuroshio in the Northwest Pacific were analyzed. The spatial feature of SST change was found to be related to the change of the current speed and spatial distribution of Kuroshio. To investigate the relationship between the change in latitude of the Kuroshio extension region, which flows along the boundary between the subtropical gyre and the subarctic gyre in the North Pacific, and the large-scale atmospheric circulation due to global warming, the zero-windstress curl line for each climate change experiment from 9 out of 21 models were compared. As the atmospheric radiative forcing increases due to the increase of greenhouse gases, it was confirmed that the zero-windstress curl line moves northward, which is consistent with the observation. These results indicate that as the Hadley Circulation expands to the north due to global warming, the warming of the mid-latitudes to which the Korean Peninsula belongs may be accelerated. The volume transport and temperature of the Tsushima Warm Current flowing into the East Sea through the Korea Strait also increased as the atmospheric radiative forcing increased.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.1190-1194
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• 2001

The first 7 years of altimeter data from the TOPEX/POSEIDON(T/P) were analyzed to study the surface circulation and its variability in the East Asian Marginal 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. T/]P data are a large contaminated by 60-day tidal aliasing effect, very near the alias periods of M2 and 52. 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.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.203-215
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• 1995

Two hydrographic surveys along with direct current measurements using drogues and moored current meters were conducted in Cheju Strait during April and May, 1983. The data clearly demonstrate that a branch of the Kuroshio characterized by high temperature and high salinity enters the Cheju Strait after turning around the western coast of Cheju-Do. The width of the current turning west of Cheju-Do is about 60 km and reduces to 20∼30 km in the strait, resulting in a high speed(＞10 cm/s) at the western entrance and in the middle of the strait, compared with a low speed (＞5 cm/s) west of Cheju-Do. The Tsushima Current water also originating from the Kuroshio shows its influence in the eastern part of the Cheju Strait. Thermohaline fronts formed between the warm current waters and the coastal waters suggest the southward extension of the Yellow Sea Coastal Water west of the Cheju Strait. A warming of the warm current waters occurs in May, while a cooling takes place in other areas. The major freshening and cooling of water take place in the middle of the Cheju Strait in May due to the intrusion of cold and low salinity water from the west of the Cheju Strait.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Navigation
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.61-76
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• 1990

It was found that three different water masses were vertically situated in the western channel of the Korea Strait in summer. Of these water masses , the origin and inflow path of the middle water were discussed and estimated by comparing with water characteristics of neighbouring sea. As a result, (1) the middle water is formed on the continental shelf in the East China Sea by the mixing of the Kuroshio Water and Chinese Continental Coastal Water, (2) the middle water seems intruded through the sea around 127 E west off Kyushu Island and east off Cheju the Island.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.45-67
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• 2008

Ocean climate variables ($1900{\sim}2005$), time series of catches ($1910{\sim}2005$) and body size data were used to assess the year-to-year and decadal scale fluctuations in abundance of the fish populations (Japanese sardine, anchovy, jack mackerel, chub mackerel, Pacific saury and common squid) that have spawning grounds in the East China Sea and its adjacent regions. A negative correlation between the abundance of pelagic fishes (e.g. jack mackerel) in the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) region and the Kuroshio-Oyashio Current (KOC) region was attributed to the climatic modulation of larval transport and recruitment, which depends on the winter monsoon-induced drift, current systems, and spawning season and site. The changes in abundance and alternation of dominant fish populations in the two regions in the 1930s, 1970s, and late 1980s mirrored changes in the climate indices (ALPI, AOI and MOI). Oscillations in the decadal climate shifts between the two regions led to zonal differences in larval transport and recruitment, and hence differences in the abundance of the pelagic fish populations. During deep Aleutian Lows, as in the 1980s, larval transport from the East China Sea to the KOC region increases in association with the strong winter Asian monsoon, cool regime and increased volume transport of the Kuroshio Current systems, whereas during a weak Aleutian Low (as in the 1990s), larval transport to the TWC region increased in association with a weak winter Asian monsoon, a warm regime, and increased volume transport of the Tsushima current system. We postulate that the increased chub mackerel abundance in the TWC region and the decreased abundance in the KOC region in the 1990s are partly attributed to changes in recruitment and availability to the fishing fleets under the warm regime in the spawning and nursery grounds in the East China Sea in association with the quasi-steady state of mild winter monsoon in the 1990s. The fluctuations in chub mackerel and jack mackerel abundance are under the environment-dependant growth form, although the tropicalization was identified in the TWC region. The density-dependant growth form was found in Japanese sardine populations, but no tropicalization by fishing was identified in the long ($10{\sim}15$ year) periods of abundance despite their short ($3{\sim}4$ year) generation time, suggesting that the environment-dependant growth form drove the changes in abundance. Year-to-year and decadal scale variations in abundance and population structure of the Pacific saury responded to climate regime shifts (1976/1977, 1988/1989), suggesting that the fish is a key bio-indicators for changes in the ecosystem.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.418-421
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• 2007

Using gridded wind-stress products constructed by satellite scatterometers (ERS-1, 2 and QSCAT) data and those by numerical weather prediction(NWP) model(NCEP-reanalysis), we estimate wind-driven transports of the North Pacific subtropical gyre, and compare them in the central portion of the gyre (around 300 N) with geostrophic transports calculated from historical hydrographic data (World Ocean Database 2005). Even if there are some discrepancies between the wind-driven transports by the QSCAT and NCEP products, they are both in good agreement with the geostrophic transports within reasonable errors, except for the regional difference in the eastern part of the zone. The difference in the eastern part is characterized by an anticyclonic deviation of the geostrophic transport resulting from an anti-cyclonic anomalous flow in the surface layer, suggesting that it is related to the Eastern Gyral produced by the thermohaline process associated with the formation of the Eastern Subtropical Mode Water. We also examine the consistency of the Sverdrup transports estimated from these products by comparing them with the transports of the western boundary current, namely the Kuroshio regions, in previous studies. The net southward transport, based on the sum of the Sverdrup transports by QSCAT and NCEP products and the thermohaline transport, agrees well with the net northward transport of the western boundary current, namely the Kuroshio transport. From these results, it is concluded that the Sverdrup balance can hold in the North Pacific subtropical gyre.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.290-294
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• 2001

Satellite data, with Sea Surface Temperature(SST) by NOAA and Sea Level(SL) by Topex/poseidon, are used to estimate characteristics on the variations and correlations of SST and SL in the East Asian Seas from January 1993 through May 1998. In the oceanic climate, the variations of SL shown the high values in the main current of Kuroshio and the variations of SST shown not the remarkable seasonal variations because of the continuos compensation of warm current by Kuroshio. In the continental climate, SL shown high variations in the estuaries(the Yellow River, the Yangtze River) with the mixing the fresh water in the mouth of estuaries of the saline water in the coasts of continent and SST shown highly the seasonal variations due to the climatic effect of continents. In the steric variations in summer, the eastern sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the western sea of Korea shown the increment of sea level with 10~20cm. But the Bohai bay in China shown relatively the high values of 20~30cm due to the continental climate. Generally the trends of SST and SL increased during all periods. That is say, the slopes of SST and SL presented 0.29$^{\circ}C$/year and 0.84cm/year, respectively. The annual and semi-annual amplitudes shown a remarkable variations in the western sea of Korea and the eastern sea of Japan.