• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.165-169
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• 1998

In August 1996, seawater salinity and nutrient distribution were investigated at surface waters in the South Sea of Korea. The low-salinity (< 20.00 psu) waters were observed in the western and southwestern offshore areas of Cheju Island. Relatively low saline (< 30.0 psu) waters occupied most of the survey areas only except in the eastern part. The observed minimum salinity was lower by 11.78 psu than that of the average between 1963 and 1995. The low saline waters appeared in the upper layer of generally 10-20 m deep, and were obriously distinguished from high-salinity (> 32.00 psu) waters, 30 m deep. The low saline waters may originate from the freshwater discharge of vast amount of from Yangtze River during the heavy rainfall season in China. Phosphate concentrations in the surface waters were relatively low and were less variable than those of nitrate and silicate. The maximum concentrations of nitrate and silicate occured in the western and southwestern offshore areas of Cheju Island, where the salinities were the lowest. The concentrations of nitrate and silicate were inversely correlated with salinity, whereas that of phosphate showed a considerable scatter and non-conservative behaviours. This indicates extensive desorption reactions of suspended materials releasing phosphate.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.201-215
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• 2013

The characteristics of the oceanographic environment in the Aleutian Basin of the Bering Sea during spring in 1996, 1997, and 1999 were clarified. An investigation of the water properties revealed five basic layers in the Bering Sea during spring: (1) a surface layer of warm and low-salinity water induced by solar heating, (2) a subsurface layer of cold and low-salinity water propagated slowly by heat from the surface layer, (3) a thermocline layer where salinity was constant but temperature sharply decreased, (4) a temperature inversion layer, and (5) a deep layer with a gradual decrease in temperature and increase in salinity toward the bottom. The ranges of water temperature and salinity were $1.8-5.5^{\circ}C$ and 31.81-34.08 in 1996, $1.5-7.2^{\circ}C$ and 31.9-34.06 in 1997, and $0.5-5.6^{\circ}C$ and 32.0-34.11 in 1999, respectively. The water temperature of the surface layer was approximately $1.6^{\circ}C$ higher in 1997 than in 1996 and 1999. The lowest temperature at a depth of 100-150 m was about $1^{\circ}C$ lower in 1999 than in 1996 and 1997. Nutrient levels (nitrate, phosphate, and silicate) contributing to the control of the growth of phytoplankton were higher in the Aleutian Basin than in the eastern continental shelf and Bogoslof Island area. This was closely associated with the phytoplankton distribution. Nutrient concentrations were lowest at a depth of 25 m. The high primary production at that depth was confirmed from the vertical distribution of chlorophyll a. Chlorophyll a levels were above $4.0{\mu}L^{-1}$ in some areas in 1996 and 1999, but below $2.0{\mu}L^{-1}$ in most areas in 1997. Zooplankton density was about three times higher in 1999 than in 1997.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.163-177
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• 2013

An instrumented ferry made two transects per day across two current systems which are the North Korean Cold Current and the East Korean Warm Current over the years 2012-2013 from Gangneung to Ulleungdo in the southwestern East Sea. Seawater properties of these transects were measured with high spatial and temporal resolution for an extended period of time. Here the salinity records from the transects with the oceanographic observation data from East Sea Fisheries Institute of NFRDI, AVISO daily current chart and GOCI Chlorophyll-a image in 2012 and 2013 are used to study the time-series variation of salinity at the surface. The high salinity section with the range of 33.15~34.12 occurred on the transect mainly in the middle of eddy, and western boundary of strong northward current from June to October. We can found low salinity waters in both sides of the high salinity section. It is estimated that the western low salinity waters with the range of 30.58~33.20 accompanied by southward current were derived from the NKCC and the eastern waters with the range of 31.30~33.24 accompanied by northward current were derived from the Tsushima Surface Water. The lowest salinity of NKCC is confirmed in this study as 30.36. It is found that the western waters below 33.00 extended extremely toward the east about 110 km area from Gangneung and toward the south around Jukbyon coastal area as a 5~10 m layer. We can find its volume of low saline waters transport is not neglectable compared with that of Tsushima Current region in the western part of the East Sea. In this study we named it as the North Korean Low Saline Surface Water in summer.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.74-82
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• 1982

The study on the variation coefficient of water temperature and salinity was comducted during the year from 1968 to 1980 in the Southern Sea of Korea. The results obtaland from the study as followes; 1. The variation coefficient of water temperature and salinity wewe large either at the front area or the thermocline and malocline area. 2. The variation coefficient of water temperature was the largest at the time when the power was strong ty each water mass(The largest value in Tsushima and Yellow Sea Warm Current area was occurred at the 50m layer in the Summer, and that in the South Korean Coastal Water area and the Southern Part of Yellow Sea was at all layer in the Winter). 3. The variation coefficient of salinity was the largest at the surface layer in warm current area that was influenced by the low salinity of the East China Coastal Water in the Summer ,and that of salinity in the South Korean Coastal Water area and Soutern Part of Yellow Sea was nearly half of the value of the warm current area.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.33 no.1-2
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• pp.1-7
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• 1998

In the western Weddell Sea, winter mixed layer is characterized by near-freezing temperature and higher salinity due to brine injection through sea-ice formation. This layer becomes Winter Water being capped by warmer and less saline Antarctic Surface Water during the sea-ice melt-ing season. In this study, Winter Water was preliminarily identified by the oxygen isotopic com-positions. The ${\delta}^{18}$O values of Winter Water show the progressively increasing trend from south to north in the study area. It presumably reflects the enhanced mixing with Antarctic Surface Water due to the extent of influence by low S'"0 value of sea-ice/glacier meltwater. Correlations between salinity and 6'"0 values of seawater can be used to more generally characterize Winter Water with a view to identification. However, the prediction on the degree of mixing from these relationships needs more detailed isotope data, although this study allows the oxygen isotopic composition of seawater as a tracer to identify the water mass.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.49-62
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• 2001

Hydrographic surveys were carried out seven times during May 31, 1998 and September 24, 1998 in order to study the physical environments of the coastal area between Narodo Is. and Sorido Is. in the southern sea of Korea (the South Sea) where the occurrence of Cochlodinium polykrikoides red tide is frequently observed in summer. Temperature and salinity of the water column from the surface to the depth of 30 m exhibit large seasonal variations. Mean temperature of the water column increased by 6 and mean salinity of the water column decreased by 2.71 psu during the observation period. Both the freshwater supplied from the adjacent land and the precipitation over the study area cannot account for the observed salinity variations. The influx of the low salinity water from the offshore area is considered to be the main cause for the observed salinity changes. Surface salinity in the study area shows different spatial distribution in the period of outbreaking, mid-stage and disappearance of the red tide. Especially, salinity was abruptly lowered at the stage of disappearance of red tide as compared to salinity of the previous observation period. Vertical structure of water properties also became vertically homogeneous at the disappearance stage, while it was highly stratified in the previous observation. Such changes can only be explained by the inflow of low salinity water from the offshore, which is considered as the most possible cause for the disappearance of the red tide in the study area. This study suggests that exchanges of water, and chemical and biological factors between coastal areas and of shore area in the South Sea need to be studied in association with the general circulation of the South Sea in order for the better understanding of the occurrence and disappearance of the red tide in the coastal area of the South Sea.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.208-216
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• 2014

In case of any coastal ocean near the mouth of huge rivers, low salinity water can be formed due to its large amount of freshwater discharge. For the acoustic analysis on the low salinity environment, some oceanographic data of the East China Sea and the Atlantic Ocean were collected through KODC (Korea Oceanographic Data Center) and NODC (National Oceanographic Data Center) online service. In this paper, the T-S gradient diagram is introduced to show a relation between the gradients of temperature and salinity in view of acoustic surface channel formation. Existence of haline channel, quantitative contribution of gradients of salinity and temperature, effectiveness of the channel formation can be known by the T-S gradient diagram. After applying the collected data into the diagram, tropical regions of the Atlantic Ocean show strong haline channel due to its nearly invariant temperature and drastic change of salinity with depth. The averaged transmission loss in the channel is about 5.7 ~ 7.5 dB less than that out of the channel by the results of acoustic propagation model (RAM: Range independent Acoustic Model). On the other hand, the East China Sea and temperate region of the Atlantic ocean have weaker haline channel with less difference of the averaged transmission loss between in and out of the channel as 3.2 ~ 6.0 dB. Although data samples used in this study have limitation to represent the general physical structures of the three ocean regions, the T-S gradient diagram is shown to be useful and acoustic field affected by low salinity environment is investigated in this study.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2015

Salinity affects sound speed in the low salinity environment, in the seas where freshwater from large rivers and flows into the marginal sea area near the Yangtze River and the Niger River. In this paper, SSC (Surface Sound Channel) formed by low salinity water was investigated in the East China Sea and the Gulf of Guinea of rainy season. The data from KODC (Korea Oceanographic Data Center) in the East China Sea and from ARGO (Array for Real-time Geostrophic Oceanography) in the Gulf of Guinea of the tropical area were used for analysis. SSC haline channel was formed 14 times among 32 SSC occurrences when the 90 data from 9 points were analyzed during a decade (2000 ~ 2009) in the East China Sea. In the Gulf of Guinea, haline channel was formed 18 times among 20 SSC occurrences during 3 years (2006 ~ 2009). When the sound speed gradient was analyzed from temperature-salinity gradient diagram, the gradients of both salinity and temperature affect SSC formation in the East China Sea. In contrast, the salinity gradient mostly affects SSC formation due to the least change of temperature in the well-developed mixed layer in the Gulf of Guinea. Their acoustic characteristics show that channel depth is 6.5 m, critical angle is $1.5^{\circ}$ and difference of transmission loss between surface and thermocline is 11.5 dB in the East China Sea, while channel depth is 18 ~ 24 m, critical angle is $4.0{\sim}5.4^{\circ}$ and difference of transmission loss is 21.5 ~ 27.9 dB in the Gulf of Guinea. These results are expected to be used as a basic understanding of the acoustic transmission changes due to low salinity water at the estuaries and the ocean with heavy precipitation.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 2007

To obtain the overall distribution patterns and characteristics of the East Sea Intermediate Water (ESIW), the historical data obtained by the Japan Maizuru Marine Observatory (MMO) and the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) were analyzed. To obtain water characteristics of the ESIW on isopycnal surfaces, temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen were interpolated at every 0.01 interval of potential density. And then the interpolated values were averaged at the same potential density. This potential density average method preserved the salinity minimum layer more clearly compared to the depth average method. The potential density(${\sigma}_{\theta}$) range of the ESIW was $26.9{\sim}27.3$. The representative potential density of the ESIW was found to be 27.2, because the characteristics of the ESIW was clear at this density. From the horizontal distributions of physical properties on the isopycnal surface of $27.2{\sigma}_{\theta}$ it is suggested that the low salinity ESIW circulates anticlockwise over the whole basin with the high salinity intermediate water. The low salinity intermediate water extended from the northwestern part to the east along the sub-polar front and to the Ulleung Basin along the east coast of Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.151-166
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• 1990

Using the data observed on the Oshoro-maru from November 4 to November 12, 1989 in the East China Sea, the oceanographic conditions were investigated. The results are as follows: The oceanographic condition of surface layer was divided into two regions. One was the Tsushima Current Waters and the other was the China Coastal Waters. The oceanic front was formed between above two waters. Tsushima Current Waters had high temperature ranging 22~24$^{\circ}C$, high salinity ranging 33.5~34.5$\textperthousand$ and low D.O less than 4.5ml/l. And China Coastal Waters had low temperature ranging 18~2$0^{\circ}C$, low salinity less than 23.0$\textperthousand$ and high D.O ranging 4.0~5.0ml/l. In the case of the bottom layer, Tsushima Current Waters and China Coastal Waters appeared the same as the surface layer. In addition, the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Waters and the Southern Bottom Waters of East China Sea distributed together with two surface waters above. The was temperature ranging 15~19$^{\circ}C$, salinity 34.5$\textperthousand$ and low D.O ranging 2.0~3.5ml/l and that was temperature less than 1$0^{\circ}C$, salinity less than 33.3$\textperthousand$ and high D,O greater than 4.5ml/l. The waters of intermediate characteristics between China Coastal Waters and Tsushima Current Waters seem to be resulted from the mixing occurred between the above tow waters, and it had temperature of 20.5~22.$0^{\circ}C$, salinity of 32.3~33.3$\textperthousand$.