• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.166-178
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• 2015

We investigated marine environmental characteristics of Goheung coastal areas in August where is known to be the first outbreak site of Cochlodinium polykrikoides (hereafter C. polykrikoides) blooms, based on the oceanographic data observed from 1993 to 2013 around the Korean southern coastal waters including Eastern China Sea by National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI). The data of NOAA/NGSST satellite images as well as numerical simulation results by Seo et al. [2013] were also used for analysis. Water temperatures at the surface and bottom layers in Goheung coast, i.e. Narodo, were $25.0^{\circ}C$ and $23.7^{\circ}C$ so that they were higher than $23.8^{\circ}C$ and $19.4^{\circ}C$ in Geoje coast where is a reference site, respectively. In addition, salinities at the surface and bottom layers in Goheung coast were 31.78 psu and 31.98 psu so that they were a little higher than 31.54 psu at the surface but a little lower than 32.79 psu at the bottom in Geoje coast, respectively. That is, the differences in water temperature or salinity between the surface and bottom layers in Goheung coast in August were not large compared to Geoje coast. This suggests that stratification in Goheung coast in August is fairly weak or may not be established. In addition, the concentrations of DIN and DIP at the surface layer were 0.068 mg/L ($4.86{\mu}M$) and 0.015 mg/L ($5.14{\mu}M$) in Goheung coast while 0.072 mg/L ($5.14{\mu}M$) and 0.01 mg/L ($0.32{\mu}M$) in Geoje coast, so they did not indicate a meaningful difference. On the other hand, when C. polykrikoides blooms, water temperature and salinity in August at the station 317-22 ($31.5^{\circ}N$, $124^{\circ}E$) of the East China Sea, where is near the mouth of Yangtze River, were $27.8^{\circ}C$ and 31.61 psu, respectively. Thus, water temperature was much higher whereas salinity was almost similar compared to Goheung coast. Furthermore, concentrations of $NO_3-N$ and $PO_4-P$ in the East China Sea in August were remarkably high compared to Goheung coast. When C. polykrikoides blooms, according to not only the image data of satellites NOAA/NGSST but also numerical experiment results by Seo et al.[2013], the freshwater out of Yangtze River was judged to clearly affect the Korean southern coastal waters. Therefore, the supply of nutrients in terms of Yangtze River may greatly contribute to the outbreak of C. polykrikoides blooms in Goheung coast in summer.