• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.457-473
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• 1992

The first order wave equation over a double shelf has wind stresses on both coastal boundaries and wind stress curl forcing across the shelf. In the Yellow Sea, the effect of wind stress curl can be neglected as a forcing of shelf waves. The decay distance of Kelvin waves is much greater than that of continental shelf waves so that Kelvin waves are transmitted nearly intact through the northern embayment. The numerical method of characteristics has been modified to accomodate wave propagation of opposite directions. Using a little more realistic coastline, the wave model hindcast has been improved for current velocity, but hardly for sea level. It means that Kelvin waves, which mainly determine sea levels, are affected little by the change of bottom slope. For a better hindcast of sea level, input energy of Kelvin waves transmitted from the East China Sea is needed. The basic structure of downwind flows along the coasts and upwind flows along the trough supports the seasonal circulations driven by monsoon winds in the Yellow Sea.

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.153-160
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• 2008

The distribution of the taxonomical composition and the density of meiobenthos depending on some factors of environment has been studied in bottom sediments of the northern estuary part of Ha Long Bay (Cua Luc estuary). The basic factor of influence on meiobenthic community structure was the granulometric composition of sediment. The greatest taxonomic diversity is noted in the silted sands, lowest - in the silty sediments. The density of meiobenthic community was higher in the silty sediments. Slightly expressed correlation between the density of nematodes and the percentage of silty particles in the sediments is detected (Spearman rank correlation coefficient was $0.49{\pm}0.21$, p=0.035). The nematodes were dominant at all stations. In total, representatives of 66 species of nematodes belonging to 17 families and 52 genera were identified.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.38-46
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• 1991

size data of 1,044 surface sediments from Korean shelf area were compiled and reexamined. Size distribution curves of the sediments are unimodal (31% of the total number), bimodal (54%), or multimodal 915%), Size curves of the sediments and modal subpopulations of the mixed sediments show resemblance to normal curve in shape. The modal mean value shows systematic change along a direction inside the Recent mud belts of the southeastern Yellow Sea and west of Korea Strait. It was found that the areas covered by unimodal sand are minimal value areas of heavy metal and suspended sediment-concentration in the southeastern Yellow Sea and northern East China transport processes during Recent time. It was also found that the mode analysis is useful method to extract information from sediment size data.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.100-110
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• 2005

We carried oui a study on the marine environment and distribution of phytoplankton community, such as chlorophyll a, species composition, dominant species and standing crops in the Northern East China Sea during early summer of 2004. According to the analysis of a T-S diagram, three characteristics of water masses were identified. We classified them into the coastal water mass, the cold water mass and the oceanic water mass. The first was characterized by the low temperature and the low salinity originated from China territory, the secondary was characterized by the low temperature, the low salinity and the high density originated from bottom cold water of Yellow Sea, and the third was done by the high temperature and salinity originated from Tsushima warm current. The internal discontinuous layer among them was farmed at the intermediate depth (about $5{\sim}30m$ layer). And the thermal front by upwelling region between the cold water mass and Tsushima warm current appeared in the central parts of the South Sea of Korea. The Phytoplankton community in the surface and stratified layers was a total of 44 species belonging to 26 genera. Dominant species were Prorocentrum triestinum, Scrippsiella trochoidea, Skeletonema costatum & Leptocylindrus mediterraneus. Standing crops of phytoplankton in the surface layer fluctuated between $0.3{\times}10^3$ cells/L and $10.8{\times}10^3$ cells/L. Diatoms appeared mainly in the Tsushima warm current regions, and flagellates occurred in the frontal zone and the low salinity regions where was the transfer areas of Chinese continental coastal waters. Chlorophyll a concentration by controlled phytoflagellate ratio in the South Sea of Korea was high values in the frontal zone and sub-surface layer. It was high concentration in the upwelling and coastal waters regions, but low concentration in the Tsushima warm current regions. The Chl-a maximum layers appeared in the thermochline depth or sub-surface layer lower than thermocline. The phytoplankton production in the South Sea of Korea was controlled by the expanded coastal waters of Chinese Continent which include a high concentrations of nutrients.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.34 no.6_1
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• pp.953-968
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• 2018

In order to understand the change of surface water temperature in the East China Sea (ECS), this study analyzed the relationship between sea surface temperature (SST), air temperature (AT) and heat flux using satellite and model reanalysis data from 2003 to 2017. SST in the ECS showed the lowest (average : $13.72^{\circ}C$) in March and the highest (average : $28.12^{\circ}C$) in August. AT is highly correlated with SST and shows a similar seasonal change. In August, SST is higher than AT and then continuously higher than AT until winter. To analyze the change of the summer SST in the ECS, we used the SST anomaly value in August to classify the periods with positive (04', 06', 07', 13', 16', 17') and negative (03', 05', 08', 09', 10', 11', 12', 14', 15') values. Spatial similarity between the two periods indicates that SSTs are relatively larger variations in the northern part than in the southern part, and in the western part than in the eastern part in the study area. AT and net heat flux values also show similar changes with SST. However, the periods of the positive SST anomaly have the relatively increasing SST, AT and heat flux values compared to the periods of the negative SST anomaly in the summer season of the ECS. Although the change of SST in the summer season generally well correlates with AT, there were the periods when it was different from general trends between SST and AT (10', 12', 15', 16'). SST in August 2010 and 2012 decreased by $0.5^{\circ}C$ from AT. It suggests that the decreasing SST was considered to be caused by the effects of the typhoon passing through the study area. In August 2015, AT was relatively lower than SST (> $0.5^{\circ}C$), which is might be weakening of the East Asian Summer Monsoon. In August 2016, SST and AT show the highest values during the whole study periods, but SST is higher than AT (> $1^{\circ}C$). From satellite and heat flux data, the variations of SST have been shown to be relatively higher in the area of the expansion Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW) originated from the China coast. More research is needed to analyze this phenomenon, it is believed as not only the effect of rising AT but also the expansion of the low-salinity water.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.331-341
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• 2005

Distribution of anchovy (Engraulis japonica) eggs and larvae was studied in the southwestern sea of Korea in July and November, 2001. Anchovy eggs were found mainly in the oceanic fronts of the northern sea area which were formed in the offshore area of Chuja Is. Bogil Is. and Chungsan Is. from west to east. Anchovy eggs were also found in the surrounding sea of Cheju Is. in the southern sea front area. The waters were highly heterogeneous and the water masses were bordered based on temperature $(10.8-26.4^{\circ}C)$ and salinity (28.9-33.7 psu). The anchovy eggs were mostly found outside of the China Coastal Water, where salinity was below 31 psu. The anchovy eggs were not found in November. Abundance of the anchovy larvae were higher in July than November. Temperature ranged from $10.8^{\circ}C\;to\;25.9^{\circ}C\;and\;15.9^{\circ}C\;to\;20.5^{\circ}C$, and salinity ranged from 28.9psu to 34.1psu and 33.2psu to 34.1psu in July and November, respectively. Non-swimmable larvae were found throughout the whole area of the southwestern sea of Korea. The area beyond the oceanic front had anchovy eggs dispersed from the spawning grounds to offshore. Dispersion pattern showed that the eggs were transported from the spawning grounds with a process of advection and diffusion based on the flow pattern which were caused by winds. Distribution pattern of the anchovy eggs and larvae may be used for the prediction of oceanic currents in each area.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.337-345
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• 2003

Surficial sediments from the northern coastal area of Jeju Island, southeastern Yellow Sea (South Sea of Korea) were analyzed for grain-size texture, some geochemical characteristics and clay mineralogy in order to assess their provenance. Rare-earth element compositions and some geochemical discrimination diagrams, especially of Ti/Al, Nb/Al and Rb/Al ratios, were revealed to be useful indices for identifying the origin of sediments. These indices, together with clay mineral compositions, suggest that the coarse-grained sediments originate from the volcanic rocks of Jeju Island, whereas the fine-grained sediments are derived from Chinese rivers, especially the Changjiang River. The oceanic circulation pattern and the physical-chemical properties of seawater in the Yellow and East China seal support the possibility that the fine-pained Changjiang (Yangtze River) sediments can reach the coastal area of Jeju Island (southeastern Yellow Sea).

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.355-370
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• 2020

We conducted a field survey to analyze the ecological structure and spatial distribution of microplankton (phytoplankton and ciliates) in relation to water masses at 21 stations on the surface and chlorophyll-a maximum layers (CML) in the Northern East China Sea (nECS; 32°-33°N; 124°00'-127°30'E) from August 3 to August 6, 2019. The results showed that the water masses were divided into Chinese Coastal Waters (CCW) and the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC). The CCW showed the environmental characteristics of high temperature and low salinity, and the TWC showed high temperature and high salinity. The characteristics of the phytoplankton community in the CCW showed various community structures related to the nutrients supplied from the large rivers of the Chinese continent. However, the TWC had simple community structures because it originated near the equator and moved northward. The standing crops of phytoplankton and ciliates were very high in the CCW but showed low at the TWC. In particular, from the higher standing crops of protozoa than plant plankton at the TWC, the energy flow at the lower tropic levels caused by the microbial loop that fed on heterotrophic bacteria played an important role in the production of resource organisms. In other words, the marine ecological structure of the nECS in summer could be estimated as a bottom-up system at the CCW and a top-down system at the TWC.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.600-607
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• 2010

In 2008, multiple episodes of large-scale transport of natural airborne particles and anthropogenically affected particles from different sources in the East Asian continent were identified in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite RGB-composite images and the mass concentrations of ground level particulate matters. To analyze the aerosol size distribution during the large-scale transport of atmospheric aerosols, both aerosol optical depth (AOD; proportional to the aerosol total loading in the vertical column) and fine aerosol weighting (FW; fractional contribution of fine aerosol to the total AOD) of Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol products were used over the East Asian region. The six episodes of massive natural airborne particles were observed at Cheongwon, originating from sandstorms in northern China, Mongolia and the loess plateau of China. The $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ stood at 70% and 16% of the total mass concentration of TSP, respectively. However, the mass concentration of $PM_{2.5}$ among TSP increased as high as 23% in the episode in which they were flowing in by way f the industrial area in east China. In the other five episodes of anthropogenically affected particles that flowed into the Korean Peninsula from east China, the mass concentrations of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ among TSP reached 82% and 65%, respectively. The average AOD for the large-scale transport of anthropogenically affected particle episodes in the East Asian region was measured at $0.42{\pm}0.17$ compared with AOD ($0.36{\pm}0.13$) for the natural airborne particle episodes. Particularly, the regions covering east China, the Yellow Sea, the Korean Peninsula, and the east Korean sea were characterized by high levels of AOD. The average FW values observed during the event of anthropogenically affected aerosols ($0.63{\pm}0.16$) were moderately higher than those of natural airborne particles ($0.52{\pm}0.13$). This observation suggests that anthropogenically affected particles contribute greatly to the atmospheric aerosols in East Asia.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.550-564
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• 1995

The temporal and spatial characteristics of wind fields over the neighbouring seas of the Korean peninsula are investigated using 10-years daily wind data during 1978${\sim}$1987 which have been spatially smoothed and low-pass filtered. Long term annual and monthly means are examined for synoptic patterns and spectral analyses are made for temporal variability and spatial coherence. Spatial patterns of the annual mean wind stress and curl have a strong resemblance with those of monthly means during the winter season. Two outstanding periodicities are observed at 1 and 2 cycles per year. The synoptic winds over the study area are highly coherent at both the annual and semi-annual periodicities. However, each basin has its own characteristic spatial pattern. For instance, the prevailing wind during the winter season is northerIy over the northern East Sea (ES), Yellow Sea (YS), and northern East China Sea (ECS), while it is northwesterly over the southern ES and northesterly over the northern ES and southern ECS. At the same time, the wind stress curl is positive over the northern ES and southern ECS, while it is negative over the southern ES, YS and northern ECS. On the other hand, the wind field during the summer season, with its strength being much reduced, is completely different from that during the winter season, and frequent passage of tropical storms provokes large temporal variability over ECS. One remarkable point is that the annual cycle, dominated by the Siberian High, tends to propagate from northeast to southwest, i.e., from northern 25 toward southern ES, YS and ECS, while the semi-annual cycle propagates in the opposite direction, from southwest to northeast. The semi-annual periodicity may reflect development of extratropical cyclones in spring and fall which frequently cross the Korean peninsula. In higher frequencies, there are no dominant periodicities, but local winds over YS and ES are highly correlated for frequencies larger than 0.1 cycles per day and phase difference increases linearly with frequency. This linear increase of phase corresponds to phase speed of 550 and 730 km/d at 0.1 and 0.3 cpd, respectively, The phase speed is apparently coincident with moving speed of extratropical cyclones across the Korean peninsula in the west-east direction.