• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.211-223
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• 2020

With the increasing demand for improved marine environments and safety, greater ability to minimize damages to coastal areas from harmful organisms, ship accidents, oil spills, etc. is required. In this regard, an accurate assessment and understanding of current systems is a crucial step to improve forecasting ability. In this study, we examine spatial and temporal characteristics of current systems in the adjacent seas of Jeju Island using a high-resolution regional ocean circulation model. Our model successfully captures the features of tides and tidal currents observed around Jeju Island. The tide form number calculated from the model result ranges between 0.3 and 0.45 in the adjacent seas of Jeju Island, indicating that the dominant type of tides is a combination of diurnal and semidiurnal, but predominantly semidiurnal. The spatial pattern of tidal current ellipses show that the tidal currents oscillate in a northwest-southeast direction and the rotating direction is clockwise in the adjacent seas of Jeju Island and counterclockwise in the Jeju Strait. Compared to the mean kinetic energy, the contribution of tidal current energy prevails the most parts of the region, but largely decreases in the eastern seas of Jeju Island where the Tsushima Warm Current is dominant. In addition, a Lagrangian particle-tracking experiment conducted suggests that particle trajectories in tidal currents flowing along the coast may differ substantially from the mean current direction. Thus, improving our understanding of tidal currents is essential to forecast the transport of marine pollution and harmful organisms in the adjacent seas of Jeju Island.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.1-23
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• 2009

This study applied satellite radar imagery to identify flooded areas and examined post-flooding conditions using time-series satellite radar imagery for the development of flood damage mitigation strategies. Using time-series satellite radar images, this study constructed a map delineating areas vulnerable to frequent flood damage. The extracted flooded areas were combined with reference land use maps to examine flood damage by land use type. Major landuse types with severe flood damage were agricultural and forested areas. The analysis of the damage conditions, in terms of land use, served as the basis for developing flood damage mitigation policies, in conjunction with land use planning. The policies for flood damage mitigation can be summarized as land use regulations, land use planning, and flood damage mapping. A preventive measure to minimize flood damage of properties, which regulates developing areas with high flooding potential, is highly recommended. Although this study suggested a number of policies for flood damage mitigation, they represent only a small number of possible policies useful for mitigating flood damage and other environmental problems. Based upon the results of this study, it may be concluded that satellite radar imagery has great potential in providing basic data for large-scale environmental problems such as flooding and oil spills. Nevertheless, further examinations should be conducted and the application of satellite radar imagery should be used to examine other environmental problems.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.845-859
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• 2020

Climate change and recent heat waves have drawn public attention toward other environmental issues, such as water pollution in the form of algal blooms, chemical leaks, and oil spills. Water pollution by the leakage of chemicals may severely affect human health as well as contaminate the air, water, and soil and cause discoloration or death of crops that come in contact with these chemicals. Chemicals that may spill into water streams are often colorless and water-soluble, which makes it difficult to determine whether the water is polluted using the naked eye. When a chemical spill occurs, it is usually detected through a simple contact detection device by installing sensors at locations where leakage is likely to occur. The drawback with the approach using contact detection sensors is that it relies heavily on the skill of field workers. Moreover, these sensors are installed at a limited number of locations, so spill detection is not possible in areas where they are not installed. Recently hyperspectral images have been used to identify land cover and vegetation and to determine water quality by analyzing the inherent spectral characteristics of these materials. While hyperspectral sensors can potentially be used to detect chemical substances, there is currently a lack of research on the detection of chemicals in water streams using hyperspectral sensors. Therefore, this study utilized remote sensing techniques and the latest sensor technology to overcome the limitations of contact detection technology in detecting the leakage of hazardous chemical into aquatic systems. In this study, we aimed to determine whether 18 types of hazardous chemicals could be individually classified using hyperspectral image. To this end, we obtained hyperspectral images of each chemical to establish a spectral library. We expect that future studies will expand the spectral library database for hazardous chemicals and that verification of its application in water streams will be conducted so that it can be applied to real-time monitoring to facilitate rapid detection and response when a chemical spill has occurred.