• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.429-435
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• 2019

The drifters of the Global Drifter Program were deployed in the northern East Sea for two years from March 2015 to compare and validate currents estimated from sea-level measurements with the SARAL/AltiKa altimetry satellite mission, specially designed to accurately measure sea level in the near-coastal area. The collocated (less than 20 km apart) directly measured current from GPS locations every 30 minutes and the currents normal to the satellite tracks show a similar correlation in the area shallower than 200 m depth as the open ocean and it makes it possible to investigate the time variations of the current along the coast in the northern East sea, where direct observations of current are scarce. The Liman Current along the Siberian coast is found to be southward all year round, but the North Korean Cold Current flows southward only in the summer. The North Korean Cold Current south of the Musudan cape mostly flows to the south, but the current direction depends on the presence of an eddy around the coast of Musudan cape.