• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.33-44
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• 2012

Transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) are formed by aggregation of polysaccharide products excreted by phytoplankton and have sticky character like gel. They play important role in the production of marine snow in water column. To study the distribution pattern of TEP concentration and its role in carbon cycle in the surface ocean, we measured pH, Total alkalinity (TA), and chlorophyll-a in addition to physical characteristics of seawater within the surface water column. TEP concentrations ranged from nearly undetectable values to $338{\mu}g\;Xeq\;l^{-1}$. They were considerably lower than previously reported values from costal sites, but showed similar values observed in other oceanic region during phytoplankton bloom periods. The spatial distribution of TEP concentrations were similar to those of chlorophyll-a, which indicate that the production of TEP were closely related to phytoplankton. Calculated total dissolved inorganic carbon ($TCO_2$) from the pH and TA was normalized to 35 psu of salinity ($NTCO_2$) and showed negative linear relationship with temperature. Biological drawdown of $NTCO_2$ ($NTCO_{2bio}$) was estimated from the difference between theoretical $NTCO_2$ values and observed $NTCO_2$. In the warm region located south of $40^{\circ}N$ along the $132.5^{\circ}N$ meridional lines, $NTCO_{2bio}$ showed negative value and TEP concentrations were high. This suggested that negative $NTCO_{2bio}$ may be attributed to the biological processes. At the stations located between 44 and $46^{\circ}N$, TEP concentrations showed high concentration at the chlorophyll-a maximum layer within the water column while they showed low concentration in the surface layer. Carbon content of TEP constituted about 40% of $NTCO_{2bio}$ at the chlorophylla maximum layer. In this study, we could not observe any positive and negative relationship between TEP concentration and $NTCO_2$ or pH. It is obvious that we should consider the importance of TEP in the biological carbon cycling processes within surface layer.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.503-526
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• 1996

A synoptic survery of chemical characteristics in the last Sea of Korea was carried out at the 11 stations near Ullungdo in November, 1994 on board R/V Tam-Yang. On the basis of the vortical distribution patterns of temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen, water masses in the study area are divided into five groups; 1) Tsushima Surface Water (TSW), 2) Tsushima Middle Water (TMW), 3) East Sea Intermediate Water (ESIW), 4) last Sea Proper Water (ESPW), 5) Mixed Water (MW). In the vertical profiles of nutrients, the concentrations were very low in the surface layer and increased rapidly near the thermocline. There was a slight decrease in the ESIW and the concentrations were constant with the depth below 300m except dissolved silicate which still increased with depth. Relatively high value of Si/P ratio (25.2) in ESPW, whick is the oldest water mass, suggests that Si is regenerating more slowly compared to other nutrients. The relatively high value of N/P ratio (18.6) in the surface layer might be related to high vertical eddy diffusivity $(K_z)$ of $1.19\;cm^{2}/sec$ and high nitrate upward flux of $103.7\;{\mu}g-at/m^{2}/hr$, compared to the values reported in other areas. Apparent Oxygen Utilization (AOU) was very low in the surface layer and increased in the TMW, but there was a slight decrease in the ESIW. The highest value of AOU occurred in the ESPW. The slpoe of P/AOU was 0.50. The study on the relationship between water masses and nutrient distribution patterns is important in understanding the regeneration processes of nutrients in the polar region of the last Sea.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.131-140
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• 2006

Suspended particulate matter and organic carbon were measured in the Mankyoung river estuary in February, May, July and August 2003. There was a large variance in river discharge between the dry season of February and May and the wet season of July and August. The influx of dissolved organic carbon into the estuary was $8.16{\times}10^2tonC\;month^{-1}$ in the dry season and $5.77{\times}10^3tonC\;month^{-1}$ in the wet season. The influx of particulate organic carbon was $9.37{\times}10^2tonC\;month^{-1}$ and $3.14{\times}10^4tonC\;month^{-1}$ in the dry and wet seasons, respectively. Especially, dissolved organic carbon in the northern part of the site inside the dike was increased in July when torrential rainfall was high. In the research, the distribution of dissolved organic carbon showed conservative behavior with the salinity gradient in the estuary, suggesting that physical mixing between seawater and freshwater dominates the distribution pattern of the dissolved organic carbon in the system. However 60 to 90% of the particulate organic carbon introduced into the estuary was removed from the surface water at the upper estuarine mixing zone of low salinities, showing non-conservative behavior similar with suspended particulate matte r. The completion of the Saemangum Dike is likely to inhibit the exchange of materials between open sea and the Mankyoung estuary. This suggests that the oxidation of organic carbon in the bottom of the estuary may exhaust dissolved oxygen in the confined environment.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.119-130
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• 2000

Mn, Zn, Cd and Pb in shells of Littorina brevicula, which lives ubiquitously in intertidal zone around the Korean coast, were analyzed to determine the relationship between metal levels in its shell, ambient seawater and its tissue. Periwinkles and seawater samples were collected from 38 sites along the Korean coast in January 1997. Mn contents in shells of this organism show the range of 7.0 ${\mu}g$/g-211 ${\mu}g$/g (mean 59 ${\mu}g$/g) and are the lowest in northern east coast but high in western south and west coast. Close relationship between Mn contents in shells and metal levels both in seawater and in tissues indicates that Mn in shell might be incorporated from ambient seawater by a biological process. Although the contents of Cd in shells did not reflect the distribution of total Cd in seawaters and they were very low compared to those in tissues, they followed spatial gradient of contents in tissues. However, the spatial distribution of Zn contents in shells accords neither ambient seawater nor tissues, while it is negatively correlated with the contents of Na in shells. This fact suggests that Zn contents might be controlled by salinity of ambient seawater. On the contrary, Zn contents in highly polluted sites near Onsan Bay show generally higher levels than other sites. The contents of Pb show the range of 0.1 ${\mu}g$/g-17.5 ${\mu}g$/g (mean 1.01 ${\mu}g$/g) and the highest in sites near Onsan Bay. Although the spatial distribution of shell Pb does not follow those of tissue, Pb in shells of Littorina brevicula may be controlled both by shell secretion process and by Pb levels in ambient seawater because the contents of Pb in the shell decrease steadily with growth and vary with levels of Pb in ambient seawater.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.24 no.1 s.61
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• pp.67-80
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• 2006

The effect of environmental forcing on picophytoplankton distribution pattern was investigated in the tropical and subtropical western Pacific (TSWP) and the East Sea in September, 2002, and the continental shelf of the East China Sea (C-ECS) in August, 2003. The abundance of picophytoplankton populations, Synechococcus, Prochlorococcus and picoeukaryotes were determined by flow cytometry analyses. Picophytoplankton vertical profiles and integrated abundance $(0\sim100\;m)$ were compared with these three physiochemically different regions. Variation patterns of integrated cell abundance of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus in these three regions showed contrasting results. Synechococcus showed average abundance of $84.5X10^{10}\;cells\;m^{-2}$, in the TSWP, $305.6X10^{10}\;cells\;m^{-2}$ in the C-ECS, and $125.4X10^{10}\;cells\; m^{-2}$ in the East Sea where increasing cell concentrations were observed in the region with abundant nutrient. On the other hand, Prochlorococcus showed average abundance of $504.5X10^{10}\;cells\;m^{-2}$ in the TSWP, $33.2x10^{10}\;cells\;m^{-2}$ in the C-ECS, and $130.2X10^{10}\;cells\;m^{-2}$ in the East Sea exhibiting a distinctive pattern of increasing cell abundance in oligotrophic warm water. Although picoeukaryotes showed a similar pattern to Synechococcus, the abundance was 1/10 of Synechococcus. Synechococcus and picoeukaryotes showed ubiquitous distribution whereas Prochlorococcus generally did not appear in the C-ECS and the East Sea with low salinity environment. The average depth profiles for Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus displayed uniform abundance in the surface mixed layer with a rapid decrease below the surface mixed layer. for Prochlorococcus, a similar rapid decreasing trend was not observed below the surface mixed layer of the TSWP, but Prochlorococcus continued to show high cell abundance even down to 100 m depth. Picoeukaryotes showed uniform abundance along $0\sim100\;m$ depth in the C-ECS, and abundance maximum layer appeared in the East Sea at $20\sim30\;m$ depth.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.203-215
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• 2006

Field observations on the spatio-temporal distribution of organic matter of the surface sediment were carried out at 15 stations in the central parts of the South Sea of Korea from April 2002 to January 2003. The range of water temperature and salinity in bottom waters, mud content and water content of surface sediment were $8.06{\sim}23.35^{\circ}C,\;29.20{\sim}34.51\;psu,\;71.2{\sim}99.9%$ and $38.7{\sim}68.9%$, respectively. Measured parameters on the surface sediments of ignition loss (IL), chemical oxygen demand (CODs), phaeopigment, particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate organic nitrogen (PON) also ranged in $3.9{\sim}l2.5%,\;9.60{\sim}44.05\;mgO_2/g-dry,\;1.58{\sim}29.51\;{\mu}g/g-dry,\;3.12{\sim}13.01\;mgC/g-dry$ and $0.49{\sim}2.00\;mgN/g-dry$, respectively. The spatio-temporal distribution of organic matter demonstrated higher concentrations offshore than at lesions near the coastal line. Higher concentrations occurred in the summer and spring. The results indicated that the origin of organic matter in surface sediments in the central part of the South Sea was autochthonous rather than allocthonous because the organic matter had an average C/N ratio of 6.44 (${\pm}0.51$). However, the composition of autochthonous organic matter was mainly derived from detritus rather than living phytoplankton, which was Indicated by the results of the POC/phaeopigment ratio. A principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that 73.2% of the variability in the data was described by two factors: 1) an 'environmental factor concerning the accumulation of materials (57.3%)' and 2) 'origin of organic matter and the composition by primary production (15.9%)'. The sedimentary environment in the central part of the South Sea was divided into four regions from the factor score of the PCA by the concentrations of organic matter and the composition ratio of organic matters from phytoplankton in surface sediments.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.186-200
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• 2022

In order to understand the species composition and distribution characteristics of larval assemblages in the East Sea, Korea, larvae were collected at 13 stations every other month from February to December 2018. Fish larvae were identified through DNA barcoding along with morphological methods, and as the result, a total of 104 taxonomic groups appeared during the survey. Among these, Engraulis japonicus, which accounted for 76.2% of the total population, was the most dominant species, followed by Maurolicus japonicus, which accounted for 15.0%. In addition, Ammodytes personatus, Champsodon snyderi, Scomber japonicus and Echelus uropterus appeared more frequently than other taxa. The above six species accounted for 93.2% of the total catch. The number of taxa and the amount of larvae collected in the survey area were higher during the high water temperature periods (June to October) than during the low water temperature periods (February, April and December). Analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) showed a statistically significant difference in monthly larval assemblages. The results of the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) show that the distributions of larval community were mainly affected by sea surface temperature during low water temperature periods, and various environmental factors such as salinity, dry weight of zooplankton, and the concentrations of nutrients during high water temperature periods.

• ALGAE
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.235-245
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• 2004

A study on seasonal characteristics of phytoplankton dynamics and environmental factors was carried out at four stations including Mara-do and U-do located in the western and eastern coast of Jeju Island in southern Korea from April 2003 to March 2004. Out of 101 phytoplankton species identified, 84 belong to Bacillariophyceae, 9 Dinophyceae, 6 phytoflagellates and 2 coccolithophorids, and the highest value of species diversity was observed in April. Phytoplankton was more abundant at the western coast than at the eastern coast from March to September and its highest abundance was 49.24 ${\times}$ 10$^3$ cells L$^{-1}$ at Mara-do in July. The pennate diatoms were more abundant at the western coast than at the eastern coast with the highest abundance of 38.75 ${\times}$ 10$^3$ cells L$^{-1}$ at Mara-do in July, and during this period Nitzschia longissima contributed 68.5% of the total phytoplankton abundance. Naviculaceae was more abundant at Gosan (western coast) in November when Stauroneis membranacea represented 80.1% of the abundance. Leptocylindrus dances contributed 49.4% of the abundance at U-do in November. Dinophyceae was more abundant at U-do in August. Water temperature and pH fluctuated from 11.7${^{\circ}C}$ to 27.1${^{\circ}C}$ and from 7.31 to 8.70, respectively. Water temperature of Mara-do was about 1-2${^{\circ}C}$ higher than the other stations. Salinity varied from 30.4 to 35.0 psu with the minimum in rainy season and the maximum at the end of winter. The concentration of NH$_4$-N, NO$_3$-N, NO$_2$-N, PO$_4$-P and SiO$_2$-Si ranged 0.07-6.79, 1.0-62.0, 1.0-8.0, 1.0-7.0 and 7.0-191.0 $\mu$g-at L$^{-1}$, respectively. Chlorophyll a concentrations varied from 0.10 to 1.17 $\mu$g L$^{-1}$. NH$_4$-N concentrations were high at U-do from May to December, and at Mara-do from January to February. The high concentrations of NO$_3$-N were found at Mara-do from June to September and at U-do from January to May. The effects of various physicochemical parameters on the seasonal distribution and succession of phytoplankton population suggest that there is a classical pattern of phytoplankton dynamics in Jeju coastal waters.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.315-326
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• 2013

This study investigated the temporal-spatial distribution and variations in water quality parameters (temperature, salinity, pH, DO, COD, SPM, DIN, DIP, silicate, TN, TP, and chlorophyll-a) in the coastal area of Jeju, Korea, adjacent to aquaculture ponds (Aewol-ri, Haengwon-ri, Pyosun-ri, and Ilkwa-ri). Data were collected bimonthly from February 2010 to December 2011. A principal component analysis (PCA) identified three major factors controlling variations in water quality during the sampling period. Aquaculture effluent water led to large changes in nutrient levels. The highest nutrient values were observed during the investigation period. The relatively large increase in organic matter at the sampling stations coupled with sea area runoff events during the summer rainy period. Variation in chlorophyll-a concentration was mainly driven by meteorological factors such as air temperature and rainfall in the coastal areas of Aewol and Haengwon. In the coastal areas of Pyosun and Ilkwa, pollution was caused by anthropogenic factors such as discharge of aquaculture effluent water. High nutrient concentrations at the majority of the coastal stations indicate eutrophication of coastal waters, especially within a distance of 300 m and depth of 10m from drainage channels. Coastal eutrophication driven by aquaculture effluent may be harmful inshore. Events such as eutrophication may potentially influence water pollution in aquaculture ponds when seawater intake is detected because of aquaculture effluent water.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2017

Nakdong River Estuary is affected by the dam, barrage construction and dredge and reclaim worked artificially. So, we have studied the area input both freshwater and sea water to understand marine environment of Nakdong River estuary related to the effect of artificial work from 2013 to 2015. As a result, The discharge flow to the estuary remarkably decreased before barrage construction and the average of salinity at the estuary increased. So, the brackish water zone reduced under the influence of decreased discharge flow. The major sources of nitrate and silicate were freshwater, phosphate supplied from bottom and the open sea water. The concentration of phosphate and dissolved oxygen (DO) decreased remarkably in spring and summer. we investigated that phosphate in freshwater was removed under the influence of the estuary dam and phosphate in sea water was removed under the influence of phytoplankton. The low concentration of DO was due to decomposition of the organic compound by microorganism after phytoplankton blooms. Generally, the concentrations of chlorophyll-a in summer was higher than spring and fall. Therefore, the change of ecosystem in Nakdong river estuary was due to decrease of freshwater influx, the other change is facing because of the barrage.