• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2016

Recently, there has been a growing interest in physical-biological ocean-modeling systems by communities in the fields of science and business. In this paper, we present preliminary results from a coupled physical-biological model for the Northwestern Pacific marginal seas. The ocean circulation component is an implementation of the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), and the lower trophic level ecosystem component is a Nutrient-Phytoplankton-Zooplankton-Detritus (NPZD) model. The ROMS-NPZD coupled system, with a 25 km resolution, is forced by climatological atmospheric data and predicts the physical variables and concentrations of nitrate, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and detritus. Model results are compared with remote-sensed sea surface temperature and chlorophyll, and with climatological sea surface salinity and nitrate. Our model adequately reproduces the observed spatial distribution and seasonal variability of nitrate and chlorophyll concentrations as well as physical variables, showing a high correlation in the East Sea (ES) and Kuroshio/Oyashio Extension (KOE) region but relatively low correlation in the Yellow Sea (YS) and East China Sea (ECS). Although some deficiencies were found in the biological components, such as the over/underestimation of the intensity of phytoplankton blooms in the ES and KOE/the YS and ECS, our system demonstrates the capability of the model to capture and record dominant seasonal variability in physical-biological processes and this holds out the promise of coming to a better understanding of such processes and making better predictions .

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.413-427
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• 1991

Variability of sea levels at Mukho and Ullungdo and sea level difference(SLD) associated with current is investigated. Time series of adjusted sea levels at both places have very similar pattern of change. Two components appear to contribute to the correlation between sea level and SLD. Low frequency thermosteric effect causes the sea level to rise and fall at the same time. Geostrophic effect of major currents is responsible for the sea level change in opposite ways at both sides. Two contributions have a cancelling effect for sea level change at Mukho while they are additive at Ullungdo. Characteristics of time series in frequency domain are divided into two parts with respect to 0.01 cycles per day(cpd). At Mukho, the cancelling effect yields small values of coherence for low-frequency bands whereas the dominant geostrophic influence may be responsible for the phase relations of about $\pm 180^{\circ}$ between sea level and SLD at higher frequency. Bimonthly dynamic height difference(DHD) between Mukho and Ullungdo is very significantly correlated with SLD. This result suggests that DHD thus the average velocity of current through the Mukho-Ullungdo section can successfully be diagnosed by the sea level records at both locations. For the annual variations, maximum SLD occurs at Mukho-Ullungdo section about 40 days later than the Korea Strait.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.89-105
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• 2008

Sea level and atmospheric pressure data of 1999-2005 from four stations along the Korean east coast were analyzed to understand the sea level variability and its causal mechanism. The results of the wavelet and the auto-spectrum analyses indicate that the sea level fluctuations of 3-17 day period are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level, especially in spring to early summer. In this period, the coherency between the sea levels and the atmospheric pressures in a cross-spectrum is high, implying the importance of an inverted barometric effect in generation of the sea level fluctuations. To learn about the sea level variability, the cross-spectrum analyses were applied between the sea levels of the adjacent stations. The results show a case of southward phase propagations along the coast, as in 1999, 2003 and 2005, and an another case of no progressive phase lags between the stations, as in 2000-2002, and 2004. The phase speed in the former case is 12-15 m/s, which is a commonly observed phase speed of coastal Kelvin waves. Generation of such fluctuations seems to be related to low pressure cells developed in the Asian continent in spring and summer and moving eastward over the coastal region north of the stations. The latter case of no progressive phase lag, however, occurs when the low pressure cells developed in the continent move along the region south of the stations. In this case, the northeastward phase propagation with a speed of 5-8 m/s is observed along the southwestern coast of Japan.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.313-324
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• 2008

In order to understand the variation of ENSO-related oceanic environments in the tropical and North Pacific Ocean, spatio-temporal variations of sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) and sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) are analyzed from distributions of complex empirical orthogonal functions (CEOF). Correlations among warm pool variation, southern oscillation index, and ocean surface currents were also examined with respect to interannual variability of the warm pool in western tropical Pacific. Spatio-temporal distributions of the first CEOF modes for SSTA and SSHA indicate that their variabilities are associated with ENSO events, which have a variance over 30% in the North Pacific. The primary reasons for their variabilities are different; SST is predominantly influenced by the change of barrier layer thickness, while SSH fluctuates with the same phase as propagation of an ENSO episode in the zonal direction. Horizontal boundary of warm pool area, which normally centered around $149^{\circ}E$ in the tropics, seemed to be expanded to the middle and eastern tropical regions by strong zonal currents through the mature phase of an ENSO episode.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.349-366
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• 2007

Seasonal variations of various physicochemical components (temperature, salinity, pH, DO, COD, DOC, nutrients-silicate, DIN, DIP) and potential limiting factor for phytoplankton primary production were studied in the surface water of semi-enclosed Masan Bay. Seasonal variations of nutrient concentrations, with lower values in summer and winter, and higher in fall, are probably controlled by freshwater loadings to the bay, benthic flux and magnitude of occurrence of phytoplankton communities. Their spatial distributional patterns are primarily dependent on physical mixing process between freshwater and coastal seawater, which result in a decreasing spatial gradient from inner to outer part of the bay. In the fall season of strong wave action, the major part of nutrient inputs (silicate, ammonium, dissolved inorganic phosphorus) comes from regeneration (benthic flux) at sediment-water interface. During the summer period, high Si:DIN and Si:DIP and low DIN:DIP relative to Redfield ratios suggest a N- and secondarily P-deficiency. During other seasons, however, silicate is the potential limiting factor for primary production, although the Si-deficiency is less pronounced in the outer region of the bay. Indeed, phytoplankton communities in Masan Bay are largely affected by the seasonal variability of limiting nutrients. On the other hand, the severe depletion of DIN (relatively higher silicate level) during summer with high freshwater discharge probably can be explained by N-uptake of temporary nanoflagellate blooms, which responds rapidly to pulsed nutrient loading events. In Masan Bay, this rapid nutrient consumption is considerably important as it can modify the phytoplankton community structures.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.94-110
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• 2003

This study utilizes the dataset of Topex/Poseidon(T/P) altimeter sea surface height (1992-2000 yr., 286 cycles)to investigate the tempore-spatial variability in the East (Japan) Sea. Optimal interpolation (Ol) technique was applied to the pre-processed T/P dataset (level 2) to produce sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) map on regular grids. Spectral analyses of the timeseries of the SSHA at chosen stations and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of the SSHA in the entire East Sea were made. Distribution of the SSHA can be divided by the southern and northern regions sharply by the polar front situated in the middle of the East Sea. The southern region under the direct influence of the Tsushima Current exhibits higher amplitude of the SSHA fluctuation, while the northern region does relatively smaller one. The spatio-temporal variability of the SSHA in the East Sea can be characterized by the five modes of the EOFs accounting for more than 85% of the total variance. The first mode dominates the SSHA variation in the entire domain with strong seasonal and inter-annual periods accounting for the 72.3% of the total variance. The other modes (up to 5th account for 14%) are responsible for the SSHA variation associated with the local current system, meandering of the polar frontal axis, and mesoscale eddies. Spectral peaks with significant confluence level show semi-annual, annual and interannual (2, 3-4 years) periods.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• v.1
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• pp.316-319
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• 2006

Monthly-mean aerosol parameters derived from the 1998-2004 SeaWiFS observations over East Asian waters are analyzed. SeaWiFS GAC Level 1 data covering the Northeast Asian area are collected and processed by the standard atmospheric correction algorithm released by the SeaWiFS Project to produce daily aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and ${{\AA}}ngstr{\ddot{o}}m$ exponent imageries. Monthly mean AOT and ${{\AA}}ngstr{\ddot{o}}m$ exponent values are extracted from the daily composite images for six study areas chosen from the surrounding waters of Japan. A slight increasing trend of ${{\AA}}ngstr{\ddot{o}}m$ exponent is found and interpreted as about 4-5% increase in submicron fraction of aerosol optical thickness at 550nm. Two cloud screening methods, including the standard cloud masking method of SeaWiFS and the one based on the local variance method, are applied to the SeaWiFS data processing, in an attempt to inspect the influence to the observed statistical uptrend which probably induced by different cloud mask algorithms. The variability comes from the different cloud masking algorithms are discussed.

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.179-192
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• 2007

Understanding in climate effects on marine ecosystem is essential to utilize, predict, and conserve marine living resources in the 21st century. In this review paper, we summarized the past history and current status of Korean fisheries as well as the changes in climate and oceanographic phenomena since the 1960s. Ocean ecosystems in Korean waters can be divided into three, based on the marine commercial fish catches; the demersal ecosystem in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, the pelagic ecosystem in the Tsushima Warm Current from the East China Sea to the East/Japan Sea, and the demersal ecosystem in the northern part of the East/Japan Sea. Through the interdisciplinary retrospective analysis using available fisheries, oceanographic, and meteorological information in three important fish communities, the trend patterns in major commercial catches and the relationship between climate/environmental variability and responses of fish populations were identified. Much evidence revealed that marine ecosystems, including the fish community in Korean waters, has been seriously affected by oceanographic changes, and each species has responded differently. In general, species diversity is lessening, and mean trophic level of each ecosystem has decreased during the last $3\sim4$ decades. Future changes in fisheries due to global warming are also considered for major fisheries and aquaculture in Korean waters.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.317-322
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• 2002

Dramatic changes in the patterns of satellite-derived pigment concentrations, sea-level height anomaly, sea surface temperature anomaly, and zonal wind anomaly are observed during the 1997-1998 El Nino. By some measures, the 1997-1998 El Nino was the strongest of the 20$^{th}$ century. A very strong El Nino developed during 1997 and matured late in the year. A dramatic recovery occurred in mid-1998 and led to a La Nina conditions. The largest spatial extent of the phytoplankton bloom was followed recovery from El Nino over the equatorial Pacific. The evolution towards a warm episode (El Nino) continued in the equatorial Pacific from March 2002 and further development toward mature El Nino conditions may be possible in late 2002. The OSMI (Ocean Scanning Multispectral Imager) data can be used for detection of dramatic changes in the patterns of pigment concentration during next El Nino.

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2005

Variations in species diversity and abundance of polychaete taxocenes that occurred in 1980-1989 under different contamination levels of bottom sediments were studied in three areas of Peter the Great Bay. The most polluted area was shown to be the Golden Horn Inlet where contaminant contents in the bottom sediments exceed the threshold values of negative biota alterations. Amursky Bay is characterized by a moderate level of contamination, while Ussuriysky Bay has the lowest level of contamination. Pollutant contents vary considerably within the same areas and their separate patches are polluted differently. An integral index characterizing the contamination of bottom sediments is proposed. This index is an average grade of the rank value of contaminant contents in sediments. The index was used to compare the contamination level and data on polychaete species diversity and abundance. The highest species diversity of polychaetes is found in the least affected zones. Monotonous decrease of the species number, as well as decrease in the indices of diversity and evenness, is correlated with pollution level increases. Significant growth of the average polychaete biomass and polychaete density is observed in the case of an increase of contamination from low to moderate levels. Conversely, the biomass and abundance of polychaetes decline following an increase in contamination.