• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.161-169
• /
• 2000

A seasonal circulation in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea and its possible cause have been studied with CSK data during 1965-1989. Water mass distributions are clear in winter, but not in summer because the upper layer waters are quite influenced by atmosphere. To solve the problem, a water mass analysis by mixing ratio is used for the lower layer waters. The results show that the distribution of Tsushima Warm Current Water expands to the Yellow Sea in winter and retreats to the East China Sea in summer. It means that there is a very slow seasonal circulation between the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea: Tsushima Warm Current Water flows into the Yellow Sea in winter and coastal water flows out of the Yellow Sea in summer. By the circulation, the front between Tsushima Warm Current Water and coastal water moves toward the shelf break in summer so that the flow is faster in the deeper region. The process eventually makes the transport in the Korea Strait increase. The Kuroshio does not seem to influence the process. A possible mechanism of the process is the seasonal change of sea surface slope due to different local effects of surface heating and diluting between the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.72-95
• /
• 2004

The Yellow Sea is characterized by relatively shallow water depth, varying range of tidal action and very complex coastal geometry such as islands, bays, peninsulas, tidal flats, shoals etc. The dynamic system is controlled by tides, regional winds, river discharge, and interaction with the Kuroshio. The circulation, water mass properties and their variability in the Yellow Sea are very complicated and still far from clear understanding. In this study, an effort to improve our understanding the dynamic feature of the Yellow Sea system was conducted using numerical simulation with the ROMS model, applying climatologic forcing such as winds, heat flux and fresh water precipitation. The inter-annual variability of general circulation and thermohaline structure throughout the year has been obtained, which has been compared with observational data sets. The simulated horizontal distribution and vertical cross-sectional structures of temperature and salinity show a good agreement with the observational data indicating significantly the water masses such as Yellow Sea Warm Water, Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water, Changjiang River Diluted Water and other sporadically observed coastal waters around the Yellow Sea. The tidal effects on circulation and dynamic features such as coastal tidal fronts and coastal mixing are predominant in the Yellow Sea. Hence the tidal effects on those dynamic features are dealt in the accompanying paper (Kim et at., 2004). The ROMS model adopts curvilinear grid with horizontal resolution of 35 km and 20 vertical grid spacing confirming to relatively realistic bottom topography. The model was initialized with the LEVITUS climatologic data and forced by the monthly mean air-sea fluxes of momentum, heat and fresh water derived from COADS. On the open boundaries, climatological temperature and salinity are nudged every 20 days for data assimilation to stabilize the modeling implementation. This study demonstrates a Yellow Sea version of Atlantic Basin experiment conducted by Haidvogel et al. (2000) experiment that the ROMS simulates the dynamic variability of temperature, salinity, and velocity fields in the ocean. However the present study has been improved to deal with the large river system, open boundary nudging process and further with combination of the tidal forcing that is a significant feature in the Yellow Sea.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.287-296
• /
• 2012

In the theory of source-driven abyssal circulation, the forcing is usually assumed to be steady source (deep-water formation). In many cases, however, the deep-water formation occurs instantaneously and it is not clear whether the theory can be applied well in this case. An attempt is made to resolve this problem by using a simple reduced gravity model. The model basin has large depth change compared for its size, like the East Sea, such that isobaths nearly coincide with geostrophic contours. Deep-water is formed every year impulsively and flows into the model basin through the boundary. It is found that the circulation driven by the impulsive source is generally the same as that driven by a steady source except that the former has a seasonal fluctuation associated with unsteadiness of forcing. The magnitudes of both the annual average and seasonal fluctuations increase with the rate of deep-water formation. The problem can be approximated to that of linear diffusion of momentum with boundary flux, which well demonstrates the essential feature of abyssal circulation spun-up by periodic impulsive source. Although the model greatly idealizes the real situation, it suggests that abyssal circulation can be driven by a periodic impulsive source in the East Sea.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.93-97
• /
• 2011

When freezing is present on ballast water, it can impose additional loads on the hull and effect on stabilization of ship. The anti-icing techniques of ballast water, therefore, are key criteria for ship safety. The existing anti-icing techniques of ballast tank are hull heating, water circulation and air bubble system etc. In this research, anti-icing performance tests for the ballast water using micro-bubble system and sea water circulation system have been carried out at two temperature conditions($-10^{\circ}C$ and $-25^{\circ}C$). Ambient temperature, sea water temperature and temperature of the inner parts of the ballast tank are measured and also ballast water conditions are checked during the model test. The applied anti-icing techniques of ballast water, such as micro-bubble system and sea water circulation system show good performance in the low temperature conditions.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.1-18
• /
• 2023

The East Sea, one of the regions where the most rapid warming is occurring, is known to have important implications for the response of the ocean to future climate changes because it not only reacts sensitively to climate change but also has a much shorter turnover time (hundreds of years) than the ocean (thousands of years). However, the processes underlying changes in seawater characteristics at the sea's deep and abyssal layers, and meridional overturning circulation have recently been examined only after international cooperative observation programs for the entire sea allowed in-situ data in a necessary resolution and accuracy along with recent improvement in numerical modeling. In this review, previous studies on the physical characteristics of seawater at deeper parts of the East Sea, and meridional overturning circulation are summarized to identify any remaining issues. The seawater below a depth of several hundreds of meters in the East Sea has been identified as the Japan Sea Proper Water (East Sea Proper Water) due to its homogeneous physical properties of a water temperature below 1℃ and practical salinity values ranging from 34.0 to 34.1. However, vertically high-resolution salinity and dissolved oxygen observations since the 1990s enabled us to separate the water into at least three different water masses (central water, CW; deep water, DW; bottom water, BW). Recent studies have shown that the physical characteristics and boundaries between the three water masses are not constant over time, but have significantly varied over the last few decades in association with time-varying water formation processes, such as convection processes (deep slope convection and open-ocean deep convection) that are linked to the re-circulation of the Tsushima Warm Current, ocean-atmosphere heat and freshwater exchanges, and sea-ice formation in the northern part of the East Sea. The CW, DW, and BW were found to be transported horizontally from the Japan Basin to the Ulleung Basin, from the Ulleung Basin to the Yamato Basin, and from the Yamato Basin to the Japan Basin, respectively, rotating counterclockwise with a shallow depth on the right of its path (consistent with the bottom topographic control of fluid in a rotating Earth). This horizontal deep circulation is a part of the sea's meridional overturning circulation that has undergone changes in the path and intensity. Yet, the linkages between upper and deeper circulation and between the horizontal and meridional overturning circulation are not well understood. Through this review, the remaining issues to be addressed in the future were identified. These issues included a connection between the changing properties of CW, DW, and BW, and their horizontal and overturning circulations; the linkage of deep and abyssal circulations to the upper circulation, including upper water transport from and into the Western Pacific Ocean; and processes underlying the temporal variability in the path and intensity of CW, DW, and BW.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.862-875
• /
• 1996

The CTD data observed in the sea northwest of Cheju Island have been analyzed to figure out the seasonal circulation around Cheju Island. Warm and saline waters flow into the Yellow Sea through the middle region of the Yellow Sea in winter and along the west coast of Korean Peninsula in summer. On the other hand, cold and less saline waters flow out of the Yellow Sea through the middle region in summer and along the west coast of Korean Peninsula in winter. These flows make the seasonal circulation around Cheju Island. As dynamics, the monsoon wind and the variation of Kuroshio transport have been suggested. Comparing the observational result, the circulation driven by the variation of Kuroshio transport is strengthened by monsoon winds in the numerical model.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
• /
• 2001.10a
• /
• pp.103-107
• /
• 2001

The major studies of an ocean circulation of the East/Japan Sea related to evaluate the feasibility and utilization of deep ocean water are reviewed. The major feature of surface current system of the East/Japan Sea is an inflow of the Tsushima Warm Current through the Korea/Tsushima Strait and the outflow through the Tsugaru and Soya Straits. The Tsushima Warm Current has been known to split into two or three branches in the southern region of the East/Japan Sea. In the cold water region of the East/Japan Sea, the North Korean Cold Current turns to the east near 39$^{\circ}$N after meeting the East Korean Warm Current, then flows eastward. The degree of penetration depends on the strength of the positive wind stress curl, according to the ventilation theory. Various current meter moorings indicate strong and oscillatory deep currents in various parts of the basin. According to some numerical experiments, these currents may be induced by pressure-topography or eddy-topography interaction. However, more investigations are needed to explain clearly the presence of these strong bottom currents. This study concludes the importance of topographical coupling, isopycnal outcropping, different wind forcing and the branching of the Tsushima Warm Current on the circulation of the East/Japan Sea.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.287-302
• /
• 2003

The seasonal variations in the circulation of the water mass in the East Sea/Japan Sea have been simulated using a free surface primitive ocean model, RIAMOM (RIAM Ocean Model), comparing the results from GFDL-MOM1 (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Modular Ocean Model, version 1.1, hereafter MOM) with the GDEM (Generalized Digital Environmental Model) data. Both models appear to successfully reproduce the distinct features of circulation in the East Sea/Japan Sea, such as the NB (Nearshore Branch) flowing along the Japanese coast, the EKWC (East Korean Warm Current) flowing northward along the Korean coast, and the NKCC/LCC (North Korean Cold Current/Liman Cold Current) flowing southwestward along Korean/Russian coast. RIAMOM has shown better performance, compared to MOM, in terms of the realistic simulation of the flow field in the East Sea/Japan Sea; RIAMOM has produced more rectified flows on the coastal region, for example, the narrower and stronger NKCC/LCC than MOM has. There is however obvious differences between the model results and the GDEM data in terms of the calculation of the water mass; both models have shown a tendency to overpredict temperature and underpredict salinity below 50m; more diffusive forms of thermocline and halocline have been simulated than noted in GDEM data.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.187-195
• /
• 2002

The characteristics of surface circulation in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are discussed by analyzing a great deal of current data observed by 142 sets of mooring buoy and 58 sets of drifters trajectories collected in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea through domestic and abroad measurements. Some major features are demonstrated as bellow: 1) Tsushima Warm Current flows away from the Kuroshio and has multiple sources in warm half year and comes only from Kuroshio surface water in cold half year. 2) Taiwan Warm Current comes mainly from the Taiwan Strait Water in warm half year and comes from the intruded Kuroshio surface water and branches near 27N in cold half year. 3) The Changjiang Diluted Water turns towards Cheju Island in summer and flows southward along the coastal line in winter. 4) The study sea area is an eddy developing area, especially in the southern area of Cheju Island and northern area of Taiwan.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.261-274
• /
• 2014

This work investigates the relationship between the sea breeze circulation and ozone concentrations during cold water events in the southeastern coastal area of the Korean Peninsula, where coastal upwelling frequently occur. This analysis was performed based on the classification of two categories, such as cold water and non-cold water events, over the period of 2000-2009. The low air temperature ($0.5^{\circ}C$), low SST ($5^{\circ}C$) and the wind direction(southerly) are the features of the cold water events in the Southeastern coastal area. Moreover, ozone concentrations in the cases of the sea breeze circulation and cold water events were significantly lower (below 30 ppb) than those (70~100 ppb) in the non-clod water events, because of the low air temperature ($10{\sim}20^{\circ}C$) and high wind speed (3~5 m/s) around the southeastern coastal area.