• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.392-400
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• 2003

We used an oxygen microelectrode to measure the vertical profiles of oxygen concentration in sediments located near point sources of organic matter. The measurements were carried out between 13th and 17th May, 2003, in semi-closed bay and coastal sediments in the central part of the South Sea. The measured oxygen penetration depths were extremely shallow and ranged from 1.30 to 3.80 mm. This suggested that the oxidation and reduction reactions in the early diagenesis should be studied at the mm depth scale. In order to estimate the oxygen consumption rate, we applied the one-dimension diffusion-reaction model to vertical profiles of oxygen near the sediment/water interface. Oxygen consumption rates were estimated to be between 10.8 and 27.6 mmol O$_2$ m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/(average: 19.1 mmol O$_2$ m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/). These rates showed a positive correlation with the organic carbon of the sediments. The corresponding benthic organic carbon oxidation rates calculated using an modified Redfield ratio (170/110) at the sediment/water interface were in the range of 89.5-228.1 mg C m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/(average: 158.0 mg C m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/). We suggest that these results are maximum values at the presents situation in the bay because the sampling sites were located near point sources of organic materials. This study will need to be carried out at many coastal sites and throughout the seasons to allow an understanding of the mechanisms of eutrophication e.g. the spatial distribution of oxygen consumption within the oxic zone and hypoxic conditions in the coastal sea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.669-676
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• 2017

To understand the relationship between environmental factors and phytoplankton community structures and why early outbreaks of Cochlodinium polykrikoides occur in the inner bay of Korea, short-term investigations were conducted at 17 stations in the eastern part of the South Sea of Korea, with sessions every two weeks from July 7 to August 24, 2016. The water temperature increased from $22.3^{\circ}C$ in the first survey to $28.4^{\circ}C$ in the fourth survey, which was a rise of about $6.01^{\circ}C$. Salinity was relatively high at Stns. 8 13 in the inner bay. In the first survey, rainfall of about 150 mm was observed, so nutrients were supplied at a high level and a high concentrate of Chl. a was observed. Cryptophyta (Crpytomonas spp.) represented 58.3 % of the community, followed by Bacillariophyta at 33.8 %. In particular, at Stn. 5, Dinophyta Prorocentrum spp. accounted for a very high percentage, 32.2 %. In the second survey, low phytoplankton populations were observed, and Bacillariophyta (Chaetoceros spp.) accounted for 61.0 %. At Stn. 4, Skeletonema spp. showed high populations but did not appear at other stations even at a low density. In the third and fourth surveys, phytoplankton populations were very low. Bacillariophyta represented 78.0 % in the third study and 73.3 % in the fourth. Interestingly, although the appearance of C. polykrikoides was investigated at the beginning of the red tide in the coastal area, they were not observed inshore, implying that the likelihood of inflow by the germination of resting cysts was low for the inner bay during this study period. In addition, environmental characteristics such as salinity and nutrient presence were significantly different between sampling stations due to the existence of a semi-closed bay in the southern sea, resulting in dominant phytoplankton species and community composition differing in these short-term investigations.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.36-44
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• 2015

The spatial and temporal distribution of dissolved trace metals has been studied to identify trends in space and time and to evaluate the pollution status in a semi-closed bay (Gohyun bay), Korea. Surface seawater samples were collected over four seasons at 18 stations in the bay between 2003 and 2004 and once at 7 stations around a large shipyard in May 2004. The concentration of Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in seawater in February and May were highly variable in space, showing the higher value relative to other season. Those metals concentrations were decreased from inner-to outer-stations. In around the shipyard, Cu, Pb and Zn showed the higher variability depending on time. Cu and Zn concentrations at the sites around the shipyard had 2 times higher values compared with the average of inner stations in Gohyun bay. The very high correlations between salinity and either Cu and Zn has been showed. Especially, there was a significant relationship between Cu and Zn. We recognize that the shipyard is major source of Cu and Zn in seawater. Therefore, marine environment management policy such as the prevention and control of heavy metal input from a shipyard is required.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.303-314
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• 1991

Hypoxic bottom $(\leq2.0ml/l),\;40\%\;oxygen\;saturation)$ is formed in the semi-closed Wonmun bay during summer and autumn early. This study was carried out to know seasonal distribution of marine bacteria and the role of marine bacteria for forming the hypoxic bottom at Wonmun bay during summer and autumn early, 1990. During the study periods, 170 bacterial strains were isolated from sea water and sediment. Viable cell counts were ranged between $10^5-10^7\;cells/ml$. The dominant species were Acinetobacter spp. in spring, Flavobacerium spp. in summer, Pseudomonas spp. in autumn, Serratia spp. in winter. Because ETSA(Electron Transport System Activity) reveals potential consumption of oxygen in the aquatic microorganisms, the ETSA was used as potential consumption of oxygen in this study. The potential consumption of oxygen was in the range of $232.4-637.5{\mu}l/O_2/l/day$ by marine organism and $142.6-432.4{\mu}l/O_2/l/day$ by marine bacteria during the study periods. The ratio of potential oxygen consumption of marine bacteria to total marine microorganism was 0.54. The potential consumption of oxygen by marine bacteria closely related with the number of viable cells. Consequently, bacteria play an important role to form Hypoxic bottom at marine environment.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.105-118
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• 2000

Anchored measurements (12.5 hr) of suspended sediment concentration and other hydrodynamic parameters were carried out at two stations located at the entrance to Hampyung Bay in summer (August 1999). Tidal variations in water temperature and salinity were in the range of 26.0-27.9$^{\circ}C$ and 30.9-31.5, respectively, indicating exchange offshore and offshore water mass. Active tidal mixing processes at the entrance appear to destroy the otherwise vertical stratification in temperature and salinity in spite of strong solar heating in summer. On the contrary, suspended sediment concentrations show a marked stratification with increasing concentrations toward bottom layer. Clastic particles in suspended sediments consist mostly of very fine to fine silt (4-16 ${\mu}$m) with a poorly-sorted value of 14.7-25.9 ${\mu}$m. However, at slack time with less turbulent energy, flocs larger than 40 ${\mu}$m are formed by cohesion and inter-collision of particles, resulting in a higher settling velocity. Strong ebb-dominated and weak flood dominated tidal currents, in the southwestern and the northeastern part, respectively, result in a seaward residual flow of -10${\sim}$-20 cm $s^{-1}$ at station H1 and a bayward residual flow less than 5.0 cm $s^{-1}$ at station H2. However, mean concentration of suspended sediments at station H1 is higher at flood (95.0-144.1 mg $1^{-1}$) than in ebb (75.8-120.9 mg $1^{-1}$). On the contrary, at the station H2, the trend is reversed with higher concentration at the ebb (84.7-158.4 mg $1^{-1}$) than that at the flood (53.0-107.9 mg $1^{-1}$). As a result, seaward net suspended sediment fluxes ($f_{s}$) are calculated to be -1.7 ${\sim}$-$15.610^{3}$ kg $m^{-2}$ $s^{-1}$ through the whole water column. However, the stations H1 and H2 show definitely different values of the flux with higher ones in the former than in the latter. Alternatively, depth-integrated net suspended sediment loads ($\c{Q}_{s}$) for one tidal cycle are also toward the offshore with ranges of 0.37${\times}$$10^{3}$ kg $m^{-1}$ and 0.21${\times}$$10^{3}$ kg $m^{-1}$, at station H1 and H2, respectively. This seaward transport of suspended sediment in summer suggests that summer-time erosion in the Hampyung muddy tidal flats is a rather exceptional phenomenon compared to the general deposition reported for many other tidal flats on the west coast of Korea.