• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.415-423
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• 2009

To investigate low frequency acoustic transmissions in the Sub-Polar Front(SPF) of the East Sea, numerical experiments are conducted with Range dependent Acoustic Model(RAM) using Circulation Research of the East Asian Marginal Seas(CREAMS) data and Autonomous Profiling Explorer(APEX)) data. Significant seasonal variations of sea water properties are existed across the Sub-Polar Front(SPF) region from the north and the south. The model results show that Transmission Loss(TL) decrease(about 20dB) with ideal front in the warm region whereas TL increase(about 25dB) with ideal front in the cold region. Regardless of season(both in summer and winter), when the sound source is located in the cold region of the SPF, the model results show weak TL, compared to the case of the source in the warm region(Maximum difference of TL reaches 28dB). This difference between the cases when the source is located in the cold region and the warm region, is accounted for from the different vertical profiles of sound speed in both regions.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.401-414
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• 2004

Temperature, salinity, alkalinity, pH, nutrient, chlorophyll, and iron were measured within the upper 250m water column around the Antarctic Polar Front in the Scotia Sea from late November to early December 2001. Temperature and salinity showed a rapid change across the Polar Front, and the temperature minimum layer existed only in the southern area of the Polar Front. Total $CO_2$ and nutrient concentrations were relatively high and increased rapidly with water depth in the southern area of the Polar Front, which was resulted from upwelling of the Antarctic deep water containing high concentrations of total $CO_2$ and nutrient. ${\Delta}C:{\Delta}N:{\Delat}P$ ratios measured in the norhem and southern areas of the Polar Front were 75:11.4:1 and 84:12.5:1, respectively, which were lower than the Redfield ratio. ${\Delta}Si:{\Delta}N$ ratio (3.65) measured in the southern area of the Polar Front was two times higher than that (1.95) in the northern area. These two ratios were higher than the ratio (1.0) measured in the temperate and tropical oceans. Chlorophyll concentrations were extremely high in the area of $59^{\circ}{\sim}60^{\circ}S$, which was attributed to favorable environmental conditions for phytoplankton growth in this area, such as sufficient iron, high water column stability, and high silicate concentration.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.457-472
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• 2011

To elucidate the trophic role of heterotrophic nano- and microplankton (HNMP), we investigated their biomass, community structure, and herbivory in three different water masses, namely, south of Polar Front (SPF), Polar Front Zone (PFZ), the Sub-Antarcitc Front (SAF) in the Drake Passage in the Southern Ocean, during the austral summer in 2002. We observed a spatial difference in the relative importance of the dominant HNMP community in these water masses. Ciliates accounted for 34.7% of the total biomass on an average in the SPF where the concentration of chlorophyll-a was low with the dominance of pico- and nanophytoplankton. Moreover, the importance of ciliates declined from the SPF to the SAF. In contrast, heterotrophic dinoflagellates (HDFs) were the most dominant grazers in the PFZ where the concentration of chlorophyll-a was high with the dominance of net phytoplankton. HNMP biomass ranged from 321.9 to 751.4 $mgCm^{-2}$ and was highest in the PFZ and lowest in the SPF. This result implies that the spatial dynamic of HNMP biomass and community was significantly influenced by the composition and concentration of phytoplankton as a food source. On an average, 75.6%, 94.5%, and 78.9% of the phytoplankton production were consumed by HNMP in the SPF, PFZ, and SAF, respectively. The proportion of phytoplankton grazed by HNMP was largely determined by the composition and biomass of HNMP, as well as the composition of phytoplankton. However, the herbivory of HNMP was one of the most important loss processes affecting the biomass and composition of phytoplankton particularly in the PFZ. Our results suggest that the bulk of the photosynthetically fixed carbon was likely reprocessed by HNMP rather than contributing to the vertical flux in Drake Passage during the austral summer in 2002.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.141-153
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• 2023

Biological pump processes generated by diatom production in the surface water of the Southern Ocean play an important role in exchanging CO₂ gas between the atmosphere and ocean. In this study, the biogenic opal content of the sediments was measured to elucidate the variation in the primary production of diatoms in the surface water of the Southern Ocean since the last glacial period. A piston core (COR-1bPC) was collected from the Conrad Rise, which is located in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. The sediments were mainly composed of siliceous ooze, and sediment lightness increased and magnetic susceptibility decreased in an upward direction. The biogenic opal content was low (38.9%) during the last glacial period and high (73.4%) during the Holocene, showing a similar variation to that of Antarctic ice core ΔT and CO₂ concentration. In addition, the variation of biogenic opal content in core COR-1bPC is consistent with previous results reported in the Antarctic Zone, south of the Antarctic Polar Front, in the Southern Ocean. The glacial-interglacial biogenic opal production was influenced by the extent of sea ice coverage and degree of water column stability. During the last glacial period, the diatom production was reduced due to the penetration of light being limited in the euphotic zone by the extended sea ice coverage caused by the lowered seawater temperature. In addition, the formation of a strong thermocline in more extensive areas of sea ice coverage led to stronger water column stability, resulting in reduced diatom production due to the reduction in the supply of nutrient-rich subsurface water caused by a decrease in upwelling intensity. Under such environmental circumstances, diatom productivity decreased in the Antarctic Zone during the last glacial period, but the biogenic opal content increased rapidly under warming conditions with the onset of deglaciation.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 2007

To obtain the overall distribution patterns and characteristics of the East Sea Intermediate Water (ESIW), the historical data obtained by the Japan Maizuru Marine Observatory (MMO) and the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) were analyzed. To obtain water characteristics of the ESIW on isopycnal surfaces, temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen were interpolated at every 0.01 interval of potential density. And then the interpolated values were averaged at the same potential density. This potential density average method preserved the salinity minimum layer more clearly compared to the depth average method. The potential density(${\sigma}_{\theta}$) range of the ESIW was $26.9{\sim}27.3$. The representative potential density of the ESIW was found to be 27.2, because the characteristics of the ESIW was clear at this density. From the horizontal distributions of physical properties on the isopycnal surface of $27.2{\sigma}_{\theta}$ it is suggested that the low salinity ESIW circulates anticlockwise over the whole basin with the high salinity intermediate water. The low salinity intermediate water extended from the northwestern part to the east along the sub-polar front and to the Ulleung Basin along the east coast of Korea.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.1021-1032
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• 1997

Satellite-tracked drifters deployed in the East Sea since 1991 are used to study the Tsushima Current (TC). It is found that the TC is a steady current with a mean speed of 10 cm/s before it enters the East Sea. Only during the summer, the TC flows along Honshu Island with a mean speed of $30\~40\;cm/s$ and then exits through the Tsugaru Strait. In fall and winter, the TC does not follow the coast along Honshu Island but it enters into the interior of the East Sea before it reaches the Tsugaru Strait. The water that passes the West Channel of the Korea Strait mostly comes from the western East China Sea and spreads into the interior of the East Sea. It also forms the large eddies in the southern East Sea. The outflow through the Tsugaru Strait comes from the interior of the East Sea in all seasons except summer. The mean speed of the Tsugaru Strait outflow is about 60 cm/s. The largest current variability is found in the eastern central area of the East Sea, south of sub-polar front.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.16-33
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• 2000

In order to measure the vertical fluxes of particles and reactive radionuclides such as thorium and polonium isotopes, Dunbar-type sediment traps were freely deployed at the Ulleung Basin and in warm and cold water masses around the polar front of the East Sea. We estimated the ratios of the catched (F) to the predicted $^234$Th fluxes (P) using natural tracers pair $^234$Th-$^238$U. The F/P ratios are decreased with increasing water depth. Whereas the concentrations of suspended particles are homogeneous in water column, the mass fluxes are also decreased with increasing water depth like the F/P ratios. These facts indicate that organic matters of settling particles are destructed within the euphotic layer due to decomposition. Whereas regenerations of sinking particles are negligible in the cold water mass, about 80% of them are regenerated in the warm water mass during falling of large particles. These downward mass fluxes are closely correlated with their primary productions in euphotic zone. The activities of $^234$Th, $^228$Th and $^210$Po in the sinking material were increased with water depth. Because $^234$Th steadily produced in the water column are cumulatively adsorbed on the surface of sinking particles, vertical $^234$Th fluxes were observed to increase with water depth. Therefore, these sinking particles play important roles in transporting the particle reactive elements like thorium from surface to the deep sea. The scavenging processes including adsorption and settling reactions generate radio-disequilibrium between daughter and parent nuclides in water column. The activity ratios of $^234$Th/$^238$U and $^228$Th/$^228$Ra were observed to be < 1.0 in the surface water and approached to be equilibrium below the thermocline. The extent of the deficiency of daughter nuclides compared to the parents nuclide was highly correlated with the vertical particle flux. Because most of the $^210$Po in the surface water are scavenged on a labile phase and are recycled at sub-surface depths (< 200 m), the $^210$Po are always observed to be excess activities compared to $^226$Ra in surface water.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.318-331
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• 2019

In this study, comparative analysis is performed on the long-term persisted warm eddies that were generated in 2003 (WE03) and in 2014 (WE14) over the East Sea using the HYCOM reanalysis data. The overshooting of the East Korea Warm Current (EKWC) was appeared during the formation period of those warm eddies. The warm eddies were produced in the shallow Korea Plateau region through the interaction of the EKWC and the sub-polar front. In the interior of the both warm eddies, a homogeneous water mass of about $13^{\circ}C$ and 34.1 psu were generated over the upper 150 m depth by the winter mixing. In 2004, the next year of the generation of the WE03, the amount of the inflow through the western channel of the Korea Strait was larger, while the inflow was lesser than its climatology during 2015 corresponding to the development period of the WE14. The above results suggest that the heat and salt are supplied in the warm eddies through the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC), however the amount of the inflow through the Korea Strait has negligible impact on the long-term persistency of the warm eddies. Both of the warm eddies were maintained more than 18 months near Ulleung island, while they have no common feature on the pathways. In the vicinity of the Ulleung basin, large and small eddies are continuously created due to the meandering of the EKWC. The long-term persisted warm eddies in the Ulleung Island seem to be the results of the interaction between the pre-existed eddies located south of the sub-polar front and fresh eddies induced by the meanderings of the EKWC. The conclusion is also in line with the fact that the long-term persisted warm eddies were not always created when the overshooting of the EKWC was appeared.