• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.53-61
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• 2005

Dokdo, a group of 33 small and rocky Islets, in the East Sea have been administered by Korea for years since 1953 and are currently occupied by Korean Police Unit. Located about 217Km off the eastern border of Korea and 87Km east of UIleung Island in North Gyeongsang Province. Situated in the East Sea of Korea, Dokdo itself has valuable strategic implications for Korea as well as another countries such as Russia, Japan, U.SA etc. The first historical testimonies to Dokdo were in Korean documents referring to it as a part of an independent island district known as Ulleung Island(Usanguk), which was incorporated into Silla Kingdom in 512 A.D. in '1454 Sejong Authentic History'. Historically, since at least 1881, the island has been called Dokdo by Koreans, meaning 'Rock Island' or 'Lonely Island'. Also Korea, which regained a full sovereignty and have exercised it for decades continuously, keeps a small police detachment on the Island. That is, Dokdo is under effective control of Korea until today. Therefore Dokdo, which is a problem that is related to our territory and sovereignty, is clearly a cluster of Islands of Korea.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2008

Analyzing the results of East Sea Regional Ocean Model using a 3-dimensional variational data assimilation scheme, we investigated spatial and temporal variability of the North Korean Cold Current (NKCC) in the East Sea. The climatological monthly mean transport of the NKCC clearly shows seasonal variation of the NKCC within the range of about 0.35 Sv ($=0^6m^3/s$), which increases from its minimum (about 0.45 Sv) through December-January to March, decreases during March and May, and then increases again to the maximum (about 0.8 Sv) in August-September. The volume transport of the NKCC shows interannual variation of the NKCC with the range of about 1.0 Sv that is larger than seasonal variation. The southward current of the NKCC appears often not only in summer but in winter as well. The width of the NKCC is about 35 km near the Korean coast and its core is located under the East Korea Warm Current. The North Korean Cold Water (NKCW), characterized by low salinity and low temperature, is located both under the Tsushima Warm Water and in the western side of the maximum southward current of the NKCC that means the NKCC advects the NKCW southward along the Korean coast. It is revealed that the intermediate low salinity water, formed off the Vladivostok in winter, flows southward to the south of $37^{\circ}N$ through $2{\sim}3$ paths; one path along the Korean coast, another one along $132^{\circ}E$, and the middle path along $130^{\circ}E$. The path of the intermediate low salinity varies with years. The reanalysis fields suggest that the NKCW is advected through the paths along the Korean coast and along $130^{\circ}E$.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1163-1170
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• 2009

The clam, Gomphina melanaegis, which is commonly called the sandy beach clam because of its habitat, is a valuable organism in the sandy coast of East Sea, Korea. It is frequently observed in large populations between 0.5 and 5 meters. We have released 50,000 seedling, ranging from the diameter of approximately 3 mm, 2007, and 1,000,000 seedling, ranging from the diameter of approximately 0.2 mm, plus 100,000 adult individuals, ranging from the shell length of approximately 20~40 mm, 2008 at Jinha beach. The spawning period of G. melanaegis, was from June to August, and the main spawning occurred in July. This investigation was carried out to elucidate population distribution on the stocking area of sandy beach clam, G. melanaegis. The relationship between shell length and ring radius in each ring was investigated as a regression line. The relationship between the shell length and shell height of released young clam was SH=1.0105SL-4.7764 ($R^2=0.7905$). The relationship between the shell length and total weight of released young clam was $TW=0.0013SL^{2.3966}$($R^2=0.71$). It draws a deduction that the ring of this clam was produced once a year during the duration between June and August.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.57-69
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• 1997

All of the Tsumami which affected severly the east coast of the Korean Peninsula in the years 1741-1993 are caused by earthquakes occurred along the boundary sea of Japan and norther Honshu. These earthquakes with magnitude greater than 7.0 are results of relative movement between the North American Plate and Urasian Plate. The active fault along the boundary of the two plates is attracted by many researchers since the 1983 May earthquake of magnitude 7.7. It is important to anticipate when the next large earthquake will occur and how much it affect the east coast of Korea. Among a few models of spatial seismic gap were proposed for earthquake occurrences accompanying Tsunami, Ishikawas' east-west seismic gap model is the most probable one. There is a tendency that the period between the activities of the active faults becomes shorter. It is expected that a large earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or above will occur along the eastern boundary of Japan Sea at the end of this century and produce Tsunami at the east coast of Korea.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.219-228
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• 2012

Tintinnid species distribution has been monitored in the northern East China Sea (ECS) in the summer of 2006 through 2011. This is used to understand the water mass movements in the northern ECS. The warm oceanic tintinnid species had largely spread in 2007 in the area, indicating that there was greater warm water extension into the northern ECS. However the extension of neritic water within the Changjiang diluted water mass has strengthened in 2008 and 2010 because the neritic species distribution had relatively grown in both years. These annual results based on the biological indicators of tintinnid species are well matched with the salinity change in the area. The warm oceanic species, Dadayiella ganymedes had frequently occurred over the study years and had shown a significant relationship with the salinity change. This is valuable as a key stone species for monitoring the intrusion of the Kuroshio within the northern ECS. Information from tintinnid biological indicators can support physical oceanography data to confirm ambiguous water mass properties.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 2003

Oceanic conditions of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) region in the southern area of the East Sea (Japan Sea) are examined using data obtained from a CREAMS (Circulation Research if the East Asian Marginal Seas) cruise in June 1996. In 1990s, a lower temperature appears in 1996 and in this period, two branches of the TWC exist and the first branch of the TWC flows inshore of the Japanese coastal region compared to that in the other years, especially in the shallower water layer at depth less than about 200 m. The TWC cored with the higher salinity (>34.6 psu) is clearly observed over the continental shelf in the Japanese coastal region and offshore and identified by geostrophic calculation. Intrusion of the TWC into the East Sea through the Korea Strait (the Tsushima Strait) makes the density structure in the water column change and the water mass in the TWC region is unstable based on Brunt­Vaisala frequency.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.835-842
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• 2013

Flathead flounder Hippoglossoides dubius is a commercially important fish in the coastal waters of Gangwon Province, which is its spawning ground and breeding habitat. A total of 1,669 gonads were sampled monthly from February 2011 to May 2013 to investigate ecological characteristics, such as variations in maturation and spawning by gonad index, visual maturity stage, histological observations and oocyte diameter. Males were numerically dominant over females in the fishing grounds year round. The spawning season was from January to April, and the peak was from February to March. Oocyte number as a measure of fecundity was between 27,372 and 915,209 eggs with a length range of 26.0-48.7 cm TL, while the largest oocyte grew to 0.9-1.4mm in egg diameter during its spawning season. The relationship between fecundity and total length was $F=0.0016TL^{5.2539}$. The smallest mature lengths of the females and males were 28.4 and 22.6 cm respectively, and the 50% mature lengths of females and males were 32.9, 26.9 cm respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 2018

Objectives: Considered the "national fish" in Korea, the walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) has disappeared in the East Sea (Sea of Japan), a main habitat and fishing ground for the species. The reason for the disappearance is still a matter of controversy. This study was performed to investigate the long-term relationship between the walleye pollock catch and various meteorological and oceanographic factors in these waters. Methods: Fishery data on walleye pollock and data on meteorological and marine environmental factors over the 30 years (1981-2010) were obtained from the official national database. Time series analysis and correlation and regression analyses were performed to study the relationships. Results: Both air temperature and sea surface temperature in the East Sea rose over these 30 years, and the latter became more prominent. Salinity and dissolved oxygen showed a tendency to decrease while concentrations of nutrients such as nitrite nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen showed an increasing tendency. Sea surface temperature, air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and wind grade were negatively correlated with the catch size of walleye pollock (p<0.05), but salinity was positively correlated (p<0.001). Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that climate change, especially ocean warming, affected the habitat of walleye pollock. The results also indicate that lower sea surface and air temperatures, milder wind grade, and higher salinity were preferred for the survival of the fish species. It is necessary to pay attention to changes of the ocean ecosystem in terms of environmental pollution as well as seawater temperature.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.506-515
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• 2011

To elucidate demersal organism community structure, abundance, and biomass by period and region in the Uljin marine ranching area, otter trawl surveys were conducted at six stations from February 2008 to December 2009. During the survey period, a total of 118 species was collected in the Uljin marine ranching area, including 76 pisces, 27 mollusca and 15 crustaceans. The average abundance of individuals was 806 ind./$m^2$ and average biomass was 31,853 g/m2. The numbers of species, species richness, individuals per area and biomass per area were higher in 2009 than in 2008. Cluster and MDS analysis, based on a Bray-Curtis similarity matrix of fourth root transformed data of number of species and individuals per area, showed division into two different groups of demersal organisms in 2008 (Group 1) and one demersal organism community in 2009 (Group 2). From cluster and MDS analysis using the similarity of the demersal community among six stations, the Uljin marine ranching area was divided into Group A (St. 2, St. 4, St. 5 and St. 6) and Group B (St. 1 and St. 3).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.274-280
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• 2007

The mesh selectivity of gill net for Japanese sandfish (Arctoscopus japonicus) caught in the East Sea, Korea was described. The experiment was conducted with five different kinds of mesh size (39.4, 45.5, 51.5, 53.0, 57.6mm) between November and December 2006 in spawning season. The catch was mostly Japanese sandfish (93.3%) and some others (6.7%), and almost all of the female Japanese sandfish were larger than the fork length at 50% maturity (16.7cm). The selection curve for the female Japanese sandfish caught from the experiments was fitted by the Kitahara's method to a polynomial equation which was $s(R)={\exp}\{(0.2584R^3-5.3445R^2+32.269R-59.868)-0.6585\}$ where R＝l/m, and l and m are fork length and mesh size, respectively.