• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2015

Salinity affects sound speed in the low salinity environment, in the seas where freshwater from large rivers and flows into the marginal sea area near the Yangtze River and the Niger River. In this paper, SSC (Surface Sound Channel) formed by low salinity water was investigated in the East China Sea and the Gulf of Guinea of rainy season. The data from KODC (Korea Oceanographic Data Center) in the East China Sea and from ARGO (Array for Real-time Geostrophic Oceanography) in the Gulf of Guinea of the tropical area were used for analysis. SSC haline channel was formed 14 times among 32 SSC occurrences when the 90 data from 9 points were analyzed during a decade (2000 ~ 2009) in the East China Sea. In the Gulf of Guinea, haline channel was formed 18 times among 20 SSC occurrences during 3 years (2006 ~ 2009). When the sound speed gradient was analyzed from temperature-salinity gradient diagram, the gradients of both salinity and temperature affect SSC formation in the East China Sea. In contrast, the salinity gradient mostly affects SSC formation due to the least change of temperature in the well-developed mixed layer in the Gulf of Guinea. Their acoustic characteristics show that channel depth is 6.5 m, critical angle is $1.5^{\circ}$ and difference of transmission loss between surface and thermocline is 11.5 dB in the East China Sea, while channel depth is 18 ~ 24 m, critical angle is $4.0{\sim}5.4^{\circ}$ and difference of transmission loss is 21.5 ~ 27.9 dB in the Gulf of Guinea. These results are expected to be used as a basic understanding of the acoustic transmission changes due to low salinity water at the estuaries and the ocean with heavy precipitation.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.63-75
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• 2015

Atmospheric environment in Korea is influenced by outside, especially China. The concentrations of air pollutants in China have showed decreasing trends since 2000. However, these concentration levels in China are still higher than other developed countries. The Chinese Government has tried several measures to control the air pollution. In this study, the details of the amendments and smog reduction strategies in China, especially for Beijing are reviewed and the strategies for Korean side to promote cooperation in Northeast Asia are suggested and discussed. The Chinese State Council amended the Environmental Protection Provisions and Clean Air Act and announced The Action Plan for Air Pollution Control (2013-2017), focusing on three key regions, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area (Jing-Jin-Ji), Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD). These policy actions and plan are mainly for the reducing coal usage and emissions from vehicles. It is suggested that, Korea should actively promote multi-national cooperation in the region to take an initiative role in environmental areas.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.4-21
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• 2012

Jade ornaments, which include slit earrings, scoop-shaped objects and tubular beads have been extensively identified in Northeast Asia, such as Korea, China, Japan and the Maritime Province of Siberia. Among them slit earrings are distributed in the whole area of Northeast Asia. Although this object shows the typological differences in accordance with the excavated region in detail, all of them are characterised by the slit on the centre of jade ring. The buried context and the shape of this object suggest that this artefact was the earring; thus it is named to 'slit earring'. Most of slit earrings of the Neolithic Age concentrate in Northeast China and the areas south of the Yangtze River, and the Japanese Archipelago. However, unfortunately, Slit earrings, which were produced in the tradition of the incipient and early phases of the Neolithic Age in Northeast Asia, have not been excavated in the Korean Peninsula. The number of slit earrings reported so far is eight, and especially until the 20th century, almost none was reported with its exact excavation location and only three of them are known as excavated through surface surveys and preliminary excavations. However, from the beginning of the 21st century onwards, the number of discovered slit earrings is increasing. Particularly, five pieces of this object uncovered in the 21st century are discovered in the official excavation; thus the exact archaeological context such as buried locations and chronologies could be estimated. By considering the buried context, slit earrings are associated with stone axes, which were produced in the incipient and early phase of the Neolithic Age in the Korean Peninsula. In addition, considering the number of unearthed objects is a few, it could be postulate that slit earring was the artefact that only a few persons, who had a special role in the society, could possess. However, slit jade earrings that have been excavated in the Korean Peninsula are extremely low in their number compared to the cases of its neighbouring countries such as China and Japan, and the researches on this subject have not been much conducted in Korea. Therefore, it is my supposition that slit earrings, which have been discovered in the Korean Peninsula, might be the imported item from the nearby areas. Particularly, the Southern Coast was closely connected with Japanese Islands and the Eastern Coast was interchanged with Northeast China or the Maritime Province of Siberia. Considering that excavations and researches on the Neolithic remains in the Korean Peninsula have not been sufficiently and actively conducted, it could be expected that the further investigations and researches will reveal the sufficient quantities of slit earrings in near future.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.151-171
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• 2017

Most of oceanic current maps in the secondary school science and earth science textbooks have been made on the base of extensive in-situ measurements conducted by Japanese oceanographers during 1930s. According to up-to-date scientific knowledge on the currents in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea (YES), such maps have significant errors and are likely to cause misconceptions to students, thus new schematic map of ocean currents is needed. The currents in the YES change seasonally due to relatively shallow water depths, complex terrain, winds, and tides. These factors make it difficult to construct a unified ocean current map of the YES. Sixteen major items, such as the flow of the Kuroshio Current into the East China Sea and its northward path, the origin of the Tsushima Warm Current and its path into the Korea Strait, the path of Taiwan Warm Current, the Jeju Warm Current, the runoff pattern of the Yangtze River flow, the routes of the northward Yellow Sea Warm Current, the Chinese Coastal Current, and the West Korea Coastal Current off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula, were selected to produce the schematic current map. Review of previous scientific researches, in-depth discussions through academic conferences, expert discussions, and consultations for three years since 2014 enabled us to produce the final ocean current maps for the YES after many revisions. Considering the complexity of the ocean currents, we made seven ocean current maps: two representative current patterns in summer and winter, seasonal current maps for upper layer and lower layer in summer and winter, and one representative surface current map. It is expected that the representative maps of the YES, connected to the current maps of the East Sea and the Northwest Pacific Ocean, would be widely utilized for diverse purposes in the secondary-school textbooks as well as high-level educational purposes and even for scientific scholarly experts.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.591-603
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• 2022

The color and optical properties of seawater are determined by the interaction between dissolved organic and inorganic substances and plankton contained in it. The Ieodo - Ocean Research Institute (I-ORS), located in the East China Sea, is affected by the low salinity of the Yangtze River in the west and the Tsushima Warm Current in the south. Thus, it is a suitable site for analyzing the fluctuations in circulation and optical properties around the Korean Peninsula. In this study, seawater surrounding the I-ORS was classified according to its optical characteristics using the satellite remote reflectance observed with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)/Aqua and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) bio-Optical Marine Algorithm Dataset (NOMAD) from January 2016 to December 2020. Additionally, the variation characteristics of optical water types (OWTs) from different seasons were presented. A total of 59,532 satellite match-up data (d ≤ 10 km) collected from seawater surrounding the I-ORS were classified into 23 types using the spectral angle mapper. The OWTs appearing in relatively clear waters surrounding the I-ORS were observed to be greater than 50% of the total. The maximum OWTs frequency in summer and winter was opposite according to season. In particular, the OWTs corresponding to optically clear seawater were primarily present in the summer. However, the same OWTs were lower than overall 1% rate in winter. Considering the OWTs fluctuations in the East China Sea, the I-ORS is inferred to be located in the transition zone of seawater. This study contributes in understanding the optical characteristics of seawater and improving the accuracy of satellite ocean color variables.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.16-26
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• 2000

Physical characteristics and nutrient distributions in seawater were investigated to understand the mechanism of red tide outbreak in coastal waters off Kohung area. To identify any physical and chemical differences before, during and after the red tide outbreaks, 6 times of field observations have been carried out from May to October, 1997. We found that major environmental properties of the seawater in the study area were determined not by the local meteoric conditions or nearby-land influences, but by the intrusion of seawater from offshore. In particular, extreme environmental variations in seawater were found during the period of red tide outbreak from August to September. Before the red tide outbreak, high concentrations of DIN(Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen)were found in seawater, but they decreased during the outbreak. Whereas no significant variations of DIP(Dissolved Inorganic Phosphate) were found. For the water mass in the semienclosed northern part of the study area, local nutrient sources originated from nearby-lands were estimated to cover 70% of total DIN input, but the rest part of the water mass in the study area, sporadic intrusion of offshore water mass could account for the major source of DIN supply. An offshore water mass influenced by Yangtze river effluent was suggested as one of the candidates with its high nitrate contents, high seawater temperature and low salinity. A red tide related phytoplankton, Gyrodinium impudicum, was found in seawater on the 21th day of August and, on the same day, a unique water mass with high temperature and extremely low salinity suddenly appeared in the study area. On the 22th day of September, after one and half month duration of red tide we found that red tide had disappeared simultaneously with the intrusion of new water mass with different characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.393-407
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• 1997

A survey of biological and chemical characteristics in the middle-northern East Sea of Korea was carried out at 28 stations in October, 1995 on board R/V Tam-Yang. On the basis of the vertical profiles of temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen, water masses in the study area were divided into 5 major groups; (1) Low Saline Surface Water (LSSW), (2) Tsushima Surface Water (TSW), (3) Tsushima Middle Water (TMW), (4) North Korean Cold Water (NKCW), (5) last Sea Porper Water (ESPW). Other 4 mixed water masses were also observed. It is highly possible that the LSSW which occured at depths of $0\~30m$ in the most southern part of the study area is originated from the Yangtze River (Kiang) of China due to very low salinity $(<32.0\%_{\circ})$ relatively high concentration of dissolved silicate and no sources of freshwater input into that area. Oxygen maximum layer in the vertical profile was located near surface at northern cold waters and became deeper at the warm southern area. Oxygen minimum layer af depths $50\~100m$, which is TMW, were found in only southern area. In the vortical profiles of nutrients, the concentrations were very low in the surface layer and increased drammatically near the thermocline. The highest concentration occurred in the ESPW. The relatively low value of Si/P ratio in the ESPW (13.63) compared to other reports in the East Sea was due to continuous increase of P with depth as well as Si. The N : P ratio was about 6.92, showing that nitrogenous nutrient is the limiting factor for phytoplankton growth. The exponential relationship between Si and P, compared to the linear relationship between N and P, indicates that nitrate and phosphate have approximately the same regenerative pattern, but silicate has delayed regenerative pattern.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.133-142
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• 2009

In order to understand the present environmental condition and future impingement of Changjiang(Yangtze River) outflow upon the adjacent seas after the scheduled completion of the Sanxia (Three Gorges) Dam in 2009, we tried to estimate the mixing ratios among surface waters of three end-members: Changjiang Water (CW), Kuroshio Water (KW), and East China Sea Water (ECSW) using $^{228}Ra/^{226}Ra$ activity ratio and salinity as tracers. Water samples were collected from 32 stations in November 2005 (R/V Tamgu 3), from 20 stations in July 2006 (R/V Ocean 2000) and from 17 stations in August 2006 (R/V Ieodo) in the northern part of the East China Sea. Radium isotopes in ~300 liters of surface seawater were extracted onboard by filtering through manganese impregnated acrylic fibers and following coprecipitation as $Ba(Ra)SO_4$. Activities of radium isotopes were determined by a high purity germanium detector. Results show that the fraction of CW was in the range of 1-23% in the study area, while KW was in the range of 0-30 % and ECSW 58-100 %. The eastward plume of Changjiang outflow, commonly observed in satellite images during summer and also displayed by the eastward-decreasing CW fraction in this study, could be attributed to Ekman transport caused by the SE monsoon prevailing in this region during summer. Results of this study showed that in the drought season, there was a little or no fraction of CW in the study area. Concentration of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) showed strong positive relationship with the fraction of CW, suggesting Changjiang as the major source of nitrogen. The mixing curve of DIN indicates the removal of nitrate by biological uptake during the mixing of CW with ambient seawater in the study area.