• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2001

Sea surface temperature derived from infrared images of NOAA satellites showed a warm eddy in the East Korean Bight(EKB) or Donghan Man during the winter 1997${\sim}$2000. To describe the warm eddy in the EKB, hydrographic data collected in 1934 and 1936 were also analyzed. The center of the warm eddy was located at about $39^{\circ}N$ and $129^{\circ}E$. The temperature and salinity of the eddy was about $4.0^{\circ}C$ and 34.0 psu, respectively, at 100m depth. The eddy rotated anticyclonically with a geostrophic current speed of about 20 cm/s. The mean state calculated from the data of 1922${\sim}$1960 showed the existence of a warm eddy over the EKB in winter. The eddy persists until late spring, and disappears from the previous location in summertime, only to be seen again in autumn.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.325-335
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• 2012

It is well known that sound waves in the sea propagates under the influence of sea surface and bottom roughness, the sound speed profile, the water depth, and the density of sea floor sediment. In particular, an abrupt change of sound speed with depth can greatly affect sound propagation through an eddy. Eddies are frequently generated in the East Sea near the Korean Peninsula. A warm eddy with diameter of about 150 km is often observed, and the sound speed profile is greatly changed within about 400 m of water depth at the center by the eddy around the Ulleung Basin in the East Sea. The characteristics of low-frequency sound propagation across a warm eddy are investigated by a sound propagation model in order to understand the influence of warm eddies. The acoustic rays and propagation losses are calculated by a range-dependent acoustic model in conditions where the eddy is both present and absent. We found that low-frequency sound propagation is affected by the warm eddy, and that the phenomena dominate the upper ocean within 800 m of water depth. The propagation losses of a 100 Hz frequency are variable within ${\pm}15$ dB with depth and range by the warm eddy. Such variations are more pronounced at the deep source near the sound channel axis than the shallow source. Furthermore, low-frequency sound propagation from the eddy center to the eddy edge is more affected by the warm eddy than sound propagation from the eddy edge to the eddy center.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.101-111
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• 2001

In an attempt to demonstrate the seasonal variation of the Ulleung Warm Eddy (UWE), in which the UWE changes its shape from a warm core ring in early spring to a warm lens in late summer under the effect of surrounding East Korean Warm Current (EKWC) Water, a simple geostrophic adjustment model is considered. Model results indicate that the buoyancy increase of the EKWC Water and the strengthening of the EKWC towards summer, both of which are typical of this region, are the major factors governing the seasonal variation of the UWE.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.120-135
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• 1996

The characteristics and fluctuations of structures and spatial distributions of thermal fronts and warm eddy in the Southeastern part of the East sea are discussed based on the data collected by the Naval Academy, Korea during Feb. 6-9, May 9-19 and Oct. 12-18, 1995. The thermal fronts existed very often at the sea off the Pohang-Ulsan, The generation of the thermal front is related with the development of the North Korea Cold Current. The warm eddy is located in the central part of the Ulleung basin where the local depth exceeds 1500m. This warm eddy is a major contributor to mass transport in the northern part of the East Sea. It is evident that knowledge of warm eddy is important in understanding the circulation in the western part of the East Sea.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.565-583
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• 1995

We have used a nonlinear quasi-geostrophic model to study effects of lateral friction and bottom topography on the motion of warm eddies. The two empirical orthogonal functions of the stream function, accounting for the vertical structure, represent the barotropic and first baroclinic dynamic modes. This model is integrated 360 days on a 1000 km ${\times}$ 1000 km domain with a resolution of 10 km ${\times}$ 10 km including both the thermocline and idealized topography of the East Sea. Prescribed inflow through the Korea Strait is compensated by outflow through the Tsugaru Strait. The balance between the nonlinear advection term and the planetary ${\beta}$-effect tends to make northward movement of warm eddy over a flat bottom. The motion of a warm eddy over a sloping topography can be dominated by the nonlinear advection, while nonlinearity plays a secondary role over a flat topography. For eddies dispersing over topography, the nonlinear tendency is a function of time. For a strong warm eddy, northward propagation can occur. For intermediate strength of eddies one might expect a balance between the nonlinear term and the topographic ${\beta}$-effect. As nonlinearity decreases with eddy dispersion, southward motion along the slope may occur by such as a topographic Rossby wave. Our numerical simulations have confirmed the importance of lateral friction on eddy motions, in such a way that the northward penetration of the warm eddy increases drastically by the decrease of the lateral friction. The northward motion of warm eddy can be prevented by reducing the Reynolds number sufficiently. We have also demonstrated the crucial role of topographic effects in the eddy motion process.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.20-26
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• 2002

The offshore extension of the East Korean Warm Current (EKWC) mostly turns anti-cyclonically around the Ulleung Warm Eddy (UWE). This fact needs to be dynamically explained because a rectilinear stream past a circular cylinder is normally expected to have a flow pattern symmetric about the stream axis. For this purpose, a simple analytical model is presented in this paper. This model shows that the EKWC's tendency to be anti-cyclonic around the UWE is due to the anti cyclonic circulation generated around the UWE. This tendency results from the geostrophic adjustment between the UWE and the ambient EKWC water. As the strength of the UWE decreases, relative to the EKWC, this model shows that the flow pattern gradually changes from circular to rectilinear.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.455-462
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• 2015

It is well known that warm eddy is frequently developed through the year in the East Sea. The warm eddy may affect sound propagation due to changes of sound velocity structures in the sea water. To verify the effects of the warm eddy for long-range sound propagation, transmission loss and performance surface, which were used mean direct signal excess range generated by sound propagation modeling using re-analyzed climatology data on March 23th in 2007 were analysed. From these analyses, we found that characteristics of sound propagation in the sea water are changed by the warm eddy, and boundaries of the warm eddy act as a barrier for long-range sound propagation. Furthermore, these disadvantages of the eddy related to sound propagation were increased when the sea bottom depth is shallow.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.354-363
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• 1995

Temporal change of a warm eddy off Sogcho was studied using satellite infrared images from January to lune 1992 and its structure was investigated by the observations in Hay. There were two kinds of event for eddy formation. IR images in January indicated that the eddy Haying a horizontal dimension of about 200km was first formed by an injection of warm water. After some deformation and cooling processes the second restrengthening event took place in late March when a warm filament began to penetrate northward and circumvented the preexisting eddy. This eddy became a complete ring-shape with cooled water arrested inside from April to May. The maximum thickness of the isothermal subsurface layer with temperature of $10.0-10.4^{\circ}C$ was about 170m. Except that the current velocity was about 80cm/sec near the axis of the last Korea Warm Current close to Sogcho, the interior of the eddy had an anticyclonic motion with overall swirl velocity of 30-50cm/sec. Velocity rapidly decreased vertically below the main thermocline.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.283-296
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• 2009

Oceanographic survey data were analyzed to understand the characteristics of a warm eddy observed in the Ulleung Basin in July 2005. The temperature distribution at 200 db and vertical sections provided evidence of the warm eddy in the Ulleung Basin (UWE05). Based on the 5$^{\circ}C$ isothermal line on 200 db temperature, the major axis was 160 km from southwest to northeast, and the minor axis was 80 km from southeast to northwest. The homogeneous layer in the thermocline of UWE05 had mean values of 10.40$^{\circ}C$ potential temperature, 34.35 psu salinity, and 26.37 kg/m$^3$ potential density (${\sigma}_{\theta}$) and provided evidence that UWE05 also existed during the winter of 2004-2005. A warm streamer initially flowed along the circumference of UWE05 and mixed with the upper central water. Two northward current cores were found on the western side of the measured current section at the central latitude of UWE05. One was the East Korean Warm Current (EKWC) and the other was the main stream of the western part of UWE05. Geostrophic transport of the upper layer (from the surface to the isopycnal surface of 26.9 ${\sigma}_{\theta}$) was approximately 2.5 Sv in the eastern side of UWE05. However, the measured transport was twice as large as the geostrophic transport. Mass conservation of geostrophic transport was well satisfied in the upper layer. The direct current measurements and geostrophic transport analysis showed that the EKWC meandered around UWE05.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.375-384
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• 1990

A numerical experiment is made to study the combined effect of differential cooling and bottom topography on the formation of Ulleung Warm Eddy. The Ulleung Warm Eddy appears after the passage around the Ulleung Basin of coastal trapped baroclinic waves generated in the north initial density front to the north, the continental slopes both to the west and south, and the Yamato Rise to the east. It resides therefore always inside the Ulleung Basin, as confirmed by observations.