• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.58-64
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• 1992

A barotropic model is run over the Northwest Pacific Ocean to examine the formation and transport of the Tsushima Warm Current. The results indicate that the Tsushima Warm Current is a downstream extension of the Taiwan Warm Current. Local wind does not change the amount of transport of Tsushima Warm Current but it changes much the initial flow pattern of Tsushima Warm Current such that for southerly wind, the transport is through the Taiwan Strait but for northerly wind, it is through the eastern side of Taiwan.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.299-304
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• 1983

A tongue-like warm water which is a part of the Tsushima Warm Current appears whole year around in the east entrance of the Jeju Strait. Because of this warm water, the current direction flowing into the Jeju Strait from its west area seems to be changed in the Jeju Strait. Therefore the intermediate and bottom water of the Jeju Strait may greatly influence the formation of the coastal water in the South Coast of Korea. Since this tongue-like warm water is stronger in winter than in summer in its formation, Tsushima Warm Current comes closer to the South Coast of Korea in winter and its north boundary frequently approaches close to the coast of Geomun Island and Sori Island.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.364-374
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• 1994

The separation mechanism of the Tsushima Warm Current and the effects of seasonal wind stress on the separation position are studied by use of a barotropic numerical model. The grid spacing of 0.25$^{\circ}$ both in latitude and longitude is used in the model, and Hellerman and Rosenstein's wind (1983) is applied to the sea surface as seasonal wind stress. According to the model results, during winter seasons (from October to March) when northly wind is prevailing, the Tsushima Warm Current is formed by direct separation from the Kuroshio on the continental slope southwest of Kyushu. On the other hand, during summer seasons (from April to September), the Taiwan Current that flows through the Taiwan Strait seems to be the origin of the Tsushima Warm Current. The Kuroshio reaches its maximum transport during winter seasons, and the minimum during summer. The transport of the Taiwan Current shows a phase lag of about 160$^{\circ}$ relative to the Kuroshio. The transport variation of the Tsushima Warm Current agrees with that of the Kuroshio when the former is shifted by 120$^{\circ}$(about 4 months).

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.184-187
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• 2004

Three HF ocean radar stations were installed at the Soya Strait in the Sea of Okhotsk in order to monitor the Soya Warm Current. Frequency of the HF radar is 13.9 MHz, and range and azimuth resolutions are 3 km and 5 deg., respectively. Surface current velocity observed by the radars shows good agreement with drifting buoy and shipboard ADCP observations. The velocity of Soya Warm Current reaches its maximum, which is about 1 m/s, in summer, and becomes weak in winter. The surface transport across the strait shows a significant correlation with the sea level difference along the strait.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.2 s.32
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• pp.147-158
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• 1999

Warm or waste water discharged from offshore-based facilities often causes environmental polution as it is transported to coastal area due to tidal actions. In this research a floating-type current control structure is introduced in order to reduce the pollutant spreading in the coastal area. Effectivenss of the structure is investigated through the numerical experiment which is based on a 3-D finite difference multi-level scheme. The warm-water spreading in the bay is reduced when the draft of the structure increases and its optimum draft is found to be between 0.25h and 0.65h, where h is the water depth. The proposed structure is also tested in the Gohyun Bay and it ts proven to be applied to controllling pollutant spreading if its draft is properly chosen.

• 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 Science Journal
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.67-78
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• 2005

Complex physical, chemical and biological interactions off the Korean coast created several striking patterns in the phytoplankton blooms, which became conspicuous during the measurements of ocean color from space. This study concentrated on analyzing the spatial and temporal aspects of phytoplankton chlorophyll variability in these areas using an integrated dataset from a Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), Advanced Very High Resolution (AVHRR) sensor, and Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) sensor. The results showed that chlorophyll concentrations were elevated in coastal and open ocean regions, with strong summer and fall blooms, which appeared to spread out in most of the enclosed bays and neighboring waters due to certain oceanographic processes. The chlorophyll concentration was observed to range between 3 and $54\;mg\;m^{-3}$ inside Jin-hae Bay and adjacent coastal bays and 0.5 and $8\;mg\;m^{-3}$ in the southeast sea offshore waters, this gradual decrease towards oceanic waters suggested physical transports of phytoplankton blooms from the shallow shelves to slope waters through the influence of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) along the Tsushima Strait. Horizontal distribution of potential temperature $(\theta)$ and salinity (S) of water off the southeastern coast exhibited cold and low saline surface water $(\theta and warm and high saline subsurface water $({\theta}>12^{\circ}C; S>34.4)$ at 75dBar, corroborating TWC intrusion along the Tsushima Strait. An eastward branch of this current was called the East Korean Warm Current (EKWC), tracked with the help of CTD data and satellite-derived sea surface temperature, which often influenced the dynamics of mesoscale anticyclonic eddy fields off the Korean east coast during the summer season. The process of such mesoscale anticyclonic eddy features might have produced interior upwelling that could have shoaled and steepened the nutricline, enhancing phytoplankton population by advection or diffusion of nutrients in the vicinity of Ulleungdo in the East Sea.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.369-389
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• 2002

CTD data taken in the Ulleung Basin between 1996 and 2001 are analyzed to understand the hydrography around Dokdo. Major features occurring in the Ulleung Basin such as the path variability of the East Korean Warm Current (EKWC), the location and size of the Ulleung Warm Eddy (UWE) and the position of the Offshore Branch along the Japanese coast all influence the hydrography around Dokdo. The Dokdo area frequently lies in the eastern part of the meandering EKWC and the UWE that results in a filting of isolines sloping upwards to Dokdo in the Ulleung Interplain Gap (UIG) between Ulleungdo and Dokdo. Subsurface water near Dokdo then becomes colder and less saline than water near Ulleungdo. Two cases that are opposite to this general trend are also identified when the Dokdo area is directly affected by the EKWC and by a small scale eddy ffd by the Offshore Branch. High salinity cores and warm waters are then found near Dokdo with isolines sloping upwards to Ulleungdo. Freshening of the East Sea Intermediate Water was observed in the UIG when neither the EKWC nor the UWE was developed in the Ulleung Basin during June-November 2000.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.505-510
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• 2008

To understand the oceanographic characteristics of Hupo coastal waters as regards the East Korean Warm Current and the North Korean Cold Current, current direction and velocity were investigated by deploying a current meter in Hupo coastal waters during the summer and fall of 2007. Wind data were obtained from the homepage of the Korea Meteorological Administration. Water temperature was measured using a temperature meter attached to the current meter and a mini log. During summer, a south wind prevailed, while during the fall the wind blew from the north. Cold surface waters occurred on a large scale in summer, while in the fall, warm bottom water occurred frequently. After mid-November, when the surface water was cooler than $15^{\circ}C$, there was no difference in water temperature between the surface and bottom layers.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2008

Internal waves and internal tides occur frequently along the eastern coast of Korea. During the spring-tide period in April 2003, the East Korean Warm Current (EKWC) flowed near the Korean East Coast Farming Forecast System (KECFFS; a moored oceanographic measurement system), creating a strong thermocline at the intermediate layer. Weakened stratification and well-mixed water appeared frequently around the KECFFS, with duration of approximately 1 day. The results suggest the following scenario. Baroclinic motion related to the internal tide generated high frequency internal waves around the thermocline. The breaking of those waves then created turbulence around the thermocline. After well-mixed water appeared, a current component with perpendicular direction to the EKWC appeared within the inertial period. The change in stratification around the KECFFS locally broke the geostrophic balance as a transient state. This local vertical mixing formed an ageostrophic current within the inertial period.