• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.161-169
• /
• 2000

A seasonal circulation in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea and its possible cause have been studied with CSK data during 1965-1989. Water mass distributions are clear in winter, but not in summer because the upper layer waters are quite influenced by atmosphere. To solve the problem, a water mass analysis by mixing ratio is used for the lower layer waters. The results show that the distribution of Tsushima Warm Current Water expands to the Yellow Sea in winter and retreats to the East China Sea in summer. It means that there is a very slow seasonal circulation between the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea: Tsushima Warm Current Water flows into the Yellow Sea in winter and coastal water flows out of the Yellow Sea in summer. By the circulation, the front between Tsushima Warm Current Water and coastal water moves toward the shelf break in summer so that the flow is faster in the deeper region. The process eventually makes the transport in the Korea Strait increase. The Kuroshio does not seem to influence the process. A possible mechanism of the process is the seasonal change of sea surface slope due to different local effects of surface heating and diluting between the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.72-95
• /
• 2004

The Yellow Sea is characterized by relatively shallow water depth, varying range of tidal action and very complex coastal geometry such as islands, bays, peninsulas, tidal flats, shoals etc. The dynamic system is controlled by tides, regional winds, river discharge, and interaction with the Kuroshio. The circulation, water mass properties and their variability in the Yellow Sea are very complicated and still far from clear understanding. In this study, an effort to improve our understanding the dynamic feature of the Yellow Sea system was conducted using numerical simulation with the ROMS model, applying climatologic forcing such as winds, heat flux and fresh water precipitation. The inter-annual variability of general circulation and thermohaline structure throughout the year has been obtained, which has been compared with observational data sets. The simulated horizontal distribution and vertical cross-sectional structures of temperature and salinity show a good agreement with the observational data indicating significantly the water masses such as Yellow Sea Warm Water, Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water, Changjiang River Diluted Water and other sporadically observed coastal waters around the Yellow Sea. The tidal effects on circulation and dynamic features such as coastal tidal fronts and coastal mixing are predominant in the Yellow Sea. Hence the tidal effects on those dynamic features are dealt in the accompanying paper (Kim et at., 2004). The ROMS model adopts curvilinear grid with horizontal resolution of 35 km and 20 vertical grid spacing confirming to relatively realistic bottom topography. The model was initialized with the LEVITUS climatologic data and forced by the monthly mean air-sea fluxes of momentum, heat and fresh water derived from COADS. On the open boundaries, climatological temperature and salinity are nudged every 20 days for data assimilation to stabilize the modeling implementation. This study demonstrates a Yellow Sea version of Atlantic Basin experiment conducted by Haidvogel et al. (2000) experiment that the ROMS simulates the dynamic variability of temperature, salinity, and velocity fields in the ocean. However the present study has been improved to deal with the large river system, open boundary nudging process and further with combination of the tidal forcing that is a significant feature in the Yellow Sea.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.862-875
• /
• 1996

The CTD data observed in the sea northwest of Cheju Island have been analyzed to figure out the seasonal circulation around Cheju Island. Warm and saline waters flow into the Yellow Sea through the middle region of the Yellow Sea in winter and along the west coast of Korean Peninsula in summer. On the other hand, cold and less saline waters flow out of the Yellow Sea through the middle region in summer and along the west coast of Korean Peninsula in winter. These flows make the seasonal circulation around Cheju Island. As dynamics, the monsoon wind and the variation of Kuroshio transport have been suggested. Comparing the observational result, the circulation driven by the variation of Kuroshio transport is strengthened by monsoon winds in the numerical model.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.187-195
• /
• 2002

The characteristics of surface circulation in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are discussed by analyzing a great deal of current data observed by 142 sets of mooring buoy and 58 sets of drifters trajectories collected in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea through domestic and abroad measurements. Some major features are demonstrated as bellow: 1) Tsushima Warm Current flows away from the Kuroshio and has multiple sources in warm half year and comes only from Kuroshio surface water in cold half year. 2) Taiwan Warm Current comes mainly from the Taiwan Strait Water in warm half year and comes from the intruded Kuroshio surface water and branches near 27N in cold half year. 3) The Changjiang Diluted Water turns towards Cheju Island in summer and flows southward along the coastal line in winter. 4) The study sea area is an eddy developing area, especially in the southern area of Cheju Island and northern area of Taiwan.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.41-52
• /
• 1998

A seasonal circulation pattern in the eastern Yellow Sea (EYS) is suggested from the water mass analysis and geostrophic calculation using the hydrographic data collected by National Fisheries Research and Development Institute during the years of 1970 to 1990. This research focuses on the presence of inflow of warm (and saline) waters into EYS in summer. EYS is divided into two regions in this paper: the west coast of Korea (WCK) and the central Yellow Sea (CYS). In CYS, waters are linked with warm waters near Cheju Island in winter, but with cold waters from the north in summer (in the lower layer). It is not simple to say about WCK because of the influences of freshwater input and tidal mixing. Nevertheless, water mass analysis reveals that along WCK, waters have the major mixing ratios (40-60%) of warm waters in summer, while the dominant mixing ratios (50-90%) of cold waters in winter. Such a seasonal change of water mass distribution can be explained only by seasonal circulation. In winter, warm waters flow northward into CYS and cold waters flow southward along WCK. In summer, warm waters flow northward along WCK and cold waters flow southward into CYS. This circulation pattern is supported by both statistical analysis and dynamic depth topography. Accordingly, Yellow Sea Warm Current may be defined as the inflow of warm waters to CYS in winter and to WCK in summer.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.223-242
• /
• 2001

This paper presents the depth-mean monthly variation in the circulation of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea computed using a robust diagnostic model. The mixed three-dimensional finite-difference Galerkin function model developed by Lee et at. (2000, 2001) has been extended to take into account baroclinic effects and then used to calculate the depth-mean flow fields as part of the results. In addition to M2 tide and oceanic flows previously considered, the model has been driven by the monthly mean wind stresses from Na and Seo (1998), the density gradient calculated based on by GDEM data set released by US Navy. Model results are very encouraging in that many of observed features including Jeju Cyclonic Gyre and frontal eddies along the shelfside of the Kuroshio main stream and west of Kyushu, are satisfactorily reproduced and are expected to be of value in interpreting observations in various oceanograhic disciplines.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.25 no.spc3
• /
• pp.361-371
• /
• 2003

The effect of bottom friction on the steady wind-driven circulation in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea (YSECS) has been studied using a two-dimensional numerical model with and without tidal forcing. Upwind flow experiment in YSECS has also been carried out with a schematic time variation in the wind field. The surface water setup and circulation pattern due to steady wind forcing are found to be very sensitive to the bottom friction. When the effects of tidal currents are neglected, the overall current velocities are overestimated and eddies of various sizes appear, upwind flow is formed within the deep trough of the Yellow Sea, forming a part of the topographic gyre on the side of Korea. When tidal forcing is taken into account, the wind-induced surface elevations are smoothed out due to the strong tide-induced bottom friction, which is aligned almost normal to the wind stresses; weak upwind flow is farmed in the deep trough of the Yellow Sea, west and south of Jeju. Calculation with wind forcing only through a parameterized linear bottom friction produces almost same results from the calculation with $M_2$ tidal forcing and wind forcing using a quadratic bottom friction, supporting Hunter (1975)'s linearization of bottom friction which includes the effect of tidal current, can be applied to the simulation of wind-driven circulation in YSECS. The results show that steady wind forcing is not a dominant factor to the winter-time upwind flow in YSECS. Upwind flow experiment which considers the relaxation of pressure gradient (Huesh et al. 1986) shows that 1) a downwind flow is dominant over the whole YSECS when the northerly wind reaches a maximum speed; 2) a trend of upwind flow near the trough is found during relaxation when the wind abates; 3) a northward flow dominates over the YSECS after the wind stops. The results also show that the upwind flow in the trough of Yellow Sea is forced by a wind-induced longitudinal surface elevation gradient.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.677-697
• /
• 1995

The analysis of long- period sea level variations with tidal record data around Korea, Japan, and Russia shows that about half of the variations are due to atmospheric influences. The sea level variation by water movements is the largest in the coasts along the Tsushima Current, and becomes smaller in the distant areas. It suggests that the sea level varications are related with the Tsushima Current. The effect of sea level variations to ocean circulation has been studied with a numerical model allowing barotropic sea level fluctuations, like the result with GCM (Semtner) model by Pang et al.(1993), the present model also shows that waters basically flow along isobaths over the last China Sea after geostyophic adjustment around Taiwan. However, barotropic sea level fluctuation makes the basic circulation in the Yellow Sea, which waters flow into the central Yellow Sea and out along the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. Besides this, barotropic sea level fluctuation makes long period waves over the shelf area as the Kuroshio varies. By the waves, the basic circulation in the Yellow Sea is disturbed, so that the flow pattern of oppositely flowing into the Yellow Sea along the west roast of the Korean Peninsula appears. In the Yellow Sea circulation, it seems that northwest winds strengthen the basic circulat ion In winter, and southeast winds strengthen the disturbed circulation in summer. Another point appeared by the long period wave is that the Tsushima Current possibly originates in different areas. There have been two opposing argues on the area in which the Tsushima Current originates the southwest sea of Kyushu Island and the adjacent sea of Taiwan. Through this study, we found that both of them seem to be important areas for the origin of the Tsushima Current, and one of them is possibly strengthened by long period waves. The long period waves given by the variation of the Kuroshio Current in the adjacent sea of Taiwan propagate to the Korea Strait as forced waves. The wave continuously propagates to the last Sea through the eastern channel, but reflects in the western channel due to bottom topography. The reflected waves propagate southwestward along the last China Sea as free waves and determine the sea level variations with forced waves.

• 한국해양학회지
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.262-277
• /
• 1991

Hydrographic data taken at stations spaced 8-16 nautical miles in the Cheju Strait and the southeastern part of the Yellow Sea in June 1980 and August 1981 show for the first time that oceanic water of high temperature and high salinity exists within 20 km from the northern and western coast of Cheju-Do. It is confirmed that the low salinity trough in the sea around Cheju-Do originates from the river plume on the Yantze Bank. The salinity trough separates the high temperature and high salinity water around Cheju-Do from the surface water of the Yellow Sea and below the seasonal thermocline this distance water meets the Yellow Sea Cold Water forming a thermal front. The Yellow Sea Cold Water seems to spread southward along the Yantze Bank centered at the isobath of 70 m. Its characteristics also appear in the northern part of the Cheju Strait. these complex structures contradict the yellow Sea Warm current suggested by Uda 1934), which is supposed to flow northward into the Yellow Sea along the western coast of Korea. Our data show that dense hydrographic surveys in space and time are prerequisite to understand the circulation around Cheju-Do.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.14-19
• /
• 2004

Difference of Dissolved Inorganic Phosphorus (DIP), Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN) and Dissolved Silicate (DSi) budgets in the Bohai Sea between 1982 and 1992 related the decrease of the Yellow River discharge is discussed on the basis of observed data. The estuarine circulation in the Bohai Sea had been weakened from 1982 to 1992 due to the decrease of the Yellow River discharge and the average residence time of fresh water had become longer. DIN concentration increased but DIP and DSi concentrations decreased from 1982 to 1992 in the Bohai Sea. Primary production was regulated mainly by water temperature and DIN concentration in 1982 but it was regulated mainly by DIP concentration in 1992. Primary production was larger than decomposition plus bottom release and nitrogen fixation was larger than denitrification in 1982. However, decomposition plus bottom release was larger than primary production and denitrification was larger than nitrogen fixation in 1992 in the Bohai Sea.