• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.65-75
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• 2004

In order to understand the water masses and their distribution in the eastern Yellow Sea from winter to spring, a cluster analysis was applied to the temperature and salinity data of Korea Oceanographic Data Center from 1970 to 1990. From December to April, Yellow Sea Cold Water (YSCW) dominates the eastern Yellow Sea, whereas Eastern Yellow Sea Mixed Water (MW) and Yellow Sea Warm Water (YSWW) are found in the southern part of the eastern Yellow Sea. MW appears at the frontal region around $34^{\circ}N$ between YSCW in the north and YSWW in the south. On the other hand, Tshushima Warm Water (TWW) is found around Jeju Island and the South Sea of Korea. These water masses are relatively well-mixed throughout the water column due to the winter monsoon. However, the water column begins to be stratified in spring due to increased solar heating, the diminishing winds and fresh water discharge, and the water masses in June may be separated into surface, intermediate and bottom layers of the water column. YSWW advances northwestward from December to February and retreats southeastward from February to April. This suggests a periodic movement of water masses in the southern part of the eastern Yellow Sea from winter to spring. YSWW may continue to move eastward with the prevailing eastward current to the South Sea from April to June. Also, the front relaxes in June, but the mixed water advances to the north, increasing salinity. The salinity is also higher in the nearshore region than offshore. This indicates an influx of oceanic water to the north in the nearshore region of the eastern Yellow Sea in spring in the form of mixed water.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.17-33
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• 1980

The materials were obtained in the eastern Gulf of Alaska and the south- eastern Bering Sea during the cruise of the research vessel, Ohdae San, from July to October 1978. A total of 76 samples were taken by NORPAC net from a depth of 200 meters or less in coastal areas. 1. The surface water temperature in the coastal waters, varing from 9 to 10$^{\circ}C$, was lower than that in offshore waters which varied from 10 to 12.9$^{\circ}C$ in the eastern Gulf of Alaska. Thermocline was formed in the 30∼50 meter layer. Salinity of the coastal waters of Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak was 30 which was slightly lower than that of offshore. 2. The water temperature of the surface layer down to 30 meters varied from 7 to 10$^{\circ}C$ and from 1 to 9$^{\circ}C$ in the layer below 30 meters in the south-eastern Bering Sea. Meandering thermal front spread from the Alaska Peninsula to St. Matthew Island by way of St. Paul, and a thermocline was found at the 30∼50 meter layer Salinity ranged from 31.0 to 33.0 and that of northern and coastal waters was little lower than that of offshore. 3. Zooplankton biomass fluctuated from 0.1 to 23.6cc/10㎥ in the eastern Gulf of Alaska and 2.0 to 26.1cc/10㎥ in the south-eastern Bering Sea. Plankton was rich in the following areas, the inshore Kodiak waters, the northern Bering Sea, the Coastal waters and waters adjacent to Alutian islands however, poor in the central Bering Sea. In general, the south-eastern Bering Sea has a higher concentration of plankton volume than the eastern Gulf of Alaska. 4. Twenty three species representing 17 genera of copepods were identified from the samples. These were mostly composed of the cold water species, such as Pseudocalanus minutus, Acartia longiremis, Metridia lucens and Eucalanus bungii var. bungii. 5. The cold oceanic species were composed of Calanus cristatus, C.plumchrus, Metridia lucens, Eucalanus bungii var. bungii and Scolecithricella minor. The cold neritic species were Centropages abdominalis, Pseudocalanus minutus, Acartia longiremis, Eurytemora herdmanii, Pontella pulvinata, P. longipedata and Tortanus discaudatus. On the other hand, the warm oceanic species were Calanus tenuicornis and Oithona plumifera. The cosmopolitan species were Calanus finmarchicus and Oithona similis. 6. It was suggested that the cold oceanic species, Eucalanus bungii var. bungii and Metridia lucens in the south-eastern Bering Sea can be recommended as a valuable indicator species for finding the fishing grounds of demersal fish such as pollock and yellowfin sole in this area.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2007

A series of long chain unsaturated ketone (alkenone) was identified in the particulate organic matter sampled from surface water of the eastern South Sea, Korea. The seawater temperature based on the $C_{37}$ alkenone was calculated by using several different equations of unsaturation index(${U^{K'}}_{37}$), compared with in situ CTD temperature. Among the previously reported equations, the equation(0.044T-0.204) which was proposed by Sawada et al.(1996) seems to be the most useful for the calculation of $C_{37}$ alkenone temperature, showing average $0.51^{\circ}C$ difference between ${U^{K'}}_{37}$ temperature and in situ CTD temperature. This result suggest that alkenone should be a useful molecular biomarker for reconstructing paleo-environmental change in the South and East Sea, Korea. However, it is required to establish more reliable equation for the calculation of $C_{37}$ alkenone temperature.

• Water for future
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.239-248
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• 1986

Monthly wind stress, wind stress curl and volume transport stream functions are computed in the Eastern Sea(Japan Sea) based upon observed wind and atmospheric pressure data respectively. The presented two results show different distributios on locality and season but as common features the results reveal the northwesterly surface wind stress \ulcorner 새 the monsoon in winter, south to southwesterly wind stress \ulcorner 새 the southerly wind in summer and strond anticyclonic curl in the northern part on the Eastern Sea(Japan Sea) in winter. In the distributions obtained from the sea level atmospheric pressure data, the maximum value of the wind stress and of curls of small scales are shown off the southeast coast of Siberia and northeast coast of Korea. Volume transport distributions obtained from the Sverdrup relationship suggest that the strong northward boundary current can be formed along the northeast coast of Korea in winter and weak southward boundary current in summer.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.157-170
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• 2013

We investigated the seasonal succession of phytoplankton assemblages in the eastern part of the South Sea of Korea in relation to surface water masses. The study areas are under the direct influence of the Tsushima Warm Current (TCW) throughout the whole year, with its strength known to be seasonally variable. The region is also influenced by coastal waters (CW) driven from the South Sea of Korea and East China Sea, particularly in summer, as indicated by low salinity in the surface water. Nutrient property of the TCW can reveals whether the origin of the TCW is the nutrient-rich Kuroshio Current or the oligotropic Taiwan Warm Current. Surface chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations displayed a large seasonal variation for all stations, with high values found in spring and autumn and low values in summer and winter. At station M (offshore) and P (intermediate location between M and R), Chl-a concentrations in October were higher than those in March, when spring bloom normally occurs. This may be related to deeper mixed layer depths in October. Diatoms dominated under conditions of high nutrient supply in which Chaetoceros spp. and Skeletonema costatum-like spp. were abundant. S. costatum-like spp. dominated at stations R (onshore station) and P in December when there was greater nutrient supply, especially of phosphate. Flagellates and dinoflagellates dominated at all three stations after diatoms blooms. Dominant species were Scrippsiella trochoid in April and Ceratium furca in October at station R, and Gyrodinium spp. and Gymnodinium spp. at station M during summer, when the effect of the oligotropic Taiwan Warm Current and the oligotropic coastal water from East China Sea were strong. Redundancy analysis showed clear seasonal successions in the phytoplankton community and environmental conditions, in which both principal components 1 and 2 accounted for 69.6% of total variance. Our results suggested that environmental conditions seemed to be determined by the origin of the TCW and the relative seasonal strength of the water masses of the TCW and CW, which may affect phytoplankton growth and compositions in the study area.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.217-227
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• 1987

The heat budget of the south eastern region (33$^{\circ}$N-36$^{\circ}$N, 120$^{\circ}$E-125$^{\circ}$E) of the Yellow Sea was calculated by using the meteorological and oceanographical data. The sensibly heat, the evaporation heat and the long wave back radiation have annual variation and increases toward south with strong gradient along the Cheju channel in winter, but they all show tendency to decrease toward eastern coastal area in summer. The area is roughly divided into three parts, the central part, the coastal part and the southern part, according to the characteristics ovariation and distribution patterns of the exchanged heats. The amplitude of the annual variation of total heat exchange in the southern part is very large compare to those of the central and coastal part. The studied area is appeared to be heated mainly by the evaporation heat and the sensoble heat, based on the results of this study.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.523-530
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• 2008

In this study, the species composition and population genetic properties of the sea slater, Ligia, in South Korea were investigated using mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences. Two groups of sea slaters, genetically isolated from each other, a Western Group (WG) and an Eastern Group (EG) were identified. These groups exhibited considerable genetic divergence from Ligia exotica, previously recorded as a species inhabiting this country. These results indicate that there may be two species of Ligia in South Korea, but there is a small probability that both groups are L. exotica. A comparison of their genetic properties indicates that WG has a higher effective population size than EG, and that EG may have experienced a recent expansion, implying that it has a shorter history in South Korea than WG. These findings suggest that the South Korean sea slater populations may have been established as a result of several colonization events that can be traced on a continental scale by phylogeographic studies of sea slaters.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.299-306
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• 2009

Fish fauna in the eastern Yellow Sea was determined using samples collected by an otter trawl from September 1999 to November 2001. The fish consisted of 97 species belonging to 80 genera and 50 families. The major taxa were the Perciformes (40 spp.), Pleuronectiformes (17 spp.), Scorpaeniformes (11 spp.) and Clupeiformes (10 spp.). Larimichthys polyactis, Engraulis japonicus, Liparis tanakai, Pampus echinogaster, Lophius lituron and Collichthys niveatus were predominated in abundance in the study area. The composition of the fish fauna has changed during the last three decades.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.281-293
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• 2014

The biogeography and diversity patterns of the marine bivalve molluscan fauna of the East Sea coast of South Korea are analyzed. The total species richness of the continental Korean bivalve fauna, excluding insular regions (Dok-do and Ullung-do), is 304, and from north to south the species richness of bivalves increases showing a clear gradient: Gangwon, 143 species ${\rightarrow}$ Gyeongbuk, 131 ${\rightarrow}$ Gyeongnam, 183. A zonal-geographical analysis of the entire fauna shows that the great majority are warm-water mollusks, constituting 77% (subtropical, 37%, tropical-subtropical, 30%, subtropical-boreal, 10%), The number of boreal (low-boreal, widely distributed boreal and circumboreal) species is lower, 19%, whereas boreal-arctic mollusks have only 4%. This demonstrates that the bivalve molluscan fauna of the eastern coast of Korea is subtropical, and has more affinities to the fauna of the East China Sea than to the northern East Sea. Separate analysis by provinces shows the increasing role of warm-water mollusks from north to south. While tropical-subtropical and subtropical species constitute 47% (68 species) in Gangwon, their dominance increases to 71% (93 species) in Gyeongbuk, and to 80% (148 species) in Gyeongnam. The Gyeongnam bivalve fauna is the most diverse in species composition and has the largest number of "endemics" (species known only from this province), 46%. The Gangwon fauna also contains many "endemics", up to 40%, while Gyeongbuk is an intermediate zone with low "endemicity", only at one-fifth of the regional fauna, and has the most species in common among the three provinces.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2010

To assess short-term variation of summer phytoplankton community structure in different water masses, phytoplankton and environmental factors were monitored from 31 stations on and off the southern coasts of Korea, from June 18 to June 20 2009. According to multidimensional scaling (MDS) and cluster analysis based on phytoplankton community data from each station, the southern sea was divided into two groups. The first group included stations in the south-eastern region of Jeju Island, which is strongly influenced by the Kuroshio warm current. The second group located along the coastal region of the southern sea, which was mainly comprised of Bacillariophyceae and Crytophyceae. Of these stations, St. 13 and 28 formed a temperature front caused by different hydrological conditions. In particular, nutrients and Chl.a concentrations in these two stations were significantly higher compared to those in the other stations. This indicates that phytoplankton population and subsequent microalgal growth under high nutrient concentrations vary in different water masses. Our results support the theory that phytoplankton community structure in the southern sea of Korea can be influenced on a short-term scale by different water masses and currents.