• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.32 no.5
• /
• pp.499-508
• /
• 2010

This study proposed a life cycle impact assessment index that can indicate the environment-related information of the product in monetary value such that the national geographical, environmental, and social features are fully reflected based on a damage-oriented model. First, the estimation process was classified into characterization, damage assessment, and integration stages considering the six biggest impact categories: resource depletion, global warming, ozone depletion, acidification, eutrophication, and photochemical oxidant creation. Moreover, this study came up with the 16 category endpoints related to the 6 impact categories, and the damage function, to the 4 largest safeguard subjects. The integration indices of finally identified impact categories were KRW 21.8/kg Sb, KRW 6.19/kg$CO_2$, KRW 53,000/kg CFC-11, KRW 13,100/kg $SO_2$, KRW 2,310/kg ${PO_4}^{3-}$, and KRW 3,030/kg $C_2H_4$. Using the results of this research, environmental impacts based on the environmental load generated throughout the entire life cycle of a product can serve as a single index in monetary value; thus enhancing understanding and utilization of the results of life cycle impact assessments.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.64-73
• /
• 2013

The application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to analyze the environmental impact to different swine waste treatment systems was investigated. The first part of LCA is to organize an inventory of parameters and emissions released due to the system under investigation. In the following step of the Life Cycle Impact Assessment, the inventory data were analyzed and aggregated in order to finally get one index representing the total environmental burden. For the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) the Eco-indicator 95 method has been chosen because this is well documented and regularly applied impact method. Two different swine waste treatment systems such as aerobic and anaerobic digestion systems were chosen as an example for the life cycle impact analysis. For establishing the parameters to be assessed the agricultural environmental effects to above swine waste treatment systems, it has been observed that there was high at T-P emission in anaerobic digestion system and $CO_2$ emission in aerobic digestion system. For Eco-indicator values per environmental effect for swine waste treatment systems related to one tonne of swine waste, it was shown that there was a negative index for global warm potential and soil acidification in aerobic digestion system, but relatively high positive index for eutrophication in anaerobic digestion system.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.239-245
• /
• 2014

This study analyzed a comprehensive database including 6331 ready-mixed concrete plant mixtures to quantitatively assess the environmental impact of concrete under mixture proportions variable according to the domestic region and season. The environmental impact indicator includes global warming, photochemical oxidant creation, abiotic resource depletion, acidification, eutrophication and human toxicity, which are determined from categorization, characterization, normalization and weighting process based on Korea lifecycle inventories. The determined environmental impact indicator was also normalized by concrete compressive strength ($f_{ck}$), which is defined as impact index, to calculate the environmental impact per unit strength of 1 MPa. The most common compressive strength of concrete used in the country is estimated to be 24 MPa and 27 MPa. For $f_{ct}$ of 24 MPa, the lowest environmental impact indicator is observed in Ulsan, whereas the highest region is Gwangju and Daegu. This difference according to domestic region is primarily resulted from by the replacement of different supplementary cementitious materials. Furthermore, the impact index of concrete with $f_{ck}$ of 24 MPa is higher by approximately 5% at wintertime than at summertime and standard season. The impact index gradually decreases with the increase of $f_{ck}$ up to 35 MPa, beyond which it remains constant.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.191-201
• /
• 2014

Marine algal flora and community structure were investigated seasonally at three sites in subtidal zone of Wangdol-cho on the east coast of Korea from May 2012 to August 2013. A total of 122 species were collected and identified, including 12 green algae, 29 brown algae, and 81 red algae. Of these, 38 species were found throughout the survey period. Average seaweed biomass was 472.19-1,198.77 g wet wt. $m^{-2}$ in spring, 68.99-631.14 g wet wt. $m^{-2}$ in summer, 200.91-401.20 g wet wt. $m^{-2}$ in autumn, and 53.61-922.32 g wet wt. $m^{-2}$ in winter. The vertical distribution based on biomass were Grateloupia lanceolata, Acrosorium venulosum, Lomentaria catenata - Undaria pinnatifida, Dictyopteris pacifica, Sargassum horneri, Ecklonia cava - Desmarestia viridis, E. cava, S. horneri from upper to lower subtidal zone. The flora was classified into six functional groups: filamentous form (34.43%), coarsely branched form (25.41%), sheet form (24.59%), thick leather form (9.71%), crustose form (5.74%) and jointed calcareous form (0.82%). The C/P, R/P and (R+C)/P values reflecting the flora characteristics were 0.41, 2.79 and 3.21, respectively. Also, diversity index (H') and dominance index (DI) indicate that the algal community and environmental condition of Wangdol-cho is stable. We recommend that Wangdol-cho subtidal zone should be more protected from human activities such as turbulence and eutrophication in order to maintain species diversity and abundance of algae.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.341-347
• /
• 2017

From 2014 to 2016 water quality survey results according to the location and depth of Youngrang Lake are as follows: Distribution of dissolved oxygen in the water depth was investigated by the middle section and the downstream 1st, 3rd, 5th, when investigating bottem 1m interval anoxic layer. In organic matter and nutrient concentration distribution COD upstream 2.8 mg/L, middle section 4.2 mg/L downstream 4.1 mg/L, more than two times higher in bottem layer and TP concentrations showed a similar trend with COD, upstream of 0.047 mg/L, middle section was 0.051 mg/L, downstream of 0.059 mg/L. There was a difference in salinity every survey period the average salinity is lowest with 28.5‰ when the second survey. And the highest with 32.1‰ in the fourth investigation. Korean trophic state index($TSI_{KO}$) were showed eutrophic conditions in the middle section and downstream else showed mesotrophic state in the entire period. In order to evaluate the cause of water pollution Youngrang lake, regression analysis of the relationship between salinity and DO, COD, TN, TP, Chl-a results, $R^2$ is from 0.63 to 0.95 Youngrang lake water quality was found to have a close relationship with salinity due to inflow of seawater. As a result, in order to improve the quality of Youngrang lake efficient incorporation of the amount of water through the seawater influent as it is considered the key.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.327-337
• /
• 2007

Plankton communities have close relationships with environmental changes in water columns. Thus, the use of plankton as a biological tool for assessing the marine ecosystem health may be effective. Major issue regarding coastal pollution has been usually recognized as phytoplankton blooms or red tides caused by the eutrophication, an increase in concentration of inorganic nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. However, in order to understand the effects of the overall pollution on marine ecosystem, the organic pollutants as well as the inorganic nutrients should be also considered. For understanding the effects of the organic pollution, among the planktonic organisms, heterotrophic bacteria, heterotrophic flagellates and ciliates should be investigated. Generally, there are three approaches for assessing the marine ecosystem health using the plankton taxa or plankton communities. The first one is a community-based approach such as diversity index and chlorophyll a concentration which are common in analysis of the plankton communities. The second is an indiviual-based approach which is to monitor the pollution indicative species. This approach needs one's ability to identify the plankton to species level. The last approach is a bioassay of toxicity, which can be applied to the plankton. A pilot study in Masan Bay was conducted to assess the effects of the inorganic and organic pollution. In this article, a new approach using plankton communities was tentatively presented as a biological tool for assessing the ecosystem health of Masan Bay.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.700-707
• /
• 2003

Surface sediments in the mouth area of Jinhae Bay were investigated to evaluate the benthic environment in terms of geochemical criteria and macrobenthos abundance. Characteristics of the surface sediment distribution exhibited muddy sediments in the most part of study area. Some mixed sediments of coarse sand and mud were distributed along the coastal area of Geoje Island and around the Jeo Islands. Organic matter from ignition loss and total organic carbon from CHNS varied between $8.8-1.7\%,\;and\;4.62-0.77\%,$ respectively. The source of organic matter based on the C/S ratio was mixed with in situ biogenic and terrigenous organic matter. The C/S ratio of organic matter also suggested both an anoxic bottom condition in several parts of the study area. The content of hydrogen sulfide in surface sediment was extremely variable and showed spatio-temporal variation from site to site. In several locations, the content of hydrogen sulfide as an index of eutrophication was over the critical value (0.2 mg/g), suggesting that several parts of the study area were not favorable for the habitat of macrobenthos. The relationship among the number of individuals of marcrobenthos, hydrogen sulfide, and organic matter was not clear, but a potential negative relationship between individuals of marcrobenthos and hydrogen sulfide was indicated.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.28 no.11
• /
• pp.935-942
• /
• 2019

Statistical analysis was carried out to identify the influence on environmental factors between paddy water chemical properties and Chl-a concentration (algae biomass index) using water samples collected in June for 3 years at rice paddy field. As a result of correlation analysis, there was a significantly negative relationships in DO(-0.366) and pH(-0.141). In contrast, significantly positive relationships were founded in COD(+0.431) and TOC(+0.422). According to the result of factor analysis, 3 factors were obtained and indicated that PC1 were Ca, K, Mg cation, PC2 were TOC, T-P, $PO{_4}^{3-}-P$ and DO, and PC3 were T-N and $NH_4{^+}-N$. As a result of linear regression analysis to develop a prediction model for chl-a concentration, the total amount of explanation was 20.6%, PC2 had the greatest influence on the increase of chl-a concentration and PC1 also showed a positive correlation but the PC3 has a negative correlation. In conclusion, carbon and phosporous content are the main factors for the increase algae blooms of rice paddy.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.67-78
• /
• 2024

The introduction of a significant amount of phosphorous into aquatic environments can lead to eutrophication, which can in turn result in algal blooms. For the effective management of watersheds and the prevention of water quality problems related to nonpoint organic matter (OM) sources, it is essential to pinpoint the predominant OM sources. Several potential OM sources were sampled from upper agricultural watersheds, such as fallen leaves, riparian reeds, riparian plants, paddy soil, field soil, riparian soil, cow manure, and swine manure. Stream samples were collected during two storm events, and the concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and phosphorous (DOP) from these OM sources and stream samples were assessed. DOM indicators using fluorescence spectroscopy, including HIX, FI, BIX, and EEM-PARAFAC, were evaluated in terms of their relevance in discerning DOM sources during storm events. Representative DOM descriptors were chosen based on specific criteria, such as value ranges and pronounced differences between low and high-flow periods. Consequently, the spectral slope ratio (S_R) paired with fluorescence index (FI) using end-member mixing analysis (EMMA) proved to be suitable for estimating the contribution of organic carbon (OC). The contribution of each organic phosphorous (OP) in stream samples was determined using the phosphorous-to-carbon (P/C) ratio in conjunction with the OC contribution. Notably, OP derived from swine manure in stream samples was found to make the most dominant contribution, ranging from 61.3% to 94.2% (average 78.1% ± 12.7%). The results of this research offer valuable insights into the selection of suitable indicators to recognize various OM sources and highlight the main sources of OP in forested-agricultural watersheds.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.37 no.5_1
• /
• pp.959-974
• /
• 2021

Forel-Ule Index (FUI) is an index which classifies the colors of inland and seawater exist in nature into 21 gradesranging from indigo blue to cola brown. FUI has been analyzed in connection with the eutrophication, water quality, and light characteristics of water systems in many studies, and the possibility as a new water quality index which simultaneously contains optical information of water quality parameters has been suggested. In thisstudy, Ocean Colour-Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI) based 4 km FUI was spatially downscaled to the resolution of 500 m using the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) data and Random Forest (RF) machine learning. Then, the RF-derived FUI was examined in terms of its correlation with various water quality parameters measured in coastal areas and its spatial distribution and seasonal characteristics. The results showed that the RF-derived FUI resulted in higher accuracy (Coefficient of Determination (R²)=0.81, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE)=0.7784) than GOCI-derived FUI estimated by Pitarch's OC-CCI FUI algorithm (R²=0.72, RMSE=0.9708). RF-derived FUI showed a high correlation with five water quality parameters including Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus, Chlorophyll-a, Total Suspended Solids, Transparency with the correlation coefficients of 0.87, 0.88, 0.97, 0.65, and -0.98, respectively. The temporal pattern of the RF-derived FUI well reflected the physical relationship with various water quality parameters with a strong seasonality. The research findingssuggested the potential of the high resolution FUI in coastal water quality management in the Korean Peninsula.