• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.78-85
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• 2008

We estimated the pollutant loads for the last 3 years based on the daily discharge at the Nakdong River dam(barrage) and spatiotemporal characteristics of seawater quality in the Nakdong river estuary to investigate the correlation between the pollutant load inflow rate and seawater quality. The main results from this research are summarized as follows. (1) The total discharge at the Nakdong River dam dam the last 11 years has been $224,576.8{\times}10^6m^3/day$. The discharge figures show that the maximum discharge occurs in August with $52,634.2{\times}10^6 m^3/day$ (23.4% of the year's volume), followed by July and Sep. in that order with 23.1 and 17%, respectively. (2) The pollutant load influx from the Nakdong River dam was composed of 307,591.3COD-kg/day, 128.746.1 TN-kg/day, and 107,625.8 TP-kg/day. (3) The surface temperature in the Nakdong River estuary was about $2.137^{\circ}C$ higher than that of the lower layer. The salinity of the lower layer was 2.209%o higher than that of the ocean surface. The salinity of the ocean surface decreased by up to 19.593%o due to the inflow of the discharge at the Nakdong River dam. (4) DO, COD, TN, and SS concentration levels tended to be higher at the ocean surface than in lower layers, whereas the reverse was true for TP. (5) The water mass at the ocean's surface and in the lower layers during the drought and flood seasons tended to be separated by the difference in densities due to the freshwater inflow.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.306-317
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• 2014

This study has been executed to understand the additional and removal processes of nutrients in the Saemangeum Salt-water Lake, and discussed with other monthly-collected environmental parameters such as water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, suspended solids, and Chl-a from 2008 to 2010. $NO_3$-N, TP, $PO_4$-P, and DISi showed the removal processes along with the salinity gradients at the surface water of the lake, whereas $NO_2$-N, $NH_4$-N, and Chl-a showed addition trend. In the bottom water all water quality parameters except $NO_3$-N appeared addition processes indicating evidence of continuous nutrients suppliance into the bottom layer. The mixing modelling approach revealed that the biogeochemical processes in the lake consume $NO_3$-N and consequently added $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P to the bottom water during the summer seasons. The $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P appeared strong increase at the bottom water of the river-side of the lake and strong concentration gradient difference of dissolved oxygen also appeared in the same time. DISi exhibited continuous seasonal supply from spring to summer. Internal addition of $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P in the river-side of the lake were much higher than the dike-side, while the increase of DISi showed similar level both the dike and river sides. The temporal distribution of benthic flux for DISi indicates that addition of nutrients in the bottom water was strongly affected by other sources, for example, submarine ground-water discharge (SGD) through bottom sediment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.321-337
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• 2010

Long-term trends and distribution patterns of water quality were investigated in the Mokpo coastal areas of the Yellow Sea, Korea from 1979 to 2009. Water samples were collected at 5 stations and physicochemical parameters were analyzed including water temperature, salinity, suspended solids (SS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO) and nutrients. Spatial distribution patterns of temperature, pH and DO were not clear among stations but the seasonal variations were distinct except ammonium. The trend analysis by principal component analysis (PCA) during 30 years revealed the significant variations in water quality in the study area. Spatial water qualities were discriminated into 3 clusters by PCA; station cluster 1, 2~4, and 5. Annual water qualities were clearly discriminated into 4 surface water clusters and 2 bottom water clusters by PCA. By this multi-variate analysis, the annual trends were summarized as the followings; water temperature, pH and COD tended to increase from late 1980's, salinity to decrease, phosphate to increase from 1994 and dissolved inorganic nitrogen to increase, due to the input of fresh water same as shown in Kyoungin coastal area, Asan coastal area, Choensoo bay and Gunsan coastal area.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.124-131
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• 2008

This study was conducted around the southwest sea areas of Jeju and coastal sea areas of China in August 2003 and September 2004 to research distribution patterns of dissolved inorganic nutrients, dissolved and particulate organic carbon. Distribution patterns of nutrients in the East China Sea in summer were shown to be influenced by water masses and phytoplankton. Water masses in the East China Sea in summer, except for coastal sea areas of china, showed less vertical mixing process, causing decline in the inflow of nutrients to surface water. Bottom water, however, showed high concentration, since nutrients made by dissolved organic matters from surface water were accumulated at the bottom. Sea areas with high concentration of chlorophyll a showed low concentration of nutrients and vice versa, indicating biological activities control dissolved inorganic nutrients. The distribution of dissolved organic carbon didn't show any correlation with salinity, temperatures, and water masses. Areas around the river mouth of the Changjiang showed high concentration of dissolved organic carbon more than $100{\mu}M$, but relatively low concentration in the southwest sea areas of Jeju, indicating that the river mouth of the Changjiang coastal water has a great influence on dissolved organic carbon in the East China Sea. Distribution patterns of particulate organic carbon in the research areas showed the highest concentration of average $9.23{\mu}M$ in coastal areas of China influenced by the river mouth of the Changjiang coastal water. By comparison, the concentration was relatively low at $3.04{\mu}M$ in the southeast sea areas of Jeju on which the Taiwan warm current has influence, and was $7.23{\mu}M$ in the central sea areas of Jeju. Thus, there is much indication that the river mouth of the Changjiang coastal water serves as a supplier of particulate organic carbon along with autogenous source. In general, if particulate organic carbon has a high correlation with the concentration of Chlorophyll a, it is thought that it is originated from autogenous source. However, the southeast sea areas of Jeju shows low salinity below 30, therefore it is proper to think that its origin is terrestrial source rather than that of autogenesis.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.88-101
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• 2013

The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship's Ballast Water and Sediments was adopted at 2004 and then various BWMS (ballast water management system) have been developed. In this study, WET (whole effluent toxicity) test with algae (diatom) Skeletonema costatum as primary producer, invertebrate (rotifera) Brachionus plicatilis as 1st consumer and fish (olive flounder) Paralichthys olivaceus as predator, chemical analysis and ERA (environmental risk assessment) were conducted to assess the unacceptable effect on marine ecosystem by emitting the discharge water treated with AquaStar$^{TM}$ BWMS using electrolysis as main treatment equipment for removing the marine organisms in the ship's ballast water. The most sensitive test organism on discharge water treated with AquaStar$^{TM}$ BWMS was S. costatum that gave the NOEC value of 25.00%, LOEC value of 50.00% and 72hr-$EC_{50}$ value of 69.97% from WET test result for 20 psu salinity treated discharge water. NOEC and LOEC value of B. plicatilis and P. olivaceus exposed at 20 psu salinity treated discharge water were 50.00% and 100.00%, respectively. In the chemical analysis results, total number of substances produced by AquaStar$^{TM}$ BWMS was 18 which were bromate, 7 volatile halogenated organic compounds, 7 halogenated acetic acids, 3 halogenated acetonitriles and chloropicrin. Eighteen substances did not consider as persistence and bioaccumulative chemicals. Uncertainty of toxic property of 18 substances was high. PECs of 18 substances calculated by MAMPEC model were ranged from $4.58{\times}10^{-4}$ to $4.87{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, PNECs of them were ranged from $1.6{\times}10^{-2}$ to $3.2{\times}10^2{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$. And, the PEC/PNEC ratio of 18 substances did not exceed 1. Therefore, ERA for produced substances indicate that the discharge water treated with AquaStar$^{TM}$ BWMS does not pose unacceptable effect on marine life. And $EC_{50}$ value of S. costatum on discharge water treated by BWMS using the electrolysis had positive correlation with initial TRO concentration, concentration and kind & level of HAAs.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.203-218
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• 2011

Long-term trends and distribution patterns of water quality were investigated in the Yeoja Bay of South Sea, Korea from 1976 to 2010. Water samples were collected at 3 stations and physicochemical parameters were analyzed including water temperature, salinity, hydrogen ion concentration (pH), dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solids (SS) and nutrients. Spatial distribution patterns of temperature, pH and DO were not clear among stations but the seasonal variations were distinct except ammonium. The trend analysis by principal component analysis (PCA) during 31 years revealed the significant variations in water quality in the study area. Spatial water qualities were discriminated into 2 clusters by PCA; station cluster 1 and 2~3. Annual water qualities were clearly discriminated into 4 clusters by PCA. By this multi-variate analysis, the annual trends were summarized as the followings; water temperature, COD and SS tended to increase from late 1970's, decreased salinity, and increased phosphate from 1991 to 2001 and increased dissolved inorganic nitrogen. Water quality was showed by the input of fresh water same as those of Kyoungin coastal area, Asan coastal area, Choensoo bay, Gunsan coastal and Mokpo coastal area in the Yeoja Bay.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2010

In order to understand the biological environmental characteristics with temporal variations of the physico-chemical factors in 2012 Yeosu Expo site of Korea, we investigated at one station, once per week, from April 2006 to December 2007. The surface water temperature ranged from 6.8 to $27.8^{\circ}C$ and the bottom water temperature ranged from 6.3 to 25.9 $25.9^{\circ}C$. The salinity varied from 12.8 to 33.0 psu in the surface water and from 25.2 to 33.6 psu in the bottom water. A strong halocline was observed between the surface and bottom layers in the summer when a rapid decrease of salinity coincided with heavy rainfall. The DIN concentration ranged from 1.36 to $82.7{\mu}M$ in the surface water and from 0.82 to $25.2{\mu}M$ in the bottom water. Phosphate concentration varied from 0.06 to $2.13{\mu}M$ in the surface water and from 0.07 to $1.38{\mu}M$ in the bottom water. Silicate was $1.68-52.0{\mu}M$ in the surface water and $1.37-30.7{\mu}M$ in the bottom water. The nutrient concentrations were generally high during heavy rainfalls and low water temperature periods, and considerably decreased in spring and autumn. The N/P ratio ranged from 4.43 to 325 in the surface water and from 3.8 to 321 in the bottom water. It increased rapidly during the heavy rainfall season and remained at a value of approximately 16 in other periods. The chlorophyll a concentration ranged from 0.46 to $65.0{\mu}g$ $L^{-1}$ in the surface water and from 0.71 to $15.0{\mu}g$ $L^{-1}$ in the bottom water. $Chl-{\alpha}$ concentration remained low in periods of low water temperature, however rapidly increased in periods of high water temperature. From the results of principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple regression analysis (MRA), we conclude that temporal variations of physico-chemical and biological factors were greatly affected by the influx of fresh water, and that nutrients were well controlled by their uptake and assimilation by phytoplankton. Also, during the low water temperature periods, environmental structure in this study site was affected by recycled nutrients through nutrient cycling and mineralization.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.525-537
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• 2018

The Korean coast is divided into the West Korea Coastal zone (WKC), the South Coastal zone of Korea (SCK), the East Korea Coastal zone (EKC), and Jeju Coastal zone of Korea (JCK). Each coastal zone has different marine environment characteristics. This study analyzed zooplankton data of KOEM (Korea Environment Management Corporation) collected in the Korean coastal waters the spring and summer of 2015 and 2016. In spring, water temperature was lowest in the JCK, and gradually increased in the order of EKC, SCK, and WKC, while in summer lowest in WKC and increased in the order of EKC, SCK, and JCK. Salinity was lowest in WKC which had many rivers flowing inland, and increased in the order of SCK, EKC and JCK in spring. In summer it was lowest in JCK and increased toward WKC, SCK, and EKC. In summer, Chlorophyll-a concentrations were generally low, but was lowest in JCK in spring. In the study area, a total of 77 species occurred, of which 50 species did in spring and 65 species in summer. The number of species was lowest in JCK and highest in SCK in spring and summer, respectively. Paracalanus parvus s. l. was the most dominant species or the second dominant species in Korean coastal areas in spring, but it was predominant in summer. In addition, in spring Acartia hongi, Calanus sinicus, Oithona similis were predominant in WKC, Oithona similis and Corycaeus affinis in SCK, O. similis and Corycaeus sp. in EKC, C. affinis and O. setigera in JCK. In summer Corycaeus spp., O. similis, A. hongi, Tortanus forcipatus were predominant in WKC, C. affinis, Pseudodiaptomus marinus in SCK, O. similis, A. omorii, Corycaeus sp. in EKC, and A. steueri, A. pacifica, Oithona sp., C. sinicus in JCK. The copepod community in the Korean coastal areas were classified into four areas, WKC-western SCK, eastern SCK, EKC and JCK according to differences in environmental factors such as water temperature, salinity, Chl-a concentration, and suspended matter concentration of each coastal area.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.445-459
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• 2022

In this study, we investigated current vegetation and assessed the health of vegetation through the KERVI (Korea Estuary Riparian Vegetation Index) to monitor vegetation changes near estuaries due to the opening of the Nakdong River estuary. As the first investigation of the long-term monitoring, six areas near the Nakdong River estuary were surveyed twice in July and October 2021, and vegetation monitoring and a survey of species composition and distribution density of aquatic, riparian, and land plants were carried out. The survey identified 262 taxa, 82 families, 192 genera, 196 species, 3 subspecies, 26 varieties, and 1 form of vascular plants in the surveyed area. The results of the vegetation health assessment through KREVI showed that sites 1 and 6 were rated "Very good" in both surveys, sites 2 and 4 were rated "Very good" in the first survey and then "Good"in the second survey, and site 3 and 5 were rated one grade higher in the second survey than the first survey. The assessment showed that the health grades of most species in the survey area were generally high. Most of the potential natural vegetation after the opening of estuary gates to create a brackish water area is expected to consist of reed (Phragmites communisTrin.) communities. The area of the willow (Salix koreensisAndersson) community adjacent to the water area may be somewhat narrower, but the community will be maintained. In the case of freshwater areas in inland areas with very low salinity, reeds (Phragmites communisTrin.) are expected to occupy most of them, and some communities such as amur silver-grass (Miscanthus sacchariflorusBenth.) and cattails (Typha orientalisC. Presl) are expected to be distributed. We suggest establishing measures such as estuary gate operation to create healthy brackish water regions through long-term monitoring.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.924-942
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• 2021

The expansion of the Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW) plume during summer is known to be a major factor influencing phytoplankton diversity, community structure, and the regional marine environment of the northern East China Sea (ECS). The discharge of the CDW plume was very high in the summer of 2020, and cruise surveys and stationary monitoring were conducted to understand the dynamics of changes in environmental characteristics and the impact on phytoplankton diversity and community structure. A cruise survey was conducted from August 16 to 17, 2020, using R/V Eardo, and a stay survey at the Ieodo Ocean Research Station (IORS) from August 15 to 21, 2020, to analyze phytoplankton diversity and community structure. The southwestern part of the survey area exhibited low salinity and high chlorophyll a fluorescence under the influence of the CDW plume, whereas the southeastern part of the survey area presented high salinity and low chlorophyll a fluorescence under the influence of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC). The total chlorophyll a concentrations of surface water samples from 12 sampling stations indicated that nano-phytoplankton (20-3 ㎛) and micro-phytoplankton (> 20 ㎛) were the dominant groups during the survey period. Only stations strongly influenced by the TWC presented approximately 50% of the biomass contributed by pico-phytoplankton (< 3 ㎛). The size distribution of phytoplankton in the surface water samples is related to nutrient supplies, and areas where high nutrient (nitrate) supplies were provided by the CDW plume displayed higher biomass contribution by micro-phytoplankton groups. A total of 45 genera of nano- and micro-phytoplankton groups were classified using morphological analysis. Among them, the dominant taxa were the diatoms Guinardia flaccida and Nitzschia spp. and the dinoflagellates Gonyaulax monacantha, Noctiluca scintillans, Gymnodinium spirale, Heterocapsa spp., Prorocentrum micans, and Tripos furca. The sampling stations affected by the TWC and low in nitrate concentrations presented high concentrations of photosynthetic pico-eukaryotes (PPE) and photosynthetic pico-prokaryotes (PPP). Most sampling stations had phosphate-limited conditions. Higher Synechococcus concentrations were enumerated for the sampling stations influenced by low-nutrient water of the TWC using flow cytometry. The NGS analysis revealed 29 clades of Synechococcus among PPP, and 11 clades displayed a dominance rate of 1% or more at least once in one sample. Clade II was the dominant group in the surface water, whereas various clades (Clades I, IV, etc.) were found to be the next dominant groups in the SCM layers. The Prochlorococcus group, belonging to the PPP, observed in the warm water region, presented a high-light-adapted ecotype and did not appear in the northern part of the survey region. PPE analysis resulted in 163 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), indicating very high diversity. Among them, 11 major taxa showed dominant OTUs with more than 5% in at least one sample, while Amphidinium testudo was the dominant taxon in the surface water in the low-salinity region affected by the CDW plume, and the chlorophyta was dominant in the SCM layer. In the warm water region affected by the TWC, various groups of haptophytes were dominant. Observations from the IORS also presented similar results to the cruise survey results for biomass, size distribution, and diversity of phytoplankton. The results revealed the various dynamic responses of phytoplankton influenced by the CDW plume. By comparing the results from the IORS and research cruise studies, the study confirmed that the IORS is an important observational station to monitor the dynamic impact of the CDW plume. In future research, it is necessary to establish an effective use of IORS in preparation for changes in the ECS summer environment and ecosystem due to climate change.