• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.57-60
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• 2007

The Han River is divided into North and South Korea by NLL(Northern Limit Line) and its area has been blocked by CCL(Civil Control Line) since the Korean War in 1950. Satellite remote sensing, therefore, is uniquely suited to monitoring bar transformation in the region. In river with bar, the characteristics of its physical conditions have a close relationship with bar morphology. In this paper, a monitoring approach of bar transformation in the Han River Estuary is presented using RADARSAT/SAR images from 2000 to 2005 and spatial patterns of bar morphology are presented. It could be said that in the estuary vegetated area and natural levees are developed well, but bars are shifted after an event like a flood. It is also showed that suspended solids such as silt transported through the estuary could contribute highly to a sedimentation environment around Incheon.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.452-468
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• 2012

Marine organisms were collected by the stow nets and the stow net on boat fisheries from April 2010 to November 2011 in the Han River Estuary and categorized as 126 species, 61 families, and 5 taxa. The species were consisted with 34 in Crustacea, 5 in Cephalopoda, 79 in Pisces, unidentified jellyfishes in Cnidaria, and Finless porpoise in Mammals. The major species were composed of fish and crustaceans in the Han River Estuary. The dominant species in Crustacea were Chinese ditch prawn (Palaemon gravieri), blue crab (Portunus trituberculatus), Ridgetail prawn (Exopalaemon carinicauda), and mantis crab (Oratosquilla oratoria), and those in Pisces were Korean anchovy (Coilia nasus), and Japanese grenadier anchovy (Coilia mystus). The length structures of the six dominant species have more than one mode in the Han River Estuary. It reflects that the species inhibit during a part of and/or whole lifetime in the Han River Estuary where they utilize as spawning and/or nursery grounds. Freshwater fishes were collected from station D where is the closest location to the Han River stream, and their appearances were well matched with the large amount of freshwater discharge due to flood periods. Principal components analysis (PCA) was carried out with species compositions and showed temporal and spatial differences by the variations of species.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.154-162
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• 2021

The naturally opened Han river estuary is a place where the flows of the Han river, Imjin river, Yaesung river meet with West Sea of Korea, so the hydrodynamic mechanism(Impact-Response) structure of Han river estuary is complex. Continuous observation and measurement due to the morphological characteristics at the estuary are required to maintain the estuary environment and river management facilities. However, the Sannam wetland(the study area) is in the military operation area. Therefore, Sannam wetland has the limited access under the control from military office. In 2020, there had a natural disaster due to flooding in August and COVID-19, and it made a survey hard. The noncontact survey technique, the analysis of LANDSAT images at Sannam wetland, was applied to analyze riverbed fluctuation and morphological transformation around Sannam wetland. LANDSAT images obtained from EarthExplorer, USGS and analyzed by QGIS. The analysis was performed based on the area and the distance near Sannam wetland. As a result, an erosion was happened on the downstream of the study area, and the upstream of the study area did not have any serious sediment transport. Considering the resolution of LANDSAT images, this noncontect survey technique is applicable to manage the study area. From the analysis of LANDSAT images, it is assumed that the tidal effect is greater than the inflow from the upstream. The pattern change of tidal response causes the damage of the river facilities near the Hangang river estuary.

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.135-146
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• 2008

The monthly distribution of zooplankton communities in Han River estuary was investigated at two stations from July 1998 to June 1999. Monthly mean abundance of total zooplankton varied remarkably, with the range from 20 $indiv.{\cdot}m^{-3}$ to 19,600 $indiv.{\cdot}m^{-3}$. During the study period, dominant species of zooplankton community were dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans, copepods Paracalanus indicus, Paracaanus crassirostris, Acartia hongi, Acartia ohtsukai, and meroplanton cirriped larvae. According to tidal states, relative high abundance occurred at high tide without regard to season. The temporal distribution of abundance implied that the reduced salinity probably limited the zooplankton populations and the fluctuations of salinity were an important factor in the variation of abundance. However, the results of salinity tolerance test shows that the variations in salinity do not directly influence the decrease of abundance. This study shows that the relatively high abundance of zooplankton near high tide seems to be related with the expansion of abundant zooplankton inhabiting Incheon coastal waters through tidal currents.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.35 no.2 s.98
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• pp.141-144
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• 2002

The construction of river mouth dam has prevented seawater from backwarding to upstream in Kum river estuary since 1990. Field observation on environmental factors, and zooplankton and phytoplankton dynamics have been carried out three times with two month interval in the summer and autumn in 2000 at three selected stations in Kum river estuary. Blockade of seawater flowing backward to upstream caused sharp contrast of zooplankton fauna and phytoplankton flora between upstream and downstream of the river mouth dam. Freshwater cladocerans i.e., Bosmina longisrostris and Daphnia galeata dominated in the upstream, and marine copepods of Acartia omorii and Paracalanus crassirostris occurred abundantly in downstream of the dam. Freshwater diatoms did not distributed in the downstream of the dam except Melosira varians, while marine diatom of Cylidrotheca closterium occurred in benthic waters bath in upstream and downstream of the dam. The construction of the river mouth dam seems to play an ecological role to blockade the input of marine organism into the upstream in Kum river estuary.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.13-29
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• 2021

A 3-D hydrodynamic model is applied in the Han River Estuary system, Gyeonggi Bay, to understand the mechanisms of salt transport. The model run is conducted for 245 days (January 20 to September 20, 2020), including dry and wet seasons. The reproducibility of the model about variation of current velocity and salinity is validated by comparing model results with observation data. The salt transport (FS) is calculated for the northern and southern part of Yeomha channel where salt exchange is active. To analyze the mechanisms of salt transport, FS is decomposed into three components, i.e. advective salt transport derived from river flow (QfS0), diffusive salt transport due to lateral and vertical shear velocity (FE), and tidal oscillatory salt transport due to phase lag between current velocity and salinity (FT). According to the monthly average salt transport, the salt in both dry and wet seasons enters through the southern channel of Ganghwa-do by FT. On the other hand, the salt exits through the eastern channel of Yeongjong-do by QfS0. The salt at Han River Estuary enters towards the upper Han River by FT in dry season, whereas that exits to the open sea by QfS0 in wet season. As a result, mechanisms of salt transport in the Han River Estuary depend on the interaction between QfS0 causing transport to open sea and FT causing transport to the upper Han River.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.31-42
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• 2019

Background: Han River estuary is a national wetland reserve near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between South Korea and North Korea. This trans-boundary estuary area has been well preserved and shows distinctive plant communities along the salinity gradient. To elucidate energy flows and nutrient cycling in this area, we studied trophic relations between the dominant sesarmid crab, Sesarma dehaani, and food sources in three wetlands with different environments along the estuarine gradients. Results: Stable isotope signatures (${\delta}^{13}C$ and ${\delta}^{15}N$) of the crabs were significantly different among the sites and body size classes. Seasonal changes in ${\delta}^{13}C$ of small crabs were distinct from those of large individuals at all the sites. The isotopic values and fatty acid profiles of the crabs were more different among the sites in September than in May. In May, large-sized crabs utilized more plant materials compared to other dietary sources in contrast to small-sized crabs as revealed by a stable isotope mixing modeling, whereas contributions to diets of crabs were not dominated by a specific diet for different body size in September except at site 1. Based on PCA loadings, fatty acid content of $18:3{\omega}3$, known as a biomarker of plant materials, was the main factor to separate size groups of crabs in May and September. The ${\delta}^{13}C$ value of sediment had high correlation with those of small-sized crabs at site 1 and 2 when 1-month time lag was applied to the value for crabs during the surveyed period. Conclusions: Based on the stable isotope and fatty acid results, the consumption habits of S. dehaani appear to be distinguished by sites and their size. In particular, smaller size of S. dehaani appears to be more dependent on fewer food sources and is influenced more by the diet sources from the sediments in Han River estuary.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.441-444
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• 2006

Nakdong river estuary is located at south-eastern coast if the Korea. Especially, Complicating topography change is generated by interaction of much sediment, wave and tide. This study is investigated into observation data of grading size distribution in the post and surface sediment characteristics is investigated into grading size analysis using sieve analysis in Nakong river estuary. As a result, mean diameter of surface sediment is distributed to front of shoal as a size with 0.1~0.2 mm and mean diameter of the last generated shoal is about 0.2~0.3 mm.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.42 no.3 s.120
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• pp.344-354
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• 2007

Estuarine wetlands for 33 watersheds in the Han River estuary were delineated on topographic maps from the 1910s, 1970s, and 2000s. Then, these data were used to address the issue of spatial distribution and temporal variation. Watershed characteristics such as drainage density, location, watershed size, slope, and elevation were identified for each watershed to determine the relationship between watershed characteristics and spatial distribution of estuarine wetlands. The analysis of estuarine wetlands indicated that wetlands in the estuary had declined gradually between the 1910s and the 1970s, although most wetlands were lost since the 1970s mainly caused by the large development projects related to urban expansion in metropolitan Seoul. The sediment composition and formation processes of the wetlands differed with watershed location; mud flats dominate in the lower part of the estuary, and relatively more sandy and emergent-plant wetlands occur near the main channel and tributaries of the Han River. Relatively more estuary wetlands occur in large watersheds, which have high slopes and low elevations. Estuarine wetlands have been lost dramatically in the densely populated watershed regions (i.e., Han River Seoul, Han River Goyang, West Han River), while relatively more wetlands have remained in undeveloped regions, including the Lower Imjin River and Lower Han River. In particular, anthropogenic disturbance has played an important role in the loss of wetland through the conversion of wetland into agricultural and developed land.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.277-288
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• 2012

Estuary is unique habitat ground under substantial changes of water quality, river side, bed material, and micro topography. Construction of SinGok underwater weir with excessive dredging for downstream of weir has changed hydraulic conditions of Han River. This study investigates spatial changes of estuary and expansion process of vegetation on sandbar for JangHang estuary in Han River through analysis of physical and ecological characteristics. As a result of investigation, we found that area of sandbar in JangHang estuary is expanded six times compared between 1985 and 2006, and area of Phragmites australis is gradually decreased while area of Salix subfragilis Anderson. is increased. Also the analysis result of soil layer shows that the Jang-Hang wetlands are created by effect from river, and woody plants are settled from middle part of wetlands, then spread to upper and lower part of wetlands.