• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.27-42
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• 1993

Based on the Results of Marine Meteorological and Oceanographical Observations during 1966∼1987 and the Ten-day Marine Report during 1970∼1989 by Japan Meteorological Agency, the possible area where the Japan Sea Proper Water (JSPW) can be formed is investigated by analyzing the distribution of water types in the Japan Sea. The Japan Sea can be divided into three subareas of Northern Cold Water(NCW), Polar Front(PF) and Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) by the Polar Front identified by a 6℃ isothermal line at the sea surface in vinter. Mean position of the Polar Front is approximately parallel to the latitude 39∼40。N. The standard deviation of the Polar Front from the mean position of about 130km width is the smallest in the region between 136。E and 138。E where the Polar Front is very stable, because the branches of the Tsushima Current are converging in this region. However, standard deviations are about 180∼250km near the Korean peninsula and the Tsugaru Strait due to greater variability of warm currents. In the NCW area north of 40∼30。N and west of 138。E, the water types of the sea surface to the loom depth are similar to those of the JSPW. This fact indicates that the surface layer of the NCW area is the possible region of the JSPW formation in winter.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.78-85
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• 2021

Heterorhabdus papilliger (Claus, 1863) is newly reported from the Tsushima Warm Current realm of the southern Korean waters. Its morphological diagnostic characteristics generally agreed well with the original description and the previous records of H. papilliger. The female of H. papilliger can be recognized by the genital somite, which in lateral view has a more or less rounded genital prominence and an uninflated posterior ventral margin; the second exopodal segment of male right leg 5 with the medial projection with a large, rounded, plumose proximal lobe, and a poorly developed distal lobe. The genetic difference for the partial mtCOI gene between Korean specimens and H. papilliger from Spain and Japan of the same clade is 0.4%, while the difference between Korean specimens is 0.5%. However, the interspecific difference for the mtCOI gene between H. papilliger from the Korean waters and the other Heterorhabdus species is in the range of 14.7-20.8%, suggesting that the former is a valid species.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.167-174
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• 2003

Oceanic conditions of the Tsushirm Wann Current (1WC) region in the southern area if the East Sea (the Japan Sea) are examined using data obtained from a CREAMS (Circulation Research if the East Asian Marginal Seas) cruise in June 1996. In 1990s, a lower temperature appears in $19\%$ and in this period, two branch of the TWC exist and the first branch of the TWC flows inshore if the Japanese coastal region compared to tfr1t in the other years, especially in the sfr1llower water layer at less th:1n about 2mm. The TWC cored with the higher salinity (>34.6 psu) is clearly observed over the continental shelf zone in the Japanese coastal region and offshore and identified by geostrophic calculation Intrusion if the TWC into the East Sea through the Korea Strait (the Tsushima Strait) makes the density structure in the water column change and the water mass in the TWC region is unstable based on Brunt- Vaisala frequency.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 1997

Surface current fields in the eastern East China Sea (ECS) were constructed by analyzing trajectories of 58 satellite-tracked surface drifters released during 1991-1996. Composite trajectories and 20-minute-by-20-minute box-averaged current vectors show that the basic current pattern composes of: the Kuroshio main stream, which turns eastward toward the Tokara Strait; a northward branch current of the Kuroshio on the ECS outer shelf deeper than 100 m; and an anticyclonic circulation in the northern Okinawa Trough west of Kyushu. The northward branch current sharply changes its direction to the northeast when it crosses a line connecting Cheju Island, Korea and Goto Islands, Japan. The basic pattern of current field changes slightly from winter to summer, and the main axis of the Tsushima Current in the Korea Strait is found to shift seasonally. The drifter experiment does not support the claim that the Yellow Sea Warm Current is separated from the northward branch current on the outer shelf southeast of Cheju Island. We suggest that the use of the term 'Tsushima Current' be limited to the northeast channel flow in the Korea Strait. The new term 'Kuroshio Branch Current' is suggested for the northward branch current on the outer shelf south of Cheju-do, which is separated from the Kuroshio.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.169-179
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• 2017

The "GeoDrifter" is a newly-developed surface drifter with high temporal resolution. It is the first time that high-frequency drifters have been deployed in the East/Japan Sea. The purpose of this study is to introduce the phenomena experienced by these drifters flowing along with the Tsushima Current across the East/Japan Sea, focusing on high-frequency variability, and to discuss them in comparison with previous observations. The observed basin-scale circulation of the Tsushima Current generally coincides well with the known schematic circulation. The GeoDrifter trajectories also show inertial oscillations almost everywhere in the oceanic regions of the East/Japan Sea, strong semi-diurnal tidal currents in the western part of Korea Strait, diurnal currents much stronger than semi-diurnal currents in the upstream region of the Nearshore Branch off the Japanese coast, and many warm eddies in the Yamato Basin, all comparable to the observational results reported in the previous studies. An interesting point is that the semi-diurnal tidal currents undergo a great spatial variation in the western part of the Korea Strait. The observed features that cannot be explained are, among others, strong counter-clockwise motions with oscillating period about 51 hours appearing in the upstream region of the Nearshore Branch off the Japanese coast and the different tidal behaviors between upstream and downstream regions of the latter.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.311-322
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• 1988

Application of the simple buoyancy adjustment model, similar to Davey's (1983), indicates that buoyancies imposed locally or from outside of the basin are the major factor of the Japan Sea circulation. Within the context of the model considered, the relatively strong SW gradient of temperature, and corresponding western boundary current, in the SW region is due to the beta-effect. Kelvin waves make the western side colder and the eastern side warmer. Buoyancy input (presumably by fresh water discharge) in the NW region, so far neglected, plays an important role in strengthening the NKCC (North Korea Cold Current) and suppressing the EKWC (East Korea Warm Current) thereby breaking the conventional branching system of the Tsushima Warm Current.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.100-110
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• 2005

We carried oui a study on the marine environment and distribution of phytoplankton community, such as chlorophyll a, species composition, dominant species and standing crops in the Northern East China Sea during early summer of 2004. According to the analysis of a T-S diagram, three characteristics of water masses were identified. We classified them into the coastal water mass, the cold water mass and the oceanic water mass. The first was characterized by the low temperature and the low salinity originated from China territory, the secondary was characterized by the low temperature, the low salinity and the high density originated from bottom cold water of Yellow Sea, and the third was done by the high temperature and salinity originated from Tsushima warm current. The internal discontinuous layer among them was farmed at the intermediate depth (about $5{\sim}30m$ layer). And the thermal front by upwelling region between the cold water mass and Tsushima warm current appeared in the central parts of the South Sea of Korea. The Phytoplankton community in the surface and stratified layers was a total of 44 species belonging to 26 genera. Dominant species were Prorocentrum triestinum, Scrippsiella trochoidea, Skeletonema costatum & Leptocylindrus mediterraneus. Standing crops of phytoplankton in the surface layer fluctuated between $0.3{\times}10^3$ cells/L and $10.8{\times}10^3$ cells/L. Diatoms appeared mainly in the Tsushima warm current regions, and flagellates occurred in the frontal zone and the low salinity regions where was the transfer areas of Chinese continental coastal waters. Chlorophyll a concentration by controlled phytoflagellate ratio in the South Sea of Korea was high values in the frontal zone and sub-surface layer. It was high concentration in the upwelling and coastal waters regions, but low concentration in the Tsushima warm current regions. The Chl-a maximum layers appeared in the thermochline depth or sub-surface layer lower than thermocline. The phytoplankton production in the South Sea of Korea was controlled by the expanded coastal waters of Chinese Continent which include a high concentrations of nutrients.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.97-110
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• 2000

To investigate characteristics of water masses and current structures around Noto Peninsula located in south-east coastal region of the East Sea, observation results of CREAMS (Circulations Research of the East Asian Marginal Seas) cruise and data report of oceanographic observation (Japan Meteorological Agency) in June, 1995 and 1996 were used. Water mass showing characteristics of Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) exists over the continental shelf. The depth is shallower than 200m and its width and thickness are 190km and 200m, respectively. Minimum level of dissolved oxygen occurred at the layers of maximum salinity. In the current structure, a noteworthy phenomenon is that the positions of the high-salinity water (more than 34.6 psu) match well with the distributions of the southwestward flow. In June of 1995 and June of 1996, a southwestward flow were separated into two parts along line C and line G. Current directions derived from the temperature and salinity match well with the distributions of the geostrophic currents in the vertical sections. The isothermal lines and the isohaline, which exist horizontally along the coastal area of the Japan, change abruptly at the frontal area of the Noto Peninsula, then turn toward the center of the East Sea. The dynamic depth anomalies centering around the region far northwest of the Noto Peninsula were relatively high, compared to those of other regions. The isopycnic surface (sigma-t, 25.8) existed near the surface in the central part of the East Sea, but, at the depth of 100m, the isopycnic surface was found in the coastal waters.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.583-593
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• 1994

The East Korean Warm Current is known as an anticyclonic circulation in the Ulreung Basin in the southwestern East Sea of Korea. This circulation was approximately estimated by dynamic methods based on the oceanographic observation and remote sensing data. In this study, the existence of circulation in the anticyclonic region of East Korean Warm Current(Tsushima current) in early summer was directly measured by drogue tracking using a global positioning system. At the same time, the velocity was calculated by dynamic method and compared using data collected by remote sensing. As results, these values are shown to be nearly the same, and an anticyclonic circulation was found around Ulreungdo-Tokto. The maximum northward and southward flow speed was deduced to be around 0.6 and one knot, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.323-333
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• 1990

We studied the existence, form, size, variation and formation of warm lenses in the East Sea(Japan Sea) during $1979\~1988$ based on annual reports of oceanographic observations published by the National Fisheries Research and Development Agency of Korea and data of the Hydrographic Office of Republic of Korea. The warm lenses were formed in August, 1981, 1982, 1986 during study periods. The ranges of warm lenses were 50, 60, 90 km in the east-west(EW) direction and 100, 150, 120 km in the north-south(NS) direction in 1981, 1982, 1986, respectively. Because of the intrusion of cold water near 103 line, they shrink in horizontal scale in 1981. Most warm lenses were found at station 8 of 104 line in the vicinity of Ullung Island but centers of the lenses moved to the north in 1986. The form and position of warm lenses were related with the intensity of the Tsushima Warm Current and the formation of warm lenses were related with the bottom topography.