• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.17-32
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• 2022

The buffer capacity of southern Korean waters in summer was quantified using data set of temperature, salinity, dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity obtained from August 2020 cruise. The geographical distribution and variability of six buffer factors, which amended the existing Revelle factor, are discussed their relationship with the hydrological parameters of temperature and salinity. The calculated results of six buffer factors showed the spatial variations according to the distributions of various water masses. The buffer capacity was low in the East Sea Surface Mixed Water (ESMW) and South Sea Surface Mixed Water (SSMW) where upwelling occurred, and showed an intermediate value in the Yellow Sea Surface Water (YSSW). In addition, the buffer capacity increased in the order of high temperature Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) and Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW). This means that the Changjiang discharge water in summer strengthens the buffer capacity of the study area. The highest buffer capacity of CDW is due to its relatively higher temperature and biological productivity, and a summer stratification. Temperature showed a good positive correlation (R²=0.79) with buffer capacity in all water masses, whereas salinity exhibited a poor negative correlation (R²=0.30). High temperature strengthens buffer capacity through thermodynamic processes such as gas exchange and distribution of carbonate system species. In the case of salinity, the relationship with buffer capacity is reversed because salinity of the study area is not controlled by precipitation or evaporation but by a local freshwater input and mixing with upwelled water.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.717-731
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• 2021

We analyzed the characteristics of the habitat environment for the Seonam study area in Ulsan, the southern shore of the East Sea using bathymetry and seafloor environment data. The depth of the study area ranges from about 0 m to 23 m. In the west of the study area, the water depth is shallow with a gentle slope, and the water depth becomes deeper with a steep slope in the east. Due to the right-lateral strike-slip faults located in the continental margin of the East Sea, the fracture surfaces of the seabed rocks are mainly in the N-S direction, which is similar to the direction of the strike faults. Three seafloor types (conglomeratic-grained sandy, coasre-graiend sandy, fine-grained sandy) and rocky bottom area have been classified according to the analyses of the bathymerty, seafloor image, and surface sediment data. The rocky bottom areas are mainly distributed around Seaoam and in the northern and southern coastal area. But the intermediate zone between Seonam and coastal area has no rocky bottom. This intermediate area is expected to have active sedimentation as seawater way. The sandy sediments are widely distributed throughout the study area. Underwater images and UAV images show that Cnidarians, Brachiopods, Mollusks are mostly dominant in the shallow habitat and various Nacellidae, Mytilidae live on the intertidal zone around Seonam. Annelida and Arthropod are dominant in the sandy sediments. The distribution of marine organism in the study area might be greatly influenced by the seafloor type, the composition and particle size distribution of the seafloor sediments. The analysis of habitat environment mapping with bathymetry, seafloor data and underwater images is supposed to contribute to the study of the structure and function of marine ecosystem.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.35-42
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• 2001

We demonstrated the importance of initial estimates of model parameters and the utility of an optimization approach of the uncertain forcing of wind-driven circulation off the southeastern coastal waters of Korea. The wind stress represents the upper boundary condition in this model and enters in the model equation as a forcing term in the numerical formalism. The wind field contributes to maintain the almost time-independent distribution of the upper layer thickness feature in a north-south direction and negative wind stress curl to maintain the formation of warm eddy off the southeastern coastal waters of Korea. Elucidated is the variational characteristics of the East Korean Warm Current due to the variations of the zonally averaged wind stress (southward transport) from the seasonal variations of the meridional transport by the Ekman transport.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.243-274
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• 2013

To investigate the research state and characteristics of dinoflagellate cyst along the Korean coastal waters, this work analyzed 45 studies conducted in the Korean coasts and basin, the south of Jeju, East China Sea including some part of the Yellow Sea. It was found that the research on dinoflagellate cyst began in the later half of the 1980s in Korea, and that the research areas focused on eutrophied regions where a red tide occurred or on the seas where coastal development occurred. In other words, no research on the East Sea was found. In terms of research contents, there were various studies on analysis of cyst assemblage, tracking of the changes in marine environment like process of eutrophication, roles as a seed population in occurrence of a red tide, creation of cyst by use of sediment trip and tracking of its changes, morphological changes by the change of pH concentration in the hypoxia zone of eutrophied region, germination of a specific species, and other international-level studies. Species composition and cell density also varied in the Korean coastal waters. However, much research on dinoflagellate cyst in Korea is not systematic, and is fragmentary and individual and hencesuffers from great limitations. The research results so far have focused only on specific regions, and sporadic research had been conducted by specific research groups. Dinoflagellate cyst of surface sediments represents the accumulation index of pelagic environment in the sea and is a useful index to understand the marine environment efficiently. In conclusion, Korea requires organized human resources and collaborative research on dinoflagellate cyst which in turn should be considered as a component of marine ecosystem and as an essential aspect of marine biology.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.75-83
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• 2020

This study investigated the effects of El Niño and La Niña on coastal upwelling in the East Sea of Korea using long-term (1967-2017) water temperature observation data and Oceanic Niño Index (ONI). As a result of time series analysis of water temperature, the occurrence frequency of summer coastal upwelling was the highest in the southeastern (Ulgi ~ Gimpo) coast. In 1987-1988 and 1997-1998, when the annual fluctuations of ONI plunged more than 2.5, the water temperature in whole coast areas of the East Sea (Busan ~ Goseung) rose by 4 ~ 7 ℃. The temperature structure of the East Sea coastal water was different when El Niño was strong with ONI above 1.5 and La Niña with strong ONI below -0.8. When El Niño is strong, the water temperature anomaly in coastal waters is negative. This is due to the strong baroclinic tilting and the formation of shallow temperature stratification in the coastal waters. The strong La Niña season is opposite to the strong El Niño season, whereas the water temperature anomaly is positive. In addition, the baroclinic tilting is weaker than the time of strong El Niño and the temperature stratification is formed deeper than the time of strong El Niño. The formation of temperature stratification at shallow depths when El Niño is strong can increase the probability of occurrence coastal upwelling caused by southerly winds in the summer season. On the contrary, when La Niña is strong, occurrence of coastal upwelling is less likely even if the southerly wind blows continuously. This is because the temperature stratification is formed at deeper than when El Niño is strong.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.601-608
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to explore the long-term variability of sea surface temperature (SST) and cluster analysis derived from in-situ data in the coastal oceanographic observation 8 stations (Sokcho, Jumunjin, Donghae, Jukbyeon, Pohang, Janggigab, Ulgi, Gampo) of the East Sea during 1971-2013. As a result of cluster analysis, SST variations in each area could be divided into two groups, which was a group A of Sokcho, Jumunjin, Donghae, and group B of Jukbyeon, Pohang, Janggigab, Ulgi, Gampo. The SST and SST anomalies at Sokcho, Jukbyeon, Pohang and Gampo during 1971-2013 showed the increase-trend with the variations of decadal-scale. Annual SST values also increased remarkably after 1988. The increases of SST for 43 years showed $2.26^{\circ}C$ at Sokcho, $1.99^{\circ}C$ at Jukbyeon, $1.11^{\circ}C$ at Pohang and $0.89^{\circ}C$ at Gampo. In particular, the SST variations of the northern areas were higher than those of southern areas. The seasonal SSTs increased the order of Sokcho-Jukbyeon-Pohang-Gampo in fall and winter and that of Jukbyeon-Sokcho-Pohang-Gampo in spring and summer.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.464-473
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• 2016

The air temperatures of the coast and inland are rising due to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions and abnormal climate phenomena caused by global warming, El Nino, La Nina and so on. The sea levels of the Earth are rising by approximately 2.0 mm per year (global average value) due to the thermal expansion of sea water, melting of glaciers and other causes by global warming. On the other hand, when it comes to designing a hydraulic structure or coastal hydraulic structure, the standard of the design water level is decided by analyzing four largeness tide values and a harmonic constant with the observed tidal water level or simulating numerical model. Therefore, the design tidal water level needs to consider an increasing speed of the seawater level, which corresponds to the design frequency. In the present study, the observed tidal water levels targeting 46 tidal stations operated by the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration (KHOA) from the beginning of observations to 2015 per hour were collected. The variation of the monthly and yearly and increasing ratio were performed and divided into 7 seas, such as east and west part of the Southern Sea, south part and middle of the East Sea, south part and middle of the Western Sea, and Jeju Sea. The current study could be used to determine the cause of local seawater rises and reflect the design tidal water level as basic data.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.62-71
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• 1999

The seasonal distribution of Maurolicus muelleri eggs and larvae were determined using samples collected from the Korea Strait and the southern part of the East Sea in May and November, 1992, August, 1993, and January, 1994. The eggs were most abundant in summer and the larvae in spring, while, their abundance was low in winter. The eggs were mainly found from in all season around sea of the front area of latitude $35{\sim}36^{\circ}N$ and the West Channel of the Korea Strait found the middle or bottom water lower than $15^{\circ}C$. The seasonal distribution of the eggs in the western Korea Strait varied according to the structure of the bottom cold water of the Korea Strait. The M. muelleri larvae in different stage were most abundant in the front area of latitude $35{\sim}36^{\circ}N$. The spawning and hatching area of the M. muelleri was considered to be the front area located in the shelf break, and some eggs can be transported into the Korea Strait by westward cold bottom current in summer. The Korea Strait would be the southern margin of the distribution of Maurolicus muelleri eggs and larvae of the East Sea.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.95-106
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• 2021

In order to understand the seasonal variations of species composition of fish in the Goseong, middle East Sea of Korea, we surveyed fish fauna using set net during 2 years. In this study, a total of 77 taxa belonging to 40 families were collected and 75 species were identified. The dominant family were Tetraodontidae and Pleuronectidae, and the dominant species were Arctoscopus japonicus, Konosirus punctatus, Stephanolepis cirrhifer, Thamnaconus modestus, and Trachurus japonicus. The results of the hierarchical clustering using the number of individuals of collected species showed that they are divided into three seasonal groups: Group A (Jan.~Apr.), Group B (May~Jun., Nov.~Dec.), Group C (Jul.~Oct.). The sea surface temperature (SST) was higher than the results of previous studies in winter and spring, and species composition in spring have changed from cold-water species to the warm-water species, recently. The species composition has become similar to the that of southern Gangwon-do regions (Samcheok and Gangneung) of the previous studies. The species diversity of family Tetraodontidae has increased, which is estimated to have an effect on increase in SST and the quantity of entering the East Sea. Therefore, we assumed that the change of species composition is related to the extension of northern distribution limits and survival temperature, and abundant preys. Therefore, it is necessary that an efficient resource management policy as well as the ways of commercially use of migratory warm-water fish, rapidly.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.332-344
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• 1996

The vertical profiles of the natural $^{210}Po,\;^{210}Pb\;and\;^{234}Th$, activities were measured at the upper 150 m or 200 m of water column from west-east intersection in the east-southern coastal area of the Korea Peninsula during the period from 26 to 29 April 1994 to compare the removal rates (residence time) and removal processes for $^{210}Po\;and\;^{234}Th$. At the inshore stations, the $^{210}Po$ activity was generally higher in the thermocline and its under layer than in the surface mixed layer, while represented the reversed pattern at the offshore stations. However, the $^{210}Pb$ activity decreased generally with depth. Also, the activity of $^{210}Po$ relative to its parent $^{210}Pb$ was deficient in the water column above the main thermocline, but was slightly excess or close to equilibrium in the thermocline and its under layer. The vertical profiles for the activity of $^{210}Pb$ relative to its parent $^{226}Ra$ showed the reversed pattern with the vertical variation of $^{210}Po$ excess (or deficiency). The $^{234}Th$ activity was significantly lower in the surface mixed layer and thermocline than in the deeper layer. The residence time of $^{210}Po$ ranged from 1 to 4 years at the five stations except station E8 that showed yet long residence time (approximately 10 years). The long residence time at the station E8 may resulted from the thicker surface mixed layer and subsequent the vertical mixing of $^{210}Po$ which was recycled in the lower surface mixed layer compared to at the other stations. Also, the residence time of $^{210}Po$ was shorter at the inshore stations than at the offshore stations. However, the residence time of $^{234}Th$ ranged from 52 to 74 days at all station without the significant variation, was very much shorter relative to the residence time of $^{210}Po$. The correlation between the removal rate of dissolved $^{234}Th$ and the concentration of total suspended matter (TSM) was generally positive. Therefore, it seems that the major route of the removal mechanism of $^{234}Th$ from seawater in the surface mixed layer is via adsorption onto suspended particle surfaces (most likely inorganic particles) and subsequent settling to the bottom layer. Between the removal rate of dissolved $^{210}Po$ and the concentration of chlorophyll-a was positively good correlation. Consequently, most likely the removal of $^{210}Po$ may be occurred by uptake to organisms (mainly such as planktonic debris or fecal pellets) and subsequent settling.