• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.297-306
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• 2023

Saemangeum Lake is the largest artificial lake in Korea. The continuous deterioration of lake water quality necessitates the introduction of novel water quality management strategies. Therefore, this study aims to identify the spatiotemporal water quality characteristics of Saemangeum Lake using data from the National Water Quality Measurement Network and provide basic information for water quality management. In the water quality parameters of Saemangeum Lake, water temperature and total phosphorous content were correlated, and salt, total nitrogen content, pH, and chemical oxygen demand were significantly correlated. Other parameters showed a low correlation. The spatial principal component analysis of Saemangeum Lake showed the characteristics of its four zones. The mid-to-downstream section of the river affected by freshwater inflow showed a high nutrient salt concentration, and the deep-water section of the drainage gate and the lake affected by seawater showed a high salt concentration. Two types of water qualities were observed in the intermediate water area where river water and outer sea water were mixed: waters with relatively low salt and high chemical oxygen demand, and waters with relatively low salt and high pH concentration. In the principal component analysis by time, the water quality was divided into four groups based on the observation month. Group I occurred during May and June in late spring and early summer, Group II was in early spring (March-April) and late autumn (November-December), Group III was in winter (January-February), and Group IV was in summer (July-October) during high temperatures. The water quality characteristics of Saemangeum Lake were found to be affected by the inflow of the upper Mangyeong and Dongjin rivers, and the seawater through the Garuk and Shinshi gates installed in the Saemangeum Embankment. In order to achieve the target water quality of Saemangeum Lake, it is necessary to establish water quality management measures for Saemangeum Lake along with pollution source management measures in the upper basin.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.24-35
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• 2016

To assess the relationship between environmental factors and seasonal phytoplankton community structure, we investigated abiotic and biotic factors in Ulsan Bay, Korea. We divided the bay into two areas based on geographical characteristics and compared the difference in each factor between inner and outer bay with t-test statistics. As a result, temperature in the outer bay was higher than that of the inner bay during winter (t = -5.833, p < 0.01) and autumn (p > 0.05). However, opposite trend was observed during spring (t = 4.247, p < 0.01) and summer (t = 2.876, p < 0.05). Salinity was significantly lower in the inner bay than in the outer bay in winter, spring, and summer (p < 0.01). However, the salinity was not significantly different between the inner and the outer bay in the autumn (p > 0.05). In particular, high nutrient concentration was observed in most stations during winter season due to vertical well mixing. The nutrient concentration was significantly higher in surface layers of inner bay after rainfall, particularly in the summer. The relative contribution (approximately 70%) of < $20{\mu}m$ (nano and pico) size phytoplankton was increased in all seasons with continuously low nutrients from the offshore water due to their adaption to low nutrient without other large competitors. Interestingly, high population of Eutreptiella gymnastica was kept in the inner bay during the spring and summer associated with high DIN (nitrate+nitrite, ammonium) after river discharge following rainfall, suggesting that DIN supply might have triggered the increase of Eutreptiella gymnastica population. In addition, high density of freshwater species Oscillatoria sp. and Microcystis sp. were found in several stations of the inner bay that were provided with large amounts of freshwater from the Tae-wha River. Diatom and cryptophyta species were found to be dominant species in the autumn and winter. Of these, centric diatom Chaetoceros genus was occupied in the outer bay in the autumn. Cryptophyta species known as opportunistic micro-algae were found to have high biomass without competitors in the inner bay. Our results demonstrated that Ulsan Bay was strongly affected by freshwater from Tae-wha River during the rainy season and by the surface warm water current from the offshore of the bay during dry season. These two external factors might play important roles in regulating the seasonal phytoplankton community structures.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.180-190
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• 2014

It has been customary to exclude top 10-20% of velocity profiles in the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurement due to side lobe effects at the boundary. To better understand the mixing in the Yeongsan estuary, the freshwater advection speed (FAS) was recovered from highly contaminated ADCP data near the surface. The velocity profiles were measured by using ADCP at two stations in the Yeongsan estuary during August 2011: one was located in front of the Yeongsan estuarine dam and the other was deployed near Goha Island. The FAS was recovered from the ADCP data set by applying rigorous post-processing methods and compared with the sediment advection speed (SAS). The SAS was determined by the peak time difference of suspended sediment concentration between two stations in the channel, divided by the distance of two stations. The FAS and the SAS showed very similar value when the freshwater discharge was greater than $2.0{\times}10^7$ ton and the SAS was a bit greater when the freshwater discharge was smaller. Since the FAS was on average about 0.8 m/s greater than the velocity at 0.8 of water depth from the bottom, the net discharge, estimated with recovered FAS and integrated over water depth and tidal cycle, was directed seaward during the high discharge contrary to the onshore direction of the net discharge estimated with 0.8 of water depth from the bottom. Moreover, the velocity shear and Richardson number changed when the FAS was used. Thus, the importance of the true FAS is appreciated in the investigation of the surface layer stability. If currents, temperature and salinity were observed for longer time in the future, it could be possible to more accurately understand the formation and decay of stratification as well as the suspended sediment transport processes.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.354-374
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• 2016

This study explored spatiotemporal variability of water quality in correspondence with hydrometeorological factors in the five stations of Paldang Reservoir located in the Han River during 4 years from May 2012 to December 2015. Variability of basic water quality factors were largely related with seasonal fluctuations of hydrology. Temperature stratification occurred in the deep dam station, and prolonged hypoxia was observed during the draught year. Nitrogen nutrients were increased with decreasing inflow in which changing pattern of $NH_4$ reversed to $NO_3$ by the effect of treated wastewater effluent. Phosphorus increase was manifest during the period of high inflow or severe drought. Chl-a variation was reversely related with both flow change and AGP(algal growth potential) variations. Our study demonstrated that water quality variability in Paldang Reservoir was largely attributed to both natural and operational changes of inflow and outflow (including water intake) based on major pollution source of the treated wastewater (total amount of $472{\times}10^3m^3d^{-1}$) entering to the water system from watershed. In the process of water quality variability, meteorological (e.g., flood, typhoon, abnormal rainfall, scorching heat of summer) and hydrological factors (inflow and discharge) were likely to work dynamically with nutrients pulse, dilution, absorption, concentration and sedimentation. We underline comprehensive limnological study related to hydro-meteorolology to understand short- and long-term water quality variability in river-type large reservoir and suggest the necessity of P-free wastewater treatment for the effective measure of reducing pollution level of Paldang drinking water resource.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.298-317
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• 2019

The physical characteristics of the Ulleung Warm Eddy (UWE) and its relationship with the East Korea Warm Current (EKWC) were analyzed using the CMEMS (Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service) satellite altimetry data and the CTD data of the National Institute of Fisheries Science (NIFS) near the Ulleung Basin from 1993 to 2017. The distribution of the UWEs coupled with EKWC accounts for 81% of the total number of the UWEs. Only 7% of the total eddies are completely separated from the EKWC. The UWE has the characteristics of high temperature and high salinity water inside of it when it is formed from the EKWC. However, when the UWE is wintering, its internal structure changes greatly. In the winter, surface homogeneous layer of $10^{\circ}C$ and 34.2 psu inside of the UWE is produced by vertical convection from sea-surface cooling, and deepened to a maximum depth of approximately 250 m in early spring. In summer, the UWE changes into a structure with a stratified structure in the upper layer within a depth of 100 m and a homogeneous layer made in winter in the lower layer. 62 UWEs were produced for 25 years from 1993 to 2017. on average, 2.5 UWEs were formed annually, and the average life span was 259 days (approximately 8.6 months). The average size of the UWEs is 98 km in the east-west direction and 109 km in the north-south direction. The average size of UWE using satellite altimetric data is estimated to be 1~25 km smaller than that using water temperature cross-sectional data.