• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.193-205
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• 2008

A model of the current and seasonal volume transport in the East China Sea was used to investigate the origin of the Tsushima Warm Current (TSWC). The modeled volume transport field suggested that the current field west of Kyushu ($30^{\circ}-32^{\circ}N$) was divided into two regions, R1 and R2, according to the bottom depth. R1 consisted of the Taiwan Warm Current (TWWC) region and the mixed Kuroshio-TWWC (MKT) water region, while R2 was the modified Kuroshio water (MKW) region west of Kyushu. The MKW branched from the Kuroshio and flowed into the Korea/Tsushima Straits through the Cheju-Kyushu Strait, contributing 41% of the annual mean volume transport of the TSWC. The TWWC and MKT water flowed into the Korea/Tsushima Straits through the Cheju-Kyushu and Cheju Straits, contributing 32% and 27% of the volume transport, respectively. The maximum volume transport of the MKW was 53% of the total volume transport of the TSWC in November, while the maximum volume transport of the water in the R1 region through the Cheju-Kyushu Strait was 41% in July. Hence, there were two peaks per year of volume transport in the TSWC.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.733-753
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• 1994

Monthly mean sea levels from 103 tidal stations in Korea, Japan, and Russia are analyzed to study long-period sea level variations. Barometric adjustment are done for all the sea level data, using monthly air pressures at sea levels from meteorological stations near tidal stations. Seasonal variation is dominant in most of study area. It is the largest in the coasts along the Tsushima Current, and the smallest in the Russian coasts. The cross-correlations of seasonal variations are very high between the coasts along the Tsushima Current. In these marginal seas, seasonal variations seem to be related with the Tsushima Current. The phase of seasonal variations is generally getting late from south to north, and also from west to east. On the other hand, longer-period variations(longer than seasonal variation) have the largest amplitudes and the earliest phases in the coasts along the Pacific Ocean, which shows that they propagate from the Pacific Ocean. Shorter-period variations (shorter than seasonal variation) have generally lower cross correlations. Their values do not show any dictinct difference between areas, and show a common tendency that they are inversely proportional to distance. It implies that the shorter period waves are generated all over the study areas, and propagate in all the directions with faster dissipations. The trends of sea levels in the study area are generally negative in the coasts along the Pacific Ocean and positive in the other areas during the period of 1965 to 1985. By the trends, the mean volume transport between Cheju and Sasebo can be reduced by about 1 Sv during the period. The seasonal variation of volume transport obtained by sea level difference is about 2 Sv in the Korea Strait. The values are comparable to previous reports.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.37-54
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• 1985

A description of the "phytohydrography" in the southwestern waters of the East Sea is given from concurrent measurement of temperature, chlorophyll-a, nutrients, and phytoplankton and also from the calculated primary production during the two cruises in May and October, 1984. Past history of water mass is relatively well reflected in the distribution of phytoplankton species, but such a reflection is rarely shown in the distribution of physical and chemical parameters in general. Upper layer of the waters around Ul-gi and Gampo is typically characterized by the high chlorophyll-a, high primary production, and low nanofraction ratio due to the continuing supply of nutrients from the nutrient-rich cold water underneath. Water of Tsushima current shows poor standing crop in terms of cell numbers and chlorophyll-a concentrations, extremely high nanofraction ratio, and very low primary production. The overwhelming importance of the nanofraction is confirmed in phytoplankton cell numbers, chlorophyll-a concentration, and possibly enough in primary production. This emphasizes the exceptionally strong inflow of warm water into the study area from south among all the waters around the whole Korean peninsula.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2013

In this study we investigated changes in the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) under the global warming scenario RCP 4.5 by analysing the results from the World Climate Research Program's (WCRP) Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Among the four models that had been employed to analyse the Tsushima Warm Current during the 20th Century, in the CSIRO-Mk3.6.0 and HadGEM2-CC models the transports of the Tsushima Warm Current were 2.8 Sv and 2.1 Sv, respectively, and comparable to observed transport, which is between 2.4 and 2.77 Sv. In the other two models the transports were much greater or smaller than the observed estimates. Using the two models that properly reproduced the transport of the Tsushima Warm Current we investigated the response of the current under the global warming scenario. In both models the volume transports and the temperature were greater in the future climate scenario. Warm advection into the East Sea was intensified to raise the temperature and consequently the heat loss to the air.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.413-427
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• 1991

Variability of sea levels at Mukho and Ullungdo and sea level difference(SLD) associated with current is investigated. Time series of adjusted sea levels at both places have very similar pattern of change. Two components appear to contribute to the correlation between sea level and SLD. Low frequency thermosteric effect causes the sea level to rise and fall at the same time. Geostrophic effect of major currents is responsible for the sea level change in opposite ways at both sides. Two contributions have a cancelling effect for sea level change at Mukho while they are additive at Ullungdo. Characteristics of time series in frequency domain are divided into two parts with respect to 0.01 cycles per day(cpd). At Mukho, the cancelling effect yields small values of coherence for low-frequency bands whereas the dominant geostrophic influence may be responsible for the phase relations of about $\pm 180^{\circ}$ between sea level and SLD at higher frequency. Bimonthly dynamic height difference(DHD) between Mukho and Ullungdo is very significantly correlated with SLD. This result suggests that DHD thus the average velocity of current through the Mukho-Ullungdo section can successfully be diagnosed by the sea level records at both locations. For the annual variations, maximum SLD occurs at Mukho-Ullungdo section about 40 days later than the Korea Strait.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.457-473
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• 1992

The first order wave equation over a double shelf has wind stresses on both coastal boundaries and wind stress curl forcing across the shelf. In the Yellow Sea, the effect of wind stress curl can be neglected as a forcing of shelf waves. The decay distance of Kelvin waves is much greater than that of continental shelf waves so that Kelvin waves are transmitted nearly intact through the northern embayment. The numerical method of characteristics has been modified to accomodate wave propagation of opposite directions. Using a little more realistic coastline, the wave model hindcast has been improved for current velocity, but hardly for sea level. It means that Kelvin waves, which mainly determine sea levels, are affected little by the change of bottom slope. For a better hindcast of sea level, input energy of Kelvin waves transmitted from the East China Sea is needed. The basic structure of downwind flows along the coasts and upwind flows along the trough supports the seasonal circulations driven by monsoon winds in the Yellow Sea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.53-60
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• 1995

We measured lagrangian currents in the coastal regions off east coast of Korea. The experiment sites are the Ulijin region where Polar Front of the East Sea is formed and the Ulgi region where coastal upwelling occurs frequently in summer. Each drifters are equipped with GPS receiver, and their trajectories are montiored by receiving the data transmitted from drifters through radio signal. The experiment with 'transmitting' GPS is very useful in monitering flows in coastal regions. Trajectories of drifters in the Uljin Polar Front region in October 1994 showed counterclockwise flow pattern. The flow pattern agrees with the SST distributions obtained from NOAA-11 AVHRR image for the same period. The lagrangian trajectories of drifters at 5m and 15m depths in the Ulgi region for normal period of April 1995 showed that the currents at the top 15m layer are almost uniform and their magnitude is 29cm/s. However, the currents, measured by KORDI, during the upwelling period of June 1994 showed that the currents at 5m depth were 1.2 times stronger than those at 15m depth. The current pattern in the Ulgi upwelling region agrees with the horizontal and vertical distributions of seawater temperature measured by NFRDA at the same period.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2024

An analysis of the coastal water temperature in the Tongyeong waters, the eastern sea of the South Sea of Korea, revealed that the water temperature rose sharply before the typhoon made landfall. The water temperature rise occurred throughout the entire water column. An analysis of the sea surface temperature data observed by NOAA(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) satellites, indicated that sea water with a temperature of 30℃ existed in the eastern waters of the eastern South Sea of Korea before the typhoon landed. The southeastern sea of Korea is an area where ocean currents prevail from west to east owing to the Tsushima Warm Current. However, an analysis of the satellite data showed that seawater at 30℃ moved from east to west, indicating that it was affected by the Ekman transport caused by the typhoon before landing. In addition, because the eastern waters of the South Sea are not as deep as those of the East Sea, the water temperature of the entire water layer may remain constant owing to vertical mixing caused by the wind. Because the rise in water temperature in each water layer occurred on the same day, the rise in the bottom water temperature can be considered as owing to vertical mixing. Indeed, the southeastern sea of Korea is a sea area where the water temperature can rise rapidly depending on the direction of approach of the typhoon and the location of high temperature formation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.81-89
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• 1982

In order to analyze the formation mechanism for the fishing ground of the Gang-dal-i, the relationship between the fish grounds of the Gang-dal-i and the oceanographic structure of the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea is investigated by using the data of the catches of stow net fishery (Fisheries Research and Development Agency, 1970-1979) and the oceanographic observation data (Japan Meteorological Agency). The main fishing grounds of the Gang-dal-i concentrated in the adjacent seas of Daeheugsan island and Sokotra Rock. In these areas, the fishing conditions are generally stable, because about 70% of the total catch of the Gang-dal-i for the ten years is occupied, CPUE also is relatively great, and the coefficients of variation of the catches are relatively small as 0.9 to 1.4. The main fishing periods are roughly from February to March and June to July, and the years of good catches are from 1974 to 1976. In general, the main fishing grounds are formed in the marginal areas of the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water. They are the frontal areas in which the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water is intermixed with the Yellow Sea Warm Current. The range of the temperature and the salinity in these regions are from 10 to 13$^{\circ}C$ and 32.5 to 34.4$\textperthousand$, respectively.