• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.71-81
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• 2013

Trace metal concentration in sediment cores from the outer sea of Lake Shihwa were determined to study the vertical profiles of metal concentrations and to evaluate the levels of metal contamination. Sediment pollution assessment was carried out using enrichment factor (EF) and geo-accumulation index (Igeo). The mean concentration of metals were 58.8 mg/kg for Cr, 10.3 mg/kg for Co, 22.8 mg/kg for Ni, 18.1 mg/kg for Cu, 74.0 mg/kg for Zn, 6.75 mg/kg for As, 0.14 mg/kg for Cd, 27.4 mg/kg for Pb and 0.026 mg/kg for Hg, respectively. The mean EF values for Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Hg were greater than 1.5 in sediment cores, indicating that these metals in sediments are slightly enriched by anthropogenic activities. The geo-accumulation index (Igeo) suggested unpolluted status for metals of sediments collected from outer see of Lake Shihwa. Igeo values for Cu and Hg nearby LNG station (site C, D, E) ranged from 1 to 2, indicating moderately to unpolluted pollution status for those metals. Even if the higher concentrations of trace metals nearby LNG station were observed, there is significantly positive relationship between Al and trace metals. Thus, the sediment grain size plays an important roles in influencing the distribution of trace metals in sediment cores from the outer sea of Lake Shihwa. Based on the comparison with sediment quality guidelines such as threshold effect level and probable effect level in Korea, the concentration of metals in sediments from outer sea of Lake Shihwa are likely to result in no harmful effects on sediment-dwelling organisms.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.131-145
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• 2014

The new passive sampler called "artificial mussel (AM)" offers a potential device to study the spatiotemporal changes of metal concentrations in different marine environment worldwide. The purpose of this study is to characterize metal (Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn, Pb) accumulation on the AM and transplanted mussel (Mytilus edulis) at 5 sites of Lake Shihwa. Both the AMs and mussels showed increasing concentrations of all five metals during the 12 weeks exposure period. Higher concentrations of Zn were showed in both the AMs and Mytilus edulis relative to other metals. The AMs accumulated higher concentrations of Cd, Cr and Zn, but they presented lower levels of Cu and Pb than Mytilus edulis. The correlations for Cd, Cu and Pb were statistically significant between the AMs and Mytilus edulis, indicating that the accumulation patterns for those metals were similar. However, no similarities for Cr and Zn were observed between two monitoring devices across all of the sites in Shihwa Lake. According to relationship for metal concentrations between dissolve phase in seawater and both the AMs and Mytilus edulis, the AMs for Cd, Cu and Zn represent more metal contamination than Mytilus edulis. Our results indicated that the AMs give a better resolution to reveal the spatial differences in dissolved metal concentration. This study suggests that the AMs can provide a time-integrated estimate of metal pollution in marine environments as well as freshwater environments of Korea.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.179-191
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• 2019

Heavy metals in stream water and sediments around industrial complex were studied in order to assess the contamination and to identify the potential source of metals. High variability has been observed for both dissolved and particulate phases in stream water with coefficient of variation (CV) ranging from 1.3 to 2.8. The highest metal concentrations in both phases were observed in Gunja for Ni and Cu, in Jungwang for Zn and Pb and in Shiheung for Cd, respectively. These results indicate that the different metal sources could be existing. The concentrations of the heavy metals in sediments decreased in the order of Cu>Zn>Pb>Cr>Ni>As>Cd>Hg, with mean of 2,549, 1,742, 808, 539, 163, 17.1, 5.8, $0.07mg\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. Mean of metal concentrations(except for As) in sediments showed the highest values at Shiheung stream comparing with other streams. In sediments, the percent exceedance of class II grade that metal may potentially harmful impact on benthic organism for Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb was about 57%, 62%, 84%, 60%, 68%, 81% for all stream sediments, respectively. Sediments were classified as heavily to extremely polluted for Cu and Cd, heavily polluted for Zn and Pb, based on the calculation of Igeo value. About 59% and 35% of sediments were in the categories of "poor" and "very poor" pollution status for heavy metals. Given the high metal concentrations, industrial wastes and effluents, having high concentrations of most metals originated from the manufacture and use of metal products in this region, might be discharged into the stream through sewer outlet. The streams receive significant amounts of industrial waste from the industrial facilities which is characterized by light industrial complexes of approximately 17,000 facilities. Thus, the transport of metal loads through streams is an important pathway for metal pollution in Shihwa Lake.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.249-258
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• 2013

Vertical and horizontal mixing processes in the ocean mixed layer determine sea surface temperature and temperature variability. Accordingly, simulating these processes properly is crucial in order to obtain more accurate climate simulations and more reliable future projections using an ocean general circulation model (OGCM). In this study, by using Modular Ocean Model version 4 (MOM4) developed by Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, the upper ocean temperature and mixed layer depth were simulated with two different vertical mixing schemes that are most widely used and then compared. The resultant differences were analyzed to understand the underlying mechanism, especially in the Tropical Pacific Ocean where the differences appeared to be the greatest. One of the schemes was the so-called KPP scheme that uses K-Profile parameterization with nonlocal vertical mixing and the other was the N scheme that was rather recently developed based on a second-order turbulence closure. In the equatorial Pacific, the N scheme simulates the mixed layer at a deeper level than the KPP scheme. One of the reasons is that the total vertical diffusivity coefficient simulated with the N scheme is ten times larger, at maximum, in the surface layer compared to the KPP scheme. Another reason is that the zonal current simulated with the N scheme peaks at a deeper ocean level than the KPP scheme, which indicates that the vertical shear was simulated on a larger scale by the N scheme and it enhanced the mixed layer depth. It is notable that while the N scheme simulates a deeper mixed layer in the equatorial Pacific compared to the KPP scheme, the sea surface temperature (SST) simulated with the N scheme was cooler in the central Pacific and warmer in the eastern Pacific. We postulated that the reason for this is that in the central Pacific atmospheric forcing plays an important role in determining SST and so does a strong upwelling in the eastern Pacific. In conclusion, what determines SST is crucial in interpreting the relationship between SST and mixed layer depth.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.292-301
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• 2012

The rise in sea surface temperature (SST) as a global warming enhance overall typhoon activity. We assumed that there exist thermodynamic limits to intensity that apply in the absence of significant interaction between storms and their environment. The limit calculations depend on SST and atmospheric profiles of temperature and moisture. This approach do appear to provide resonable upper bounds on the intensities of observed storms and may even be useful for predicting the change in intensity over a long period time. The maximum storm intensities was estimated through the global warming scenarios from IPCC-AR4 report over the North-East Asia. The result shows stronger intensities according to scenarios for increase of carbon dioxide levels. And storm surge simulations was performed with the typhoons which were combined route of the typhoon Maemi (2003) and intensity as climate change scenarios. The maximum increase of storm surge heights was shown about 29~110 cm (36~65%) regionally. Especially at Masan, the result of simulated maximum surge height exceed the 200 years return period surge.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.406-425
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• 2019

To observe the seasonal fluctuation of the meiobenthic fauna community around the coastal area of Jeju island, 20 stations were selected and seasonal surveys were conducted. Three-replicate meiobenthic samples were collected from each station in April, July, and November 2017; February, May, August, and November 2018; and February in 2019, in a total of eight months from 2017 to 2019. The total density of meiobenthos at each station ranged from 733 to 2,505 ind. 10 cm^-2. The month in which the highest habitat density appeared in most stations was April 2017 and the month in which the lowest habitat density was seen was February 2019. Nematodes were the most dominant faunal group among the representative 13 meiofaunal groups at all stations. The subdominant groups were benthic harpacticoid copepods and nauplius. The nematode/copepod (N/C) ratio, reflecting the health indices within the ecosystem, varied from 0.02 to 87.40 over the entire season and the average station values ranged from 2.00 to 16.80. The lowest N/C ratio value was found in April 2017 (0.02) and the highest N/C ratio was found at Station 11 in February 2019, which was 87.40, indicating the highest level of pollution. Seasonal and regional meiobenthos community structure similarity was divided into three groups through group analysis and multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) analysis, which showed that the meiobenthos community structure was affected by seasonal variations, rather than by regional differences.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.383-394
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• 2014

The surface sediments from the manganese nodule exploration area of Korea in the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone were investigated to understand the resource potential of and emplacement mechanism for rare earth elements (REEs). The sediments are categorized into three lithological units (Unit I, II and III from top to bottom), but into two groups (Unit I/II and Unit III) based on the distribution pattern of REEs. The distribution pattern of REEs in Unit I/II is similar to that of Post-Archean Australian Shale (PAAS), but shows a negative Ce anomaly and enrichment in heavy REEs (HREEs). In Unit III, the HREE enrichment and Ce anomaly is much more remarkable than Unit I/II when normalized to PAAS, which are interpreted as resulting from the absorption of REEs from seawater by Fe oxyhydroxides that were transported along the buoyant plume from remotely-located hydrothermal vents. It is supported by the PAAS-normalized REE pattern of Unit III which is similar to those of seawater and East Pacific Rise sediments. Meanwhile, the PAAS-normalized REE pattern of Unit I/II is explained by the 4:1 mixing of terrestrial eolian sediment and Unit III from each, indicating the much smaller contribution of hydrothermal origin material to Unit I/II. The studied sediments have the potentiality of a low-grade and large tonnage REE resource. However, the mining of REE-bearing sediment needs a large size extra collecting, lifting and treatment system to dress and refine low-grade sediments if the sediment is exploited with manganese nodules. It is economically infeasible to develop low-grade REE sediments at this moment in time because the exploitation of REE-bearing sediments with manganese nodules increase the mining cost.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.299-312
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• 2013

This study analyzed the species composition and density of a macrobenthic community according to variations in the thermal discharge volumes of a nuclear power plant before, during, and after the shutdown of the nuclear power plant during two periods. In this study, 369 macrobenthic fauna species were collected, and their mean density was 1,712 ind. $m^{-2}$. The number of species and diversity of macrobenthic fauna decreased with distance from the thermal discharge area, regardless of whether the nuclear plant shutdown or not. Many macrobenthic taxa appeared near the thermal discharge area, but polychaetes species were more prominent in outer areas than at the discharge area. The density of macrobenthic fauna decreased with distance from the thermal discharge area during a plant shutdown in the fall of 2011, but increased, except at two sites, near the discharge area in the winter of 2012. Cluster analysis indicated that the spatial distribution of the macrobenthic community changed in areas near the nuclear power plant after a shutdown period; that is, the station group I, in areas near the nuclear power plant, became narrower after the shutdown, but it recovered to previously occupied areas after the nuclear power plant began operating again. Opportunistic species, such as the polychaetes Lumbrineris longifolia (= Scoletoma longifolia) and Mediomastus californiensis, which were present in high densities near thermal discharge areas, decreased after the shutdown but recovered after the plant re-opened. The number of species and diversity of the macrofauna and the density of dominant species showed a significant correlation with temperature, except in winter periods. The results of this study revealed that changes in the amount of thermal discharge before and after the shutdown of a nuclear power plant could exert an influence on the structure of macrobenthic community within the thermal discharge areas depending on the season.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.407-414
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• 2013

One of the most important challenges facing the Spirulina mass cultivation industry is to find a way to reduce the high production costs involved in production. Although the most commercial medium (Zarrouk's medium) for Spirulina cultivation is too expensive to use, it contains higher amount of $NaHCO_3$ (16.80 g $L^{-1}$), trace metals and vitamin solutions. The purpose of this study was to increase the efficiency of Spirulina platensis biomass production by developing a low-cost culture medium at an isolated tropical island such as Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). This study set out to formulate a lowcost medium for the culture of S. platensis, by substituting nutrients of Zarrouk's medium using fertilizer- grade urea and soil extract with a different concentration of carbon source under natural weather condition. In order to select a low-cost culture medium of S. platensis, 10 culture media were prepared with different concentrations of nitrogen (urea and $NaNO_3$) and $NaHCO_3$. The highest maximum specific growth rate (${\mu}max$) and mass production were 0.50 $day^{-1}$ and 1.05 g $L^{-1}$ in modified medium ($NaHCO_3$ 7.50 g $L^{-1}$, urea 2.00 g $L^{-1}$ without $NaNO_3$) among all the synthesized media. Protein (56.14%) and carbohydrate (16.21%) concentrations of the lyophilized standard samples were estimated with highest concentration of glutamic acid (14.93%). This study revealed that the use of a low concentration of urea and $NaHCO_3$ with soil extract was an affordable medium for natural mass cultivation in the FSM.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 2020

Stormwater runoff is known as a major non-point water pollution source that transports heavy metals, which have accumulated in road surface, to stream and coastal area. Dissolved and particulate metals in stormwater runoffs have been investigated to understand the outflow characteristics of heavy metals during rainfall events and to identify their pollution sources. The concentration of dissolved Co and Ni decreased after the outflow with high concentrations at the beginning of the rainfall, and other metals showed different characteristics depending on the rainfall and rate of discharge. Particulate metals showed a similar trend with the temporal variation of suspended solids concentration in stormwater runoffs. The results of geo-accumulation index (I_geo) indicated that the stormwater runoffs from industrial region were very highly polluted with Cu, Zn and Cd. As a result of comparing the metal concentrations of <125 ㎛ for road dust near the study area, Cu, Zn and Cd were originated from inside of metal manufacturing facilities rather than traffic activities at road surface and these metals accumulated on the surface area of facilities were transported to the water environments during stormwater event. The average discharged amounts of heavy metals for one rainfall event were Cr 128 g, Co 12.35 g, Ni 98.5 g, Cu 607.5 g, Zn 8,429.5 g, As 6.95 g, Cd 3.7 g, Pb 251.75 g, indicating that metal runoff loads in the stormwater runoffs are closely related to surrounding industry types.