• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.235-243
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• 2007

In order to understand the water mass properties in the southern location of the East Sea in the Korean coasts, the vertical distributions (down to 2,000 m deep) of water temperature, salinity, and dissolved inorganic nutrients were determined in April of 2005. The water mass of the surveyed location showed distinct vertical layers; highly saline surface, surface mixing layer, and thermocline of low temperature and salinity. The water layer below 300 m was characterized by water temperature lower than $1^{\circ}C$ and salinity 34.06, showing a representative water mass of the East Sea. The inorganic nutrients rapidly increased from 200m in the northern and southern parts around Ulleung Basin. A marked environmental difference was found between two layers separated by thermocline. The upper layer of the thermocline was oligotrophic and the vertical distribution of nutrient was very stable. In the water layer between 100 and 200m the nutrients slightly increased but remained still stable. From southern coasts to northeastern Ulleung, the water mass properties were site specific; the thickness of the surface mixed layer and nutricline showed a trend diminishing toward the northern locations probably due to diminished influence of Tsushima water. Redfield ratio (N:P=16:1) based on the ratio of chemical composition in organism revealed that nitrogen value continuously decreased to less than 16 with the water depth down to loom from the thermocline. The value in the water layer deeper than 100 to 200 m, thereafter, showed an increasing trend (over 16). This result was further supported by the finding of lower chlrophyll a content in the layer.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.196-206
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• 1996

Vertical profiles of the chlorophyll ${\alpha}$, phytoplankton abundance, nutrients and sigma-t were compared with the vertical distribution of phytoplankton species in conjunction with $^{14}$C primary production in the Southern Waters of the East Sea, Korea. In the upper mixed layer the water column was only weakly stratified and ambient nitrogenic nutrient concentrations were markedly depleted. Dissolved silicate seemed to be another limiting nutrient in the surface layer. The occupation of different water depths by several dominant diatom species was well explained by the degree of silicification of each cell and the silicate concentration of ambient seawater. Subsurface chlorophyll maxima were continuously observed in the lower parts of the euphotic layer and the depth coincided with nutricline, supporting our view that chlorophyll maximum was sustained partially by enhancement of in situ growth of phytoplankton and partially by increase of cellular chlorophyll content. The persistence of chlorophyll maximum layer was attributed to the physiological adaptation of the phytoplankters to low light intensities and to the utilization of regenerated nutrients. Integrated water column production of organic matter by photosynthesis appeared to be better related to phytoplankton cell division than to the cell growth in terms of biosynthesis of pigments and other intracellular components.

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.301-313
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• 2006

Abundance and distribution of phytoplankton in seawater at southwestern East/Japan Sea near Gampo were investigated by HPLC analysis of photosynthetic pigments during summer of 1999. Detected photosynthetic pigments were chlorophyll a, b, $c_{1+2}$ (Chl a, Chl b, Chl $c_{1+2}$), fucoxanthin (Fuco), prasinoxanthin (Pras), zeaxanthin (Zea), 19'-butanoyloxyfucoxanthin (But-fuco) and beta-carotene (B-Car). Major carotenoid was fucoxanthin (bacillariophyte) and minor carotenoids were Pras (prasinophyte), Zea (cyanophyte) and But-fuco (chrysophyte). Chl a concentrations were in the range of $0.16-8.3\;{\mu}g/land$ subsurface chlorophyll maxima were observed at 0-10m at inshore and 30-50 m at offshore. Thermocline and nutricline tilted to the offshore direction showed a mild upwelling condition. Results from size-fraction showed that contribution from nano+picoplankton at Chl a maximum layer was increased from 18% at inshore to 69% at offshore on average. The maximum contribution from nano+picoplankton was found as 87% at St. E4. It was noteworthy that contribution from nano+picoplanktonic crysophytes and green algae to total biomass of phytoplankton was significant at offshore. Satellite images of sea surface temperature indicated that an extensive area of the East/Japan Sea showed lower temperature ($<18\;^{\circ}C$) but the enhanced Chi a patch was confined to a narrow coastal region in summer, 1999. Exceptionally high flux of low saline water from the Korea/Tsushima Strait seemed to make upwelling weak in summer of 1999 in the study area. Results of comparisons among Chi a from SeaWiFS, HPLC and fluorometric analysis showed that presence of Chi b cause underestimation of Chi a about 30% by fluorometric analysis but overestimation by satellite data about 30-75% compared to HPLC data.

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.67-78
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• 2005

Complex physical, chemical and biological interactions off the Korean coast created several striking patterns in the phytoplankton blooms, which became conspicuous during the measurements of ocean color from space. This study concentrated on analyzing the spatial and temporal aspects of phytoplankton chlorophyll variability in these areas using an integrated dataset from a Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), Advanced Very High Resolution (AVHRR) sensor, and Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) sensor. The results showed that chlorophyll concentrations were elevated in coastal and open ocean regions, with strong summer and fall blooms, which appeared to spread out in most of the enclosed bays and neighboring waters due to certain oceanographic processes. The chlorophyll concentration was observed to range between 3 and $54\;mg\;m^{-3}$ inside Jin-hae Bay and adjacent coastal bays and 0.5 and $8\;mg\;m^{-3}$ in the southeast sea offshore waters, this gradual decrease towards oceanic waters suggested physical transports of phytoplankton blooms from the shallow shelves to slope waters through the influence of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) along the Tsushima Strait. Horizontal distribution of potential temperature $(\theta)$ and salinity (S) of water off the southeastern coast exhibited cold and low saline surface water $(\theta and warm and high saline subsurface water $({\theta}>12^{\circ}C; S>34.4)$ at 75dBar, corroborating TWC intrusion along the Tsushima Strait. An eastward branch of this current was called the East Korean Warm Current (EKWC), tracked with the help of CTD data and satellite-derived sea surface temperature, which often influenced the dynamics of mesoscale anticyclonic eddy fields off the Korean east coast during the summer season. The process of such mesoscale anticyclonic eddy features might have produced interior upwelling that could have shoaled and steepened the nutricline, enhancing phytoplankton population by advection or diffusion of nutrients in the vicinity of Ulleungdo in the East Sea.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.91-100
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• 1992

For the study on the structure and characteristics of the primary production system in the southern waters of the East Sea, chlorophyll, phytoplankton standing stocks. nutrients and hydrographic properties were investigated and analyzed in conjunction with measurement of C-14 based primary productivity. The primary productivity was relatively high in comparison with the previous studies, ranging from 284 to 4,574 mgC$.$m/SUP -2/$.$day /SUP -1/ and averaged to be 2,000 mgC$.$m/SUP 02/$.$day/SUP -1/. The standing stocks within the euphotic zone were fairly high, but ambient inorganic nitrogenous nutrient concentrations were too low to support the high production. This implied that there might be active recycling of nitrogenous nutrients by heterotrophic processes and the upward flux of nutrients by vertical mixing. Subsurface chlorophyll maxima were continuously observed in the lower parts of the euphotic layer and the depth coincided with the nutricline rather than isopycnal surfaces, supporting the view that chlorophyll distributions and primary production were primarily influenced by nutrient supply. Despite low nutrient concentrations, phytoplankton standing stocks and production were fairly high and the fraction of autotrophic nano- and picoplankton production was significant.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.269-289
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• 2010

In Summer 2008, a multidisciplinary survey was conducted onboard R/V Haeyang 2000 to understand plankton response to the three distinct physico-chemical settings that developed in the Ulleung Basin of the East Sea. Baseline settings of hydrographic conditions included the presence of the thin (<20 m) Tsushima Surface Water (TSW) on top of the Tsushima Middle Water (TMW). It extends from the Korea Strait to $37^{\circ}N$ along the $130^{\circ}E$ and then turns offshore and encompasses the relatively saline (T>$26^{\circ}C$, S>33.7) Ulleung Warm Eddy surface water centered at $36.5^{\circ}N$ and $131^{\circ}E$. A relatively colder and saline water mass appeared off the southeastern coast of Korea. It was accompanied by higher nutrient and chlorophyll-a concentrations, suggesting a coastal upwelling. Most of the offshore surface waters support low phytoplankton biomass (0.3 mg chl-a $m^{-3}$). A much denser phytoplankton biomass (1-2.3 mg $m^{-3}$) accumulated at the subsurface layer between 20-50 m depth. The subsurface chlorophyll-a maximum (SCM) layer was closely related to the nutricline, suggesting an active growth of phytoplankton at depth. The SCM developed at shallow depth (20-30 m) near the coast and deepened offshore (50-60 m). A fucoxanthin/zeaxanthin ratio was high in coastal waters while it was low in offshore waters, which indicated that diatoms dominate coastal waters while cyanobacteria dominate offshore waters. The community structure and biomass of phytoplanktonare closely related to nitrogen availability. Zooplankton biomass was higher in the coastal region than in the offshore region while species richness showed an opposite trend. Zooplankton community structure retained a coastal/offshore contrast. These suggest that summer hydrography is a stable structure, lasting long enough to allow a hydrography-specific plankton community to evolve.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.178-189
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• 2008

The distribution of inorganic nutrients and their remineralization ratio in the divergence zone ($7^{\circ}{\sim}10.5^{\circ}N$) of the northeastern Pacific were investigated from July 2003 to July 2007. A divergence zone along the boundary of the North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC) and North Equatorial Current (NEC) at $10^{\circ}N$ was observed in July 2007 when the La Nina event and divergence-related upwelling was strong. The mean depth of oligotrophic surface mixed layer in the divergence zone was 46, 61, and 30 m in July 2003, August 2005, and July 2007, respectively. Below the surface mixed layer, a nutricline was clearly observed. The depth integrated value of nitrate including nitrite (DIVn) in the upper layer($0{\sim}100$ m depth) ranged from 5.51 to 21.71 $gN/m^2$(mean 12.82 $gN/m^2$) in July 2003, from 5.62 to 8.46 $gN/m^2$ (mean 7.15 $gN/m^2$) in August 2005, and from 8.98 to 27.80 $gN/m^2$(mean 21.12 $gN/m^2$) in July 2007. The maximum DIVn was observed at the divergence zone. The distributions of phosphate(DIVp) and silicate(DIVsi) were similar to that of DIVn and the DIVn/DIVsi ratio was $0.87{\pm}0.11$ in the upper layer. The limiting nutrient for phytoplankton growth in the study area was identified as nitrogen(N/P ratio=14.6). The nitrate (including nitrite) concentrations were lower in the region mainly affected by NEC than in the region affected by NECC. The study area of low silicate concentrations was also considered to be Si-limiting environment. The remineralization ratios of nutrients were $P/N/-O_2=1/14.6{\pm}1.1/100.4{\pm}8.8(23.44{\leq}Sigma-{\theta}{\leq}26.38)$ in the study area. These ratios suggested remineralization process in the surface layer of divergence zone.