• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.349-358
• /
• 2007

In order to understand biogeochemical cycles of organic carbon in the permeable intertidal sandy sediments of the Nakdong estuary, we estimated the organic carbon production and consumption rates both in situ and in the laboratory. The Chl-a content of the sediment and the nutrient concentrations in below surface pore water in the sandy sediment were lower than in the muddy sediment. The sediment oxygen consumption rates were relatively high, especially when compared with rates reported from other coastal muddy sediments with higher organic carbon contents. This implied that both the organic carbon degradation and material transport in the sandy sediment were enhanced by advection-related process. The simple mass balance estimation of organic carbon fluxes showed that the major sources of carbon in the sediment would originate from benthic microalgae and detrital organic carbon derived from salt marsh. The daily natural biocatalzed filtration, extrapolated from filtration rates and the total area of the Nakdong estuary, was one order higher than the maximum capability of sewage plants in Busan metropolitan city. This implies that the sandy sediment contributes greatly to biogeochemical purification in the area, and is important for the re-distribution of materials in the coastal environment.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.453-458
• /
• 2010

DOC (Dissolved Organic Carbon) is an operational terminology for organic carbon molecules dissolved in natural waters. DOC has been studied by ecologists extensively, because it plays a key role in various ecological functions such as substrates for secondary production and the carbon cycle. DOC also represents a substrate for microbial growth within potable water distribution systems, and can react with disinfectants (e.g., chloride) to form harmful disinfection by-products. In addition, residual DOC may carry with it organically bound toxic heavy metals. DOC in aquatic ecosystems may ultimately be transported to the oceans, or released back to the atmosphere by heterotrophic respiration, which can accelerate global climate change. There is evidence that DOC concentrations in aquatic ecosystems are increasing in many regions of the world including Europe, North America, and even in Korea. Land use changes, elevated temperature, elevated $CO_2$, recovery from acidification, and nitrogen deposition have been proposed as mechanisms for the trend. However, the key driving mechanism is yet to be conclusively determined. We propose that more extensive and longer-term observations, research of chemical properties of DOC, impacts of elevated DOC on environmental issues and interdisciplinary approaches are warranted as future studies to fill the gaps in our knowledge about DOC dynamics.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2023.05a
• /
• pp.447-447
• /
• 2023

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a critical indicator of soil fertility. Its importance in maintaining ecological balance has received widespread attention. However, global temperatures have risen by 0.8℃ since the late 1800s due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in severe disruptions in SOC dynamics. To study the impacts of temperature variations on SOC and soil respiration, we used the Soil Carbon and Landscape co-Evolution (SCALE) model, which was capable of estimating the spatial distribution of soil carbon dynamics. The study site was located at Heshan Farm (125°20'10.5"E, 49°00'23.1"N), Nenjiang County in Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China. We validated the model using observed soil organic carbon and soil respiration in 2015 and achieved excellent agreement between observed and modeled variables. Our results showed considerable influences of temperature increases on SOC and soil respiration rates at both erosion and deposition areas. In particular, changes in SOC and soil respiration at the deposition area were greater than at the erosion area. Our study highlights that the impacts of temperature elevations are considerably dependent on soil erosion and deposition processes. Thus, it is important to implement effective soil conservation strategies to maintain soil fertility under global warming.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.969-975
• /
• 2010

Estimating the organic matter loadings from individual treated sewage has become important for establishment of effective management strategies to control refractory organic matter (R-OM) in watersheds. For this study, regression equations were constructed using treated sewage data to convert the chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations, which are mostly available from open database, into total organic carbon (TOC) and R-OM concentrations. Effluent samples were collected from five major sewage treatment plants (STPs) located upstream of the lake Paldang. Variations in the OM concentrations were not associated with either the location of the STP or the sampling season. The effluent investigated were characterized by higher ratio of R-OM with respect to biodegradable organic matter (B-OM) and higher presence of dissolved organic matters (DOM) versus particulate organic matter (POM). Compared to $COD_{Mn}$, $COD_{Cr}$ exhibited higher oxidation efficiencies and greater variations in the concentrations. The concentrations of $COD_{Mn}$ were positively correlated with dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total organic carbon (TOC), and R-OM concentrations. There was nearly no seasonal and annual variation in the regression equations between $COD_{Mn}$ and TOC or R-OM concentrations. The constructed regression equations for TOC and R-OM were $0.650({\pm}0.071){\times}COD_{Mn}+1.426({\pm}0.575)$ and $0.340({\pm}0.083){\times}COD_{Mn}+2.054({\pm}0.670)$, respectively. The established equations are expected to contribute to estimating OM loadings from the STPs into the lake Paldang and also to compensating for the deficiency of the data for effluent OM concentrations in STP.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.22 no.11
• /
• pp.1509-1517
• /
• 2013

So far, most studies associated with soil carbon sequestration have been focused on long term aspect. However, information regarding soil carbon sequestration in short term aspect is limited. This study was conducted to determine changes of soil organic carbon content and stability of carbon in response to compost application rate and tillage management during rice growing season(150 days) in short term aspect. Under pot experiment condition, compost was mixed with an arable soil at rates corresponding to 0, 6, 12, and 24 Mg/ha. To determine effect of tillage on soil carbon sequestration, till and no-till treatments were set up in soils amended with application rate of 12 Mg/ha. Compost application and tillage management did not significantly affect soil organic carbon(SOC) content in soil at harvest time. Bulk density of soil was not changed significantly with compost application and tillage management. These might result from short duration of experiment. While hot water extractable organic carbon(HWEOC) content decreased with compost application, humic substances(HS) increased. Below ground biomass of rice increased with application of compost and till operation. From the above results, continuos application of compost and reduce tillage might improve increase in soil organic carbon content and stability of carbon in long term aspect.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.129-133
• /
• 2016

In this study, a polymer-carbon composite material is prepared for environmental-friendly organic anode. On poly(styrenesulfonate)(PSS)-carbon composite anode, the carbon is coated by PSS as a core-shell structure and the PSS-carbon composite anode has $524mAh\;g^{-1}$ theoretical capacity with <0.6V voltage. Moreover, the PSS-carbon composite anode shows $519.6mAh\;g^{-1}$, $461.2mAh\;g^{-1}$, $411.8mAh\;g^{-1}$ and $315.9mAh\;g^{-1}$ discharge capacities at 0.1, 0.5, 1 and 10 C, respectively, and stable cycle performance up to 30 cycles. The PSS-carbon composite anode, containing polystyrene and sulfonate functional groups, is suitable for high electrochemical properties organic rechargeable battery.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.561-570
• /
• 2013

Organic carbon distribution and carbon budget of a Pinus densiflora forest in the Songgye valley of Mt. Worak National Park were investigated. Carbon in above and below ground standing biomass, litter layer, and soil organic carbon were measured from May 2011 through April 2012. For the estimation of carbon budget, soil respiration was measured. The amount of carbon allocated to above and below ground biomass was 52.25 and 14.52 ton C $ha^{-1}$. Amount of organic carbon in annual litterfall was 4.71 ton C $ha^{-1}$. Amount of organic carbon within 50cm soil depth was 58.56 ton C $ha^{-1}$ 50cm-$depth^{-1}$. Total amount of organic carbon in this Pinus densiflora forest was estimated to 130.04 ton C $ha^{-1}$. Amount of organic carbon in tree layer, shrub and herb layer was 4.12, 0.10 and 0.04 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$ and total amount of organic carbon was 4.26 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$. Amount of organic carbon returned to the forest via litterfall was 1.62 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$. The amount of carbon evolved through soil respiration was 6.25 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$. The amount of carbon evolved through microbial respiration and root respiration was 3.19 and 3.06 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$. The amount of organic carbon absorbed from the atmosphere of this Pinus densiflora forest was 1.07 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$ when it was estimated from the difference between Net Primary Production and microbial respiration.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.297-311
• /
• 2012

Since 1997, Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy and Ministry of Environment have established data on some 400 basic raw and subsidiary materials and process like energy, petro-chemical, steel, cement, glass, paper, construction materials, transportation, recycling and disposal etc by initiating establishment of LCI database. Regarding agriculture, Rural Development Administration has conducted establishment of LCI database for major farm products like rice, barley, beans, cabbage and radish etc from 2009, and released that they would establish LCI database for 50 items until 2020 later on. The domestic LCI database for seeds, seedling, agrochemical, inorganic fertilizer and organic fertilizer etc is only at initial stage of establishment, so overseas LCI databases are brought and being used. However, since the domestic and overseas natural environments differ, they fall behind in reliability. Therefore, this study has the purpose to select organic farming materials, survey the production process for various types of organic farming materials and establish LCI database for the effects of greenhouse gas emitted during the process in order to select carbon basic units for agricultural production system compliant in domestic situation instead of relying on overseas data and apply life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emitted by each crop during the process. As for selecting methods, in this study organic farming materials were selected in the method of direct observation of material and bottom-up method a survey method with focus on the organic farming materials admitted into rice production. For the basic unit of carbon emission amount by the production of 1kg of organic farming material, the software PASS 4.1.1 developed by Korea Accreditation Board under Ministry of Knowledge Economy was used. The study had the goal to ultimately provide basic unit to calculate carbon emission amount in executing many institutions like goal management system and carbon performance display system etc in agricultural sector to be conducted later on. As a result, emission basic units per 1kg of production were calculated to be 0.0088kg-$CO_2$ for charcoal, 0.1319kg-$CO_2$ for grass liquid, and 0.2804kg-$CO_2$ for microbial agent.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.158-177
• /
• 2023

An estuary is a transitional water area that links the land and sea through rivers and streams, transporting various components from the land to the sea, which plays an important role in determining primary productivity in the coastal environment, and this coastal ecosystem captures a huge amount of carbon into biomass, known as blue carbon, which mitigates climate change as a potential carbon reservoir. This study examined the variation of mean grain size and organic carbon content of the surface sediments for 6 years and analyzed their relationship in the western and southern estuarine areas (Han River Estuary, Geum River Estuary, Yeongsan River Estuary, Seomjin River Estuary, and Nakdong River Estuary) and the East Sea upwelling area. During the sampling period (2015 to 2020), seasonal variation of both properties was not observed, because their variations might be controlled by diverse oceanographic environments and hydrographic conditions within each survey area. However, despite the synoptic problem of all samples, the positive relationship was obtained between the averages of mean grain size and organic carbon content, which clearly distinguishes each survey area. The unique positive relationship in all estuarine areas implies that the same process by sediment clay particles is important in the organic carbon accumulation. However, additional important factor may be expected in the organic carbon accumulation in the East Sea upwelling area. Further necessary data (sedimentation rate, dry bulk density etc) should be required for the estimation of carbon stock to evaluate the major estuaries in Korea as potential carbon reservoirs in the coastal environment.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.512-516
• /
• 2014

Two different methods for TOC (Total Organic Carbon) analysis of livestock manure including high strength solid organics were evaluated. Firstly, an analyzing method by dilution after pre-treated by Ultrasonicator and 100 mesh sieve for homogenization was defined as TOC 1; and secondly method divided by particulate organic carbon (POC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was defined as TOC 2. 116 samples collected from 56 farms were analyzed in TOC1, TOC2, BOD and VSS. TOC1 method showed higher accuracy at less than 30,000 mg/L of TOC while TOC2 method presented significant reliability at over that concentration. Regarding to the sample with the same VSS concentration, the correlation between TOC 2 and VSS (${\rho}$: 0.806) was slightly higher than that between TOC 1 and VSS (${\rho}$: 0.784), resulted from a relatively low loss of solids and a low error probability (dilution and homogenization effects) in the analyzing procedures. In addition, the reliability between POC and VSS in TOC2 was high and the POC was about 4.4 fold that of the VSS. Consequently, TOC 2 without dilution effect was assessed as a proper method to increase the analyzing accuracy of swine manure including high solid organics.