• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 2009

An abundance of internal waves is observed by SAR in the Yellow Sea during summer. They are small scaled internal waves and are not relatively studied well compared to the ones in the East/South China Sea. These internal waves should be considered in the study of physio-biological properties of the Yellow Sea because the mixing of the stratified surface water caused by internal waves during summer is important for ocean biological environment, and they also affect the sediment transport and acoustic signal transmission in the continental shelf region. To understand the characteristics of internal waves, it is important to get the spatio-temporal information of internal waves simultaneously by executing in-situ measurements as well as the SAR observation. This study tracks the internal waves observed by SAR in the time series of temperature profile data by analyzing simultaneously acquired in-situ measurement data and RADARSAT SAR image on 29 May 2002.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.134-144
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• 2009

Paleoproductivity changes in the central part of the Bering Sea since the last glacial period were reconstructed by analyzing opal and total organic carbon (TOC) content and their mass accumulation rate (MAR) in sediment core PC23A. Ages of the sediment were determined by both AMS $^{14}C$ dates using planktonic foraminifera and Last Appearance Datum of radiolaria (L. nipponica sakaii). The core-bottom age was calculated to reach back to 61,000 yr BP. and some of core-top was missing. Opal and TOC contents during the last glacial period varied in a range of 1-10% and 0.2-1.0%, and their average values are 5% and 0.7%, respectively. In contrast, during the last deglaciation, opal and TOC contents varied from 5 to 22% and from 0.8 to 1.2%, respectively, with increasing average values of 8% and 1.0%. Opal and TOC MAR were low ($1gcm^{-2}kyr^{-1}$, $0.2gcm^{-2}kyr^{-1}$) during the last glacial period, but they increased (>5 and >$1gcm^{-2}kyr^{-1}$) during the last deglaciation. High diatom productivity during the last deglaciation was most likely attributed to the elevated nutrient supply to the sea surface resulting from increased melt water input from the nearby land and enhanced Alaskan Stream injection from the south under the restricted sea-ice and warm condition during the rising sea level. On the contrary, low productivity during the last glacial period was mainly due to decreased Alaskan Stream injection during the low sea-level condition as well as to extensive development of sea ice under low-temperature seawater and cold environment.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.133-147
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• 2004

Environmental quality(water and sediment) was analyzed in the tidal flat of Saemangum of Jeonbuk Province, the west coast of Korea, using the 101 sediment samples and 69 water samples collected in September 4~13, 2001. Major water quality parameters with the means of 69 surface water samples are as follows; $25.51{\pm}0.68^{\circ}C$ for water temperature, $29.88{\pm}5.01$ for salinity, $1.40{\pm}0.78mg/L$ for COD, $0.352{\pm}0.417mg/L$ for DIN, and $0.027{\pm}0.023mg/L$ for phosphate, respectively. Higher values were found at the subestuary of Dongjin and Mangyung River, and lower values at the Saemangum embayment and Gomso Bay. There was a significant negative correlation between salinity and the other water quality parameters(p<0.0001) such as COD, nutrients, SS and N/P. This correlation suggested that the major pollution sources be from terrestrial inputs through tributaries in this area. Principal component analysis clearly revealed a spatial variation of water quality; stations with higher values of nutrients and COD located subestuary of tributaries. 14 sediment quality parameters including 8 trace metals were measured using the 101 surface sediment samples. Average values for the parameters are as follows; Al $2.28{\pm}0.92%$, Cd $0.61{\pm}0.27ppm$, Cu $8.95{\pm}4.06ppm$, Fe $1.19{\pm}0.37%$, Mn $182.31{\pm}77.45ppm$, Ni $10.83{\pm}4.97ppm$, Pb $15.20{\pm}4.35ppm$, Zn $41.34{\pm}34.62ppm$, COD $2.68{\pm}1.85mg/g\;dry$, AVS $0.04{\pm}0.08mg/g\;dry$, IL $1.29{\pm}1.08%$, water content $24.11{\pm}4.49%$, TN $0.02{\pm}0.02%$, TC $0.22{\pm}0.30%$. Spatial variations of sediment quality were not clear as water quality. Some higher values were found at the subestuary of Gum River and lower values at the other area. There was a significant positive correlation between the heavy metal concentrations and organic materials within the sediment(p<0.05). Enrichment factors showed the ranges of 1~2 for most of the metals in the sediment except zinc(1~6), indicating no serious exogenous input of heavy metals in the study area. Also, the heavy metal concentrations in the sediment were within the ranges found at the natural marine environments.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.371-381
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• 2014

The bioaccumulation of 16 United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and alkylated PAHs in the Manila clam, Ruditapes philippinarum exposed to sediments artificially contaminated by Iranian Heavy Crude Oil was measured and the biota-sediment accumulation factor (BSAF) was estimated through laboratory experiments. The proportion of 16 PAHs accumulated in the tissue of R. philippinarum was only from 3 to 7% of total PAHs. Among 16 PAHs, the concentration of naphthalene was highest in the tissue. Alkylated PAHs were highly accumulated more than 93% of total PAHs. The C3 dibenzothiophene was most highly accumulated. The relative composition of alkylated naphthalenes in the tissue of R. philippinarum was lower than in the sediments. In contrast, those of alkylated compounds of fluorenes, phenanthrenes, dibenzothiophenes were higher in the tissue than the sediments. The BSAF for sum of 16 PAHs was 0.11 to 0.13 g carbon/g lipid and that for alkylated PAHs was 0.05 to 0.06 g carbon/g lipid. Naphthalene showed the highest BSAF value. Alkylated PAHs with the same parent compound, BSAF tended to increase with the number of alkylated branch increased, except for alkylated chrysenes. BSAF of total PAHs lies between that of field-based values, and are also similar to those of other persistent organic pollutants (PCBs, DDTs, HCHs). This study provides the BSAF values of individual alkylated PAHs accumulated in R. philippinarum for the first time and will be used as a basis for further understanding the bioaccumulation of organic contaminants in the marine benthic organisms.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.6 s.181
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• pp.711-717
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• 2006

In order to study gas hydrate, potential future energy resources, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources has conducted seismic reflection survey in the East Sea since 1997. one of evidence for presence of gas hydrate in seismic reflection data is a bottom simulating reflector (BSR). The BSR occurs at the interface between overlaying higher velocity, hydrate-bearing sediment and underlying lower velocity, free gas-bearing sediment. That is often characterized by large reflection coefficient and reflection polarity reverse to that of seafloor reflection. In order to apply depth migration to seismic reflection data. we need high performance computers and a parallelizing technique because of huge data volume and computation. Phase shift plus interpolation (PSPI) is a useful method for migration due to less computing time and computational efficiency. PSPI is intrinsically parallelizing characteristic in the frequency domain. We conducted conventional data processing for the gas hydrate data of the Ease Sea and then applied prestack depth migration using message-passing-interface PSPI (MPI_PSPI) that was parallelized by MPI local-area-multi-computer (MPI_LAM). Velocity model was made using the stack velocities after we had picked horizons on the stack image with in-house processing tool, Geobit. We could find the BSRs on the migrated stack section were about at SP 3555-4162 and two way travel time around 2,950 ms in time domain. In depth domain such BSRs appear at 6-17 km distance and 2.1 km depth from the seafloor. Since energy concentrated subsurface was well imaged we have to choose acquisition parameters suited for transmitting seismic energy to target area.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1069-1078
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• 2011

The environmental changes related to hypoxic water mass were investigated at Gamak bay in summer times, June, July and August 2006. The hypoxic water mass was found, in first, at the northern area of Gamak bay on 27 June. This water mass has been sustained until the end of August and disappear on 13 September. In Gamak bay, the hypoxic water mass was closely related to geography. During the formation of oxygen deficiency, changes in dissolved nutrients was studied and found that on surface layer and lower layer, DIN were 0.80 ${\mu}M$~19.8 ${\mu}M$(6.03 ${\mu}M$) and 1.13 ${\mu}M$～60.83 ${\mu}M$(10.66 ${\mu}M$), and DIP were 0.01 ${\mu}M$～0.92 ${\mu}M$(0.24 ${\mu}M$), and 0.01 ${\mu}M$～3.57 ${\mu}M$(0.49 ${\mu}M$), respectively, far higher distribution on lower layer of the water where hypoxic water mass was occurred. The configuration of phosphorus was analyzed to figure out the possibility of release of phosphorus from sediments. It was found that the Labile-Phosphorus, which is capable of easy move to water layer by following environmental change was found more than 70%. Therefore, in Gamak bay, it was found that the possibility of large amount of release of soluble P into the water, while hypoxic water mass was occurred in deep layer was higher. It is suggested that DIP in the northern sea of Gamak bay mainly sourced from the soluble P from lower layer of the waters where hypoxic water mass was created more than that from basin. However, existence form of phosphorus in sediments during normal times, not during creation of hypoxic water mass, needs further study.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 1997

The Holocene mud deposits in the southeastern innershelf of the Korean Peninsula were studied using the shallow seismic reflection profiles coupled with sediment sampling. The Holocene mud deposits are developed as a belt in the innershelf area from the mouth of the Nakdong River to off Pohang along the coastline. The surficial sediments in the study area gradually become finer and well sorted from south to north. The seismic facies in the Holocene sequence change northward from parallel reflectors in the mouth of the Nakdong River and northeastward prograding reflectors in the southern part off Ulsan to transparent layer in the nearshore off Ulsan to Pohang. The regional difference of seismic facies indicates that the Holocene sediment characters are varied with localities. By combining the surficial sediments properties with seismic facies patterns, the suspended sediments mostly supplied from the Nakdong River may be transported northward along the shore by the north-flowing Tsushima warm current. The Holocene mud sequence overlying the ravinement surface which is produced by erosion of underlying sediments during a rapid transgression can be interpreted as the highstand system tracts probably formed during the highstand of sea level similar to the present-day sea level.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.244-250
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• 2007

Membrane inlet mass spectrometer (MIMS) has been used to accurately quantify dissolved gases in liquid samples. In this study, the MIMS system was applied to measure dissolved methane in seawater and sediment porewater. To evaluate the accuracy of the measurement, liquid samples saturated with different methane partial pressure were prepared and the methane concentrations were quantified with the MIMS system. The measured values correspond well with the expected values calculated from solubility constants. The standard error of the measurements were $0.13{\sim}0.9%$ of the mean values. The distribution of dissolved methane concentration in seawater of the South Sea of Korea revealed that the physical parameters primarily control the methane concentration in sea water. The MIMS system was effective to resolve the small dissolved methane difference among water masses. The probe type inlet in MIMS system was proven to be effective to measure porewater methane concentration.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.179-191
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• 2018

In order to determine the distribution characteristics of the heavy metals in surface sediments of the eastern Yellow Sea, heavy metal concentrations (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Mn, As, Ni, Co, Li, Fe and Al) together with grain size and total organic carbon (TOC), were analyzed. The concentrations of all heavy metals, with the exception of Pb, Mn and As in some stations, were relatively high in the central area of the Yellow Sea and tended to decrease toward the Korean coast. A significant relationship between grain size and concentrations of heavy metals suggested that they were mostly controlled by quartz dilution effect. However, at some stations, Pb, Mn and As exhibited different distribution patterns. For Pb, the differences were caused by petrogenetic influences (feldspar) in coarse-grained sediments. In the case of Mn, biogenetic influences ($CaCO_3$) affected distribution patterns. As was distributed differently because of the existence of a heavy mineral (pyrite). A comparison with previous data (collected in 2000) shows that the heavy metal concentration in the eastern Yellow Sea has not increased over the past fifteen years. The sedimentary environment of dumping sites in the Yellow Sea has not been significantly improved during this period. The results of the pollution assessment revealed that the concentrations of heavy metals in the study area were lower than lower criteria (TEL, MSQ-1) in Korean and Chinese sediment quality guidelines. The enrichment factor (EF), geo-accumulation index ($I_{geo}$) and ecological risk index (ERI) of Cu, Pb, Zn and Cr were higher in the central area of the Yellow Sea.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.311-323
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• 2007

The Yellow and East China seas received a vast amount of sediment $(>10^9ton/yr)$, which comes mainly from the Changjiang and Huanghe rivers of China and the Korean rivers. However, there are still no direct sedimentological-geochemical indicators, which can distinguish these two end-members (Korean and Chinese river sources) in these seas. The purpose of this study is to provide the potential geochemical-tracers enabling these river materials to be identified within the sediment load of the Yellow and East China seas. The compositions of major elements (Al, Fe, Mg, K, Ca, Na, and Ti) of Chinese and Korean river sediments were analyzed. To minimize the grain-size effect, furthermore, bulk sediments were separated into two groups, silt $(60-20{\mu}m)$ and clay $(<20{\mu}m)$ fractions, and samples of each fraction were analyzed for major and strontium isotope $(^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr)$ compositions. In this study, Fe/Al and Mg/Al ratios in bulk sediment samples, using a new Al-normalization procedure, are suggested as an excellent tool for distinguishing the source of sediments in the Yellow and East China seas. This result is clearly supported by the concentrations of these elements in silt and clay fraction samples. In silt fraction samples, Korean river sediments have much higher $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratio $(0.7229{\sim}0.7253)$ than Chinese river sediments $(0.7169{\sim}0.7189)$, which suggests the distribution pattern of $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratios as a new tracer to discriminate the provenance of shelf sediments in the Yellow and East China seas. On the basis of these geochemical tracers, clay fractions of southeastern Yellow Sea mud (SEYSM) patch may be a mixture of two sediments originated from Korea and China. In contrast, the geochemical compositions of silt fractions are very close to that of Korea river sediments, which indicates that the silty sediments of SEYSM are mainly originated from Korean rivers.