• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.58-64
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• 1992

A barotropic model is run over the Northwest Pacific Ocean to examine the formation and transport of the Tsushima Warm Current. The results indicate that the Tsushima Warm Current is a downstream extension of the Taiwan Warm Current. Local wind does not change the amount of transport of Tsushima Warm Current but it changes much the initial flow pattern of Tsushima Warm Current such that for southerly wind, the transport is through the Taiwan Strait but for northerly wind, it is through the eastern side of Taiwan.

• 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.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.364-374
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• 1994

The separation mechanism of the Tsushima Warm Current and the effects of seasonal wind stress on the separation position are studied by use of a barotropic numerical model. The grid spacing of 0.25$^{\circ}$ both in latitude and longitude is used in the model, and Hellerman and Rosenstein's wind (1983) is applied to the sea surface as seasonal wind stress. According to the model results, during winter seasons (from October to March) when northly wind is prevailing, the Tsushima Warm Current is formed by direct separation from the Kuroshio on the continental slope southwest of Kyushu. On the other hand, during summer seasons (from April to September), the Taiwan Current that flows through the Taiwan Strait seems to be the origin of the Tsushima Warm Current. The Kuroshio reaches its maximum transport during winter seasons, and the minimum during summer. The transport of the Taiwan Current shows a phase lag of about 160$^{\circ}$ relative to the Kuroshio. The transport variation of the Tsushima Warm Current agrees with that of the Kuroshio when the former is shifted by 120$^{\circ}$(about 4 months).

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.187-195
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• 2002

The characteristics of surface circulation in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are discussed by analyzing a great deal of current data observed by 142 sets of mooring buoy and 58 sets of drifters trajectories collected in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea through domestic and abroad measurements. Some major features are demonstrated as bellow: 1) Tsushima Warm Current flows away from the Kuroshio and has multiple sources in warm half year and comes only from Kuroshio surface water in cold half year. 2) Taiwan Warm Current comes mainly from the Taiwan Strait Water in warm half year and comes from the intruded Kuroshio surface water and branches near 27N in cold half year. 3) The Changjiang Diluted Water turns towards Cheju Island in summer and flows southward along the coastal line in winter. 4) The study sea area is an eddy developing area, especially in the southern area of Cheju Island and northern area of Taiwan.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.324-331
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• 1992

Water masses and circulations around Korean peninsula are briefly described based on recent studies. The results of theses studies are discussed from the physical point of view. Oceanic conditions in this region are largely due to the roles played by the Tsushima Warm Current, an onshore extension of the Kuroshio, and local conditions such as wind, surface heat flux and fresh water input etc. To the south and west of Korea, the northern/western border of the Tsushima Warm Current Water is roughly the line joining Taiwan and Cheju island. In summer, it is affected by large amount of fresh water discharged from the Changjiang and in winter, an intrusion of this water into the Yellow Sea is induced by the prevailing northwesterly monsoon wind. To the east of Korea, the Tsushima Warm Current Water presents roughly south of the line joining the wast coast of Korea near 37-38$^{\circ}$N and Tsugaru-Soya Straits in the northern Japan. But this situation, together with those in deeper layers, may greatly be changed by winter atmospheric conditions (wind and surface heat flux). The seas around Korea are not yet physically well understood and many problems wait physical explanations. Some problems, along with personal views of them, are mentioned.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.157-170
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• 2013

We investigated the seasonal succession of phytoplankton assemblages in the eastern part of the South Sea of Korea in relation to surface water masses. The study areas are under the direct influence of the Tsushima Warm Current (TCW) throughout the whole year, with its strength known to be seasonally variable. The region is also influenced by coastal waters (CW) driven from the South Sea of Korea and East China Sea, particularly in summer, as indicated by low salinity in the surface water. Nutrient property of the TCW can reveals whether the origin of the TCW is the nutrient-rich Kuroshio Current or the oligotropic Taiwan Warm Current. Surface chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations displayed a large seasonal variation for all stations, with high values found in spring and autumn and low values in summer and winter. At station M (offshore) and P (intermediate location between M and R), Chl-a concentrations in October were higher than those in March, when spring bloom normally occurs. This may be related to deeper mixed layer depths in October. Diatoms dominated under conditions of high nutrient supply in which Chaetoceros spp. and Skeletonema costatum-like spp. were abundant. S. costatum-like spp. dominated at stations R (onshore station) and P in December when there was greater nutrient supply, especially of phosphate. Flagellates and dinoflagellates dominated at all three stations after diatoms blooms. Dominant species were Scrippsiella trochoid in April and Ceratium furca in October at station R, and Gyrodinium spp. and Gymnodinium spp. at station M during summer, when the effect of the oligotropic Taiwan Warm Current and the oligotropic coastal water from East China Sea were strong. Redundancy analysis showed clear seasonal successions in the phytoplankton community and environmental conditions, in which both principal components 1 and 2 accounted for 69.6% of total variance. Our results suggested that environmental conditions seemed to be determined by the origin of the TCW and the relative seasonal strength of the water masses of the TCW and CW, which may affect phytoplankton growth and compositions in the study area.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.677-697
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• 1995

The analysis of long- period sea level variations with tidal record data around Korea, Japan, and Russia shows that about half of the variations are due to atmospheric influences. The sea level variation by water movements is the largest in the coasts along the Tsushima Current, and becomes smaller in the distant areas. It suggests that the sea level varications are related with the Tsushima Current. The effect of sea level variations to ocean circulation has been studied with a numerical model allowing barotropic sea level fluctuations, like the result with GCM (Semtner) model by Pang et al.(1993), the present model also shows that waters basically flow along isobaths over the last China Sea after geostyophic adjustment around Taiwan. However, barotropic sea level fluctuation makes the basic circulation in the Yellow Sea, which waters flow into the central Yellow Sea and out along the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. Besides this, barotropic sea level fluctuation makes long period waves over the shelf area as the Kuroshio varies. By the waves, the basic circulation in the Yellow Sea is disturbed, so that the flow pattern of oppositely flowing into the Yellow Sea along the west roast of the Korean Peninsula appears. In the Yellow Sea circulation, it seems that northwest winds strengthen the basic circulat ion In winter, and southeast winds strengthen the disturbed circulation in summer. Another point appeared by the long period wave is that the Tsushima Current possibly originates in different areas. There have been two opposing argues on the area in which the Tsushima Current originates the southwest sea of Kyushu Island and the adjacent sea of Taiwan. Through this study, we found that both of them seem to be important areas for the origin of the Tsushima Current, and one of them is possibly strengthened by long period waves. The long period waves given by the variation of the Kuroshio Current in the adjacent sea of Taiwan propagate to the Korea Strait as forced waves. The wave continuously propagates to the last Sea through the eastern channel, but reflects in the western channel due to bottom topography. The reflected waves propagate southwestward along the last China Sea as free waves and determine the sea level variations with forced waves.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.439-466
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• 2014

Since the unification of the diverse oceanic current maps of the East Sea in secondary school science textbooks has recently been accomplished, there have been increasing requirements for the production of a current map of the Yellow Sea (YS) and the East China Sea (ECS). This study, as its first attempt, facilitated the prospective production process of the unified oceanic current maps in YS and ECS by analyzing the maps of scientific articles and those of the present textbooks as of 2014. First of all, the analogue current maps of the textbooks and scientific articles were digitalized to retrieve the characteristics of current maps quantitatively and to make intercomparison of the maps. The currents of both YS and ECS such as the Kuroshio Current, the Taiwan Warm Current, the Tsushima Warm Current, the Yellow Sea Warm Current, the Chinese Coastal Current, the Korea Coastal Current, and the Changjiang River Flow were selected and analyzed. We made 18 items to investigate the paths of the currents. Analyses of the oceanic current maps of secondary school science textbooks and scientific articles with respect to the selected criteria revealed that the current maps of the textbooks were considerably different from the up-to-date knowledge of the current maps acquired from the scientific articles. In addition, since the currents of YS and ECS have strong seasonality, we suggest that they should be presented with at least two current maps for summer and winter in the textbooks, which may go through active discussions among experts.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.129-139
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• 2005

We investigated the characteristics of the thermohaline structure and phytoplankton community from the southwestern areas of Jeju to the nothern areas of Taiwan in the Ease China Sea, in June 2004. According to the analysis of a T-S diagram, three characteristic of water masses were identified. We classified them into the mixed water mass by the Chiness continental coastal waters and Yellow Sea cold water (Region A), Chinese continental coastal waters (Region B) and Taiwan warm current (Region C). Region A was characterized by low temperature, low salinity, high density and high Chl-a concentration. Region B was characterized by high temperature, low salinity, low density and high Chl-a and Region C was characterized high temperature, high salinity, low density and low Chl-a concentration. The phytoplankton community identified a total of 56 species belonging to 31 genera. The dominant species was mainly dinoflagellates, Gymnodinium breve, Scrippsiella trochoidea, Ceratium fusus, Prororcentrum triestinum, centric diatoms, Chaetoceros lorenzianus, Leptocylindrus danicus, Proboscia alata, Skeletonema costatum and pennate diatoms, Pseudonitzschia pungens, Cylidrotheca closterium. Standing crops of phytoplakton fluctuated between $0.1{\times}10^2$ cells/L and $5.7{\times}10^4$ cells/L by dominance of dinoflagellates. In the phytoplankton community, the Region A was characterized by the various species composition in 39 species, the dominint species with di-atomes, Pn. pungen, Ch. lorenzianus and standing crops from 6.9 cells/$m\ell$ to 56.6 cells/$m\ell$, Region B by the various species composition in 37 species, the dominant species with dinoflagellates, G.breve, S. trochoidea and standing crops from 4.6 cells/$m\ell$ to 26.7 cells/$m\ell$, and the Region C by low species number with 28 species, the dominant species with one dinoflagellate, S.trochoidea and one diatom, L.danicus and very low standing crops from 0.1 cells/$m\ell$ to 5.7 cells/$m\ell$. Phytoplankton productivity in the East China Sea was controlled by Chinese continental coastal waters which include a high concentrations of nutrients.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.151-171
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• 2017

Most of oceanic current maps in the secondary school science and earth science textbooks have been made on the base of extensive in-situ measurements conducted by Japanese oceanographers during 1930s. According to up-to-date scientific knowledge on the currents in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea (YES), such maps have significant errors and are likely to cause misconceptions to students, thus new schematic map of ocean currents is needed. The currents in the YES change seasonally due to relatively shallow water depths, complex terrain, winds, and tides. These factors make it difficult to construct a unified ocean current map of the YES. Sixteen major items, such as the flow of the Kuroshio Current into the East China Sea and its northward path, the origin of the Tsushima Warm Current and its path into the Korea Strait, the path of Taiwan Warm Current, the Jeju Warm Current, the runoff pattern of the Yangtze River flow, the routes of the northward Yellow Sea Warm Current, the Chinese Coastal Current, and the West Korea Coastal Current off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula, were selected to produce the schematic current map. Review of previous scientific researches, in-depth discussions through academic conferences, expert discussions, and consultations for three years since 2014 enabled us to produce the final ocean current maps for the YES after many revisions. Considering the complexity of the ocean currents, we made seven ocean current maps: two representative current patterns in summer and winter, seasonal current maps for upper layer and lower layer in summer and winter, and one representative surface current map. It is expected that the representative maps of the YES, connected to the current maps of the East Sea and the Northwest Pacific Ocean, would be widely utilized for diverse purposes in the secondary-school textbooks as well as high-level educational purposes and even for scientific scholarly experts.