• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.219-228
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• 2002

Based on the five-year (October 1992 through September 1997) Topex/Poseidon altimeter measurements, we describe the statistical characteristics of the eddy variability in the East Sea in terms of sea surface height anomaly, slope variability, and eddy kinetic energy (EKE). The sea surface height anomalies in the East Sea are produced with standard corrections from Topex/Poseidon measurements. In order to eliminate the high frequency noise in the sea surface height anomaly data, the alongtrack height anomaly data was filtered by about 40 km low-pass Lanczos filter based on Strub et al. (1997) and Kelly et a1. (1998). We find that there exists a distinct spatial contrast of high eddy variability in the south and low eddy energy in the north, bordering the Polar Front. In the northwestern area $(north\;of\;39^{\circ}N\;and\;west\;of\;133^{\circ}E)$ from the Polar Front where the eddies frequently appear, the EKE is also considerabel. The high kinetic energy in the southern East Sea reveals a close connection with the paths of the Tsushima Warm Current, suggesting that the high variability in the south is mainly generated by the baroclinic instability process of the Tsushima Warm Current. This finding is supported by other studies (Fu and Zlontnicki, 1989; Stammer, 1997) wh.ch have shown the strong eddy energy coupled in the major current system. The monthly variation of the EKE in both areas of high and low eddy variability shows a strong seasonality of a high eddy kinetic energy from October to February and a relatively low one from March to September. The sequential pattern of wind stress curl shows resemblance with those of monthly and seasonal EKE and the two sequences have a correlation of 0.82 and 0.67, respectively, providing an evidence that wind stress curl can be the possible forcing for the monthly and seasonal variation of the EKE in the East Sea. The seasonality of the EKE also seems to correlate with the seasonality of the Tsushima Warm Current. There also exists the large spatial and interannual variabilities in the EKE.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.997-1004
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• 1997

The effect of the oceanic condition on variations of the catches of Alaska pollack (Theragra chalcogramma) in the East Sea (the Japan Sea) is examined using monthly catches data of this fish and temperature data during 1972 to 1991. Since 1973 the catches of Alaska pollack have gradually increased, showing a peak in 1981, and then rapidly decreased after 1986. A significant negative correlation was found between variations of the catches and the temperature at 50 m depth offshore Mukho. In 1981, the year of the highest catches in the study period, the water mass in the Eastern Korean Coastal Sea of the East Sea was extremely cold, while the year of poor catch, 1979, was much warmer than the annual mean temperature. The results show that the temperature variations around the Eastern Korean Coastal Sea play an important role in the variations of the catches of Alaska pollack, implying that the effect of the Tsushima Warm Current is also very important.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.178-184
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• 2024

Two species (Lucicutia clausi, L. flavicornis) of Lucicutia (Lucicutiidae Sars, 1902) have been reported in Korean waters and one species(L. gaussae) is newly added the Tsushima Warm Current realm. Specimens from Korean waters are morphologically consistent with previous morphological characteristics of L. gaussae, but these differ in the following characteristics: 1) the male antennule with one process on segments XIX-XX, one process on segment XVIII, and three processes on segments XXI-XXIII; 2) in male leg 5, basis of left leg in the Korean specimen with small spine processes on the protrusion; 3) in male leg 5, the third exopodal segment of left leg without an inner marginal spine. In this study, we provide a redescription of L. gaussae insufficiently described by previous authors.

• 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 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.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.43-50
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• 2007

In order to calculate the strength and to. see the variation af the stratification in the Southern Waters af Korea, the stratification parameter defined as potential energy anomaly (PEA, $V(J/m^3)$) introduced by Simpson and Hunter (1974) was used The data used in this paper were observed in August 1999 and February 2000 by National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI). Also to know the effects af the temperature and the salinity an the stratification respectively, averaged temperature and salinity were used in the process af calculation the parameter. V is generally high in the offshore. However, in February, V in the onshore is higher than that of the offshore due to the vertical temperature gradient caused by the expansion of South Korean Coastal Waters (SKCW). In the summer, the increase af the atmospheric heating, the temperature inversion phenomenon act an the stratification as the buoyancy forcing. In most cases, the effects of the temperature on the stratification is stronger than that of the salinity. The temperature effect is predominantly due to the extent af the intrusion of Tsushima Warm Current into the study area. However, at stations where V is high the effect af the salinity is also significant. In the winter, V is very low due to the decrease of the buoyancy forcing, but same stations show the relatively high V due to the expansion of SKCW and Tsushima Warm Current.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.122-134
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• 2003

Low-pass filtered time series of wind, coastal temperature, sea level and current were analyzed to understand the coastal upwelling processes in the southeast coast of Korea. Southerly winds favorable for coastal upwelling were dominant in summer of 1997. Total period of four major wind events amounts to 58 days during one hundred days from June to early September. Coastal temperature is most sensitive to variations of wind. The time lag between the onset of southerly (northerly) winds and decrease (increase) of temperature is 3-18 hours. In the frequency domain the coherent bands have periods of 2.4 and 4.0-5.4 days with respective phase lags of 17 and 27-37 hours. Despite the sensitive response, the magnitude of temperature change is not quantitatively proportional to the intensity or duration of the wind, because it depends on the degree of baroclinic tilting of isotherms built dynamically by the strong Tsushima Warm Current (TWC). Current is particularly strong near the coast and has a large vertical shear during the upwelling periods, which is associated with the baroclinic tilting. Both of current and sea level are poorly coherent with wind or temperature except for the period of 4 days.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.143-155
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• 2003

Current and sea level were observed in spring 1999 by a bottom mounted ADCP and tide gauge in the central part of the South Sea of Korea. With respect to the front, the distribution of isotherms is prograde in the offshore region whereas that of isohalines is retrograde, especially in the coastal area. The combined effect results in shoaling of isopycnals at the front. This distribution corresponds to a westward coastal flow on the northern side of the front and the eastward Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) to the south, determined by vessel-mounted ADCP observations. The low-frequency current shows either alternating clockwise-counterclockwise rotation or else persistent eastward motion depending on the frontal motion. Fluctuations of wind, sea level and current are coherent at period of 3-4 days and show some characteristics of Ekman-like dynamics.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 1981

The seasonal variations of surface current patterns in the Japan Sea were drawn out from the results of drift bottle experiments, current measurements and hydrographic observations during 1979∼1980. The North Korean Cold Current(NKCC) and the East Korean Warm Current(EKWC) were common features of circulation in the eastern sea of Korea. The intrusion of NKCC along the Korean coast became strong in summer(average velocity of 47.4cm/sec off Jumunjin and 23.4cm/sec near Jugbyeon) when the Tsushima Current was strong. But there was no indication of the NKCC in November 1979. Dynamic topography(August & November 1979) and satellite picture(November 1979) seemed to show the topographic steering of EKWC beginning off Janggigab. Drift bottles arrived at the Japaness coast were affected significantly by the strong Tsushima Current in summer and by the predominant northwesterlies in winter instead of weak current.