• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2004

The Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC) and the Yellow Sea Cold Bottom Water (YSCBW) are two protruding features, which have strong influence on the community structure and distribution of zooplankton in the Yellow Sea. Both of them are seasonal phenomena. In winter, strong north wind drives southward flow at the surface along both Chinese and Korean coasts, which is compensated by a northward flow along the Yellow Sea Trough. That is the YSWC. It advects warmer and saltier water from the East China Sea into the southern Yellow Sea and changes the zooplankton community structure greatly in winter. During a cruise after onset of the winter monsoon in November 2001 in the southern Yellow Sea, 71 zooplankton species were identified, among which 39 species were tropical, accounting for 54.9 %, much more than those found in summer. Many of them were typical for Kuroshio water, e.g. Eucalanus subtenuis, Rhincalanus cornutus, Pareuchaeta russelli, Lucicutia flavicornis, and Euphausia diomedeae etc. 26 species were warm-temperate accounting for 36.6% and 6 temperate 8.5%. The distribution pattern of the warm water species clearly showed the impact of the YSWC and demonstrated that the intrusion of warmer and saltier water happened beneath the surface northwards along the Yellow Sea Trough. The YSCBW is a bottom pool of the remnant Yellow Sea Winter Water resulting from summer stratification and occupy most of the deep area of the Yellow Sea. The temperature of YSCBW temperature remains ${\leq}{\;}10^{\circ}C$ in mid-summer. It is served as an oversummering site for many temperate species, like Calanus sinicus and Euphaisia pacifica. Calanus sinicus is a dominant copepod in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea and can be found throughout the year with the year maximum in May to June. In summer it disappears in the coastal area and in the upper layer of central area due to the high temperature and shrinks its distribution into YSCBW.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.65-75
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• 2004

In order to understand the water masses and their distribution in the eastern Yellow Sea from winter to spring, a cluster analysis was applied to the temperature and salinity data of Korea Oceanographic Data Center from 1970 to 1990. From December to April, Yellow Sea Cold Water (YSCW) dominates the eastern Yellow Sea, whereas Eastern Yellow Sea Mixed Water (MW) and Yellow Sea Warm Water (YSWW) are found in the southern part of the eastern Yellow Sea. MW appears at the frontal region around $34^{\circ}N$ between YSCW in the north and YSWW in the south. On the other hand, Tshushima Warm Water (TWW) is found around Jeju Island and the South Sea of Korea. These water masses are relatively well-mixed throughout the water column due to the winter monsoon. However, the water column begins to be stratified in spring due to increased solar heating, the diminishing winds and fresh water discharge, and the water masses in June may be separated into surface, intermediate and bottom layers of the water column. YSWW advances northwestward from December to February and retreats southeastward from February to April. This suggests a periodic movement of water masses in the southern part of the eastern Yellow Sea from winter to spring. YSWW may continue to move eastward with the prevailing eastward current to the South Sea from April to June. Also, the front relaxes in June, but the mixed water advances to the north, increasing salinity. The salinity is also higher in the nearshore region than offshore. This indicates an influx of oceanic water to the north in the nearshore region of the eastern Yellow Sea in spring in the form of mixed water.

• 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.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.41-52
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• 1998

A seasonal circulation pattern in the eastern Yellow Sea (EYS) is suggested from the water mass analysis and geostrophic calculation using the hydrographic data collected by National Fisheries Research and Development Institute during the years of 1970 to 1990. This research focuses on the presence of inflow of warm (and saline) waters into EYS in summer. EYS is divided into two regions in this paper: the west coast of Korea (WCK) and the central Yellow Sea (CYS). In CYS, waters are linked with warm waters near Cheju Island in winter, but with cold waters from the north in summer (in the lower layer). It is not simple to say about WCK because of the influences of freshwater input and tidal mixing. Nevertheless, water mass analysis reveals that along WCK, waters have the major mixing ratios (40-60%) of warm waters in summer, while the dominant mixing ratios (50-90%) of cold waters in winter. Such a seasonal change of water mass distribution can be explained only by seasonal circulation. In winter, warm waters flow northward into CYS and cold waters flow southward along WCK. In summer, warm waters flow northward along WCK and cold waters flow southward into CYS. This circulation pattern is supported by both statistical analysis and dynamic depth topography. Accordingly, Yellow Sea Warm Current may be defined as the inflow of warm waters to CYS in winter and to WCK in summer.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.327-339
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• 2003

During the winter in February 1998, January and April 1999, interdisciplinary research was conducted in a large area including the South Sea of Korea and northern East China Sea to examine distribution and structure. Water masses identified from the observed data are Warm Water originated from Tsushima Warm Current, Yellow Sea Cold Water (Northern or Central Cold Water) and Korean Southern Sea Cold Water. In the southern Yellow Sea, Warm Water originated from Tsushima Warm Current, flowing into the Cheju Strait after turning around the western Cheju Island, makes a front of '┍' shape, which is bounded by the Yellow Sea Central Cold Water in the southern part of Daeheuksan Island and by the Yellow Sea Northern Cold Water in the eastern part of the Yangtze Bank. This front changes its corner shape and position with strength of the warm water extension toward northwestern Yellow Sea. The position and structure of the fronts off the southwestern tip of the Korean peninsular and near the Yangtze Bank varies with observation period. In the front in the South Sea of Korea, cold coastal water which if formed independently due to local cooling, ,sinks along the sloping bottom. We explained the processes of variations in the distribution and structure of these winter fronts in terms of up-wind and down-wind flow by the seasonal monsoon, heat budget through the sea surface and density difference across the fronts.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.419-423
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• 2014

We consider changes in the fishing ground of the small yellow croaker Larimichthys polyactis and discuss their utility in predicting fishing conditions for this species. The fishing ground, which having been formed around Jeju Island since the 1970s, is dominated by the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water (YSBCW), and variation in its southward expansion from the Yellow Sea is the single most key environmental factor affecting the L. polyactis catch. When the YSBCW showed strong expansion and the fishing ground shifted to the west and southwest of Jeju Island, as occurred in the late 1980s, late 1990s, and early 2000s, the L. polyactis catch was low; conversely, when expansion was weak, as in the early 1990s and late 2000s, the L. polyactis catch was high. This relationship was statistically significant and should be useful in predicting fishing conditions for L. polyactis.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.818-823
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• 2017

The diet composition of juvenile gold-eye rockfish, Sebastes thompsoni (40-50 mm SL), was examined based on 121 individuals collected in the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water in August 2016. The Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water is characterized a by water mass of <$10.0^{\circ}C$ and 33 psu. The juvenile gold-eye rockfish fed on Amphipods [57.3% index of relative importance (IRI)] and Euphausiacea (32.9%). Most of the point in the prey-specific abundance plot indicated a high between-phenotype component (BPC).

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.67-79
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• 2008

We investigated the relationship between mesoscale spatial distribution of environmental parameters (temperature, salinity, and sigma-t), chlorophyll-a concentration and mesozooplankton in the Yellow Sea during May 1996, 1997, and 1998, with special reference to Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water (YSBCW). Adult calanoid copepods, Calanus sinicus, Paracalanus parvus s.l., Acartia omorii, and Centropages abdominalis were isolated by BVSTEP analysis based on the consistent explainable percentage (-32.3%) of the total mesozooplankton distributional pattern. The copepods, which accounted for 60 to 87% of the total abundances, occupied 73-78% of the copepod community. The YSBCW consistently remained in the northern part of the study area and influenced the spatial distribution of the calanoid copepods during the study periods. Abundances of C. sinicus and P. parvus s.l., which were high outside the YSBCW, were positively correlated with the whole water average temperature (p<0.01). In contrast, the abundances of C. abdominalis and A. omorii, which were relatively high in the YSBCW, were associated with the integrated chl-a concentration based on factor analysis. These results indicate that the YSBCW influenced the mesoscale spatial heterogeneity of average temperature and integrated chl-a concentration through the water column. This consequently affected the spatial distribution pattern of the dominant copepods in association with their respective preferences for environmental and biological parameters in the Yellow Sea during spring.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.425-432
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• 2011

In order to understand the characteristics of the distribution and the nutrients of the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water during summer to fall, temperature, salinity and nutrients have been investigated in the fifteen stations in the Yellow Sea. In september, the Changjiang diluted water with more than $20^{\circ}C$ distributed in the surface and the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water distributed in the layer below 30m depth with less than $10^{\circ}C$. Specially, water mass with less than $5^{\circ}C$ in the layer below 50m depth expanded southward down to the north latitude of $35^{\circ}$ with expanding more to the coasts of China than to the coasts of Korea. The salinity of the cold water mass with $8^{\circ}C$ in the deep layer of more than 50m depth was relatively high as 33.5 psu and expanded northward forming fronts of temperature and salinity. The concentration of total inorganic nitrogen was two times higher in the cold water mass than in the surface water, which means that resolution and consumption were low due to cold temperature in the bottom layer. In conclusion, the cold water expanded southward down to the north latitude of $35^{\circ}$ by September and had high concentration of nutrients.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.72-95
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• 2004

The Yellow Sea is characterized by relatively shallow water depth, varying range of tidal action and very complex coastal geometry such as islands, bays, peninsulas, tidal flats, shoals etc. The dynamic system is controlled by tides, regional winds, river discharge, and interaction with the Kuroshio. The circulation, water mass properties and their variability in the Yellow Sea are very complicated and still far from clear understanding. In this study, an effort to improve our understanding the dynamic feature of the Yellow Sea system was conducted using numerical simulation with the ROMS model, applying climatologic forcing such as winds, heat flux and fresh water precipitation. The inter-annual variability of general circulation and thermohaline structure throughout the year has been obtained, which has been compared with observational data sets. The simulated horizontal distribution and vertical cross-sectional structures of temperature and salinity show a good agreement with the observational data indicating significantly the water masses such as Yellow Sea Warm Water, Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water, Changjiang River Diluted Water and other sporadically observed coastal waters around the Yellow Sea. The tidal effects on circulation and dynamic features such as coastal tidal fronts and coastal mixing are predominant in the Yellow Sea. Hence the tidal effects on those dynamic features are dealt in the accompanying paper (Kim et at., 2004). The ROMS model adopts curvilinear grid with horizontal resolution of 35 km and 20 vertical grid spacing confirming to relatively realistic bottom topography. The model was initialized with the LEVITUS climatologic data and forced by the monthly mean air-sea fluxes of momentum, heat and fresh water derived from COADS. On the open boundaries, climatological temperature and salinity are nudged every 20 days for data assimilation to stabilize the modeling implementation. This study demonstrates a Yellow Sea version of Atlantic Basin experiment conducted by Haidvogel et al. (2000) experiment that the ROMS simulates the dynamic variability of temperature, salinity, and velocity fields in the ocean. However the present study has been improved to deal with the large river system, open boundary nudging process and further with combination of the tidal forcing that is a significant feature in the Yellow Sea.