• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.344-355
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• 2020

Tropical cyclone scale vortices and associated Rossby waves were investigated numerically using high-resolution barotropic models on the global domain. The equations of the barotropic model were discretized using the spectral transform method with the spherical harmonics function as orthogonal basis. The initial condition of the vortex was specified as an axisymmetric flow in the gradient wind balance, and four types of basic zonal states were employed. Vortex tracks showed similar patterns as those on the beta-plane but exhibited more eastward displacement as they moved northward. The zonal-mean flow appeared to control not only the west-east translation but also the meridional translation of the vortex. Such a meridional influence was revealed to be associated with the beta gyre and the Rossby wave, which are formed around the vortex due to the beta effect. In the case of the basic zonal state of climatological mean, the meridional translation speed reached the maximum value when the vortex underwent recurving.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.309-325
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• 1994

Ocean circulation in the Gulf of Alaska is remarkably constant throughout the year despite of being forced by one of the largest seasonal wind stresses in the world. To explain the small seasonal changes in the transport of Alaska Stream. a set of numerical models is employed. First a diagnostic approach is applied to reproduce circulation from the observed density structure. The results reveals the very small seasonal changes in the Alaska Stream transport. Next a series of the prognostic models is used: a barotropic model. a flat bottom baroclinic model, and baroclinic model with topography. These models reveal the influence of topography and baroclinicity on the ocean's response to the seasonal wind forcing. The intercomparisons of the various model results suggest that the seasonal response of the baroclinic ocean is primary barotropic and the resultant barotropic circulation is weakened by the scattering effect of the bottom topography.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.195-203
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• 2001

A fine-grid (3 km ${\times}$ 3 km), three-dimensional nowcast system of sea levels, currents, temperature, and salinity is being developed for the Taiwan Strait. The project takes a balanced approach relying equally on models and observations, will have the capacity of real-time data assimilation, and is aimed at both practical and scientific applications. To determine boundary conditions and verify model results, eight coastal tide-gauge stations were first established along both sides of the strait. Strait-wide hydrographic surveys were conducted by research vessels. Currents are being measured using bottom-mounted ADCP moorings in a meridional deep channel off southwest Taiwan and along a traverse section in the central part of the strait. In addition to a fine-resolution three-dimensional model of the Taiwan Strait, an adjoint model and a larger-domain two-dimensional model were used to better determine boundary conditions in the northern and southern boundaries of the strait. In the first stage of model development, barotropic tides were successfully simulated in a hindcast mode. The protocol product has been released to general public, including government agencies, universities and general users.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.107-116
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• 2016

Stability of the barotropic Rossby-Haurwitz wave is investigated using the numerical models on the global domain. The Rossby-Haurwitz wave under investigation is composed of the basic zonal flow of super-rotation and a finite amplitude spherical harmonic wave. The Rossby-Haurwitz wave is given as either steady or unsteady wave by adjusting the strength of the super-rotating zonal flow. Stability as well as the growth rate of the wave in the numerical simulation is determined by comparing the perturbation amplitude at two different time stages. Unstable modes of the Rossby-Haurwitz wave exhibited a horizontal structure composing of various zonal-wavenumber components. The vorticity perturbation for some modes showed a discontinuity around the area of weak flow, which was found robust regardless of the horizontal resolution of the model. Fourier finite element model was shown to generate the unstable mode in earlier stage of the time integration due to less accuracy compared to the spherical harmonic spectral model. Taking the overall accuracy of the models into consideration, the time by which the unstable mode begin to dominate over the spherical harmonic wave was estimated.

• Atmosphere
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.199-211
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• 2017

The cold surges over East Asia can be grouped to two types of the wave-train and the blocking. Recently, the observational study proposed new dynamical index to objectively identify cold surge types. In this study, the dynamical index is applied to the simulations of 10 climate models, which participate in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Focusing on assessment of cold surge simulation, we discuss characteristic of the wave-train and blocking cold surges in the climate models. The wave-train index (WI) and the blocking index (BI) based on potential temperature anomalies at dynamical tropopause over the subarctic region, the northeast China, and the western North Pacific enable us to classify cold surges in the climate models into two types. The climate models well simulate the occurrence mechanism of the wave-train cold surges with vertical structure related to growing baroclinic wave. However, while the wave-train in the observation propagates in west-east direction across the Eurasia Continent, most of the models simulate the southeastward propagation of the wave-train originated from the Kara Sea. For the blocking cold surges, the general features in the climate models well follow those in the observation to show the dipole pattern of a barotropic high-latitude blocking and a baroclinic coastal trough, leading to the Arctic cold surges with the strong northerly wind originated from the Arctic Sea. In both of the observation and climate models, the blocking cold surges tend to be more intense and last longer compared to the wave-train type.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.123-133
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• 1996

We describe here the shallow water tides in the seas around Korea, obtained from a nonlinear barotropic model of tides in a domain encompassing the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the East Sea (Sea of Japan). As expected, the shallow water tides are large in the shallow marginal areas around the Yellow Sea, with the M4 tide reaching amplitudes as high as 10 cm near the Korean coast, and quite small in the East Sea. However, we also find that the regions east of the Yangtze River ($126^{\circ}E,$ $30^{\circ}N$) in the East China Sea also sustain large shallow water tides, with $M_{4}$, amplitudes reaching 5 cm. Such large shallow water tides are an important component of altimeter-measured sea levels and should not be ignored in any altimetric analyses of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea. This study also highlights the desirability of very high resolution models to derive accurate shallow water tides in coastal regions.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.141-160
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• 2001

The challenge of predicting the Japanese coastal ocean motivated Frontier Observational Research System for Global Change (FORSGC) and the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC) to start a multiyear observational programme in the upstream Kuroshio in November 2000. This field effort, the Kuroshio Observation Program (KOP), should enable us to determine the barotropic and baroclinic components of the western boundary current system, thus, to better understand interactions of the currents with mesoscale eddies, the Kuroshio instabilities, and path bimodality. We, then, will be able to improve modeling predictability of the mesoscale, seasonal, and inter-annual processes in the midstream Kuroshio near the Japanese main islands by using this knowledge. The KOP is focused on an enhanced regional coverage of the sea surface height variability and the baroclinic structure of the mainstream Kuroshio in the East China Sea, the Ryukyu Current east of the Ryukyu's, and the Kuroshio recirculation. An attractive approach of the KOP is a development of a new data acquisition system via acoustic telemetry of the observational data. The monitoring system will provide observations for assimilation into extensive numerical models of the ocean circulation, targeting the real-time monitoring of the Japanese coastal waters.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.105-114
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• 1997

Wind is one of the main forcing contributing the circulation of the East Sea. By using 1.5-layer and 2.5-layer reduced gravity models, circulation in the East Sea is simulated. The bifurcation of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC), the separation of East Korea Warm Current (EKWC) from the east coast of Korea, the Nearshore Branch of TWC, and the cyclonic gyres stretched from the East Korea Bay to the northern half of the East Sea are compared well with the schematic map. The features of the upper and the lower layer are very similar except for those of the central region. The Polar Front is the separating line of two different features. The main feature of northern part of the East Sea, north of the Polar Front is cyclonic gyres, which are composed of three cyclonic gyres in most seasons. North Korean Cold Current (NKCC) and Liman Cold Current (LCC) are the nearshore part of these cyclonic gyres. In the south of the Polar Front the current systems of both layers are anticyclonic in most seasons, except that those of the upper layer in winter and spring are not anticyclonic. Along the coast of Korea and Russia, the velocity structure is barotropic, while that of the central region is baroclinic. The effects due to the seasonal variations of wind stress and local Ekman suction/pumping are studied by imposing the domain with modified wind stress. which is spatial mean with temporal variations and temporal mean with spatial variations. It is found that the local Ekman suction/pumping due to wind stress curl is important to the formation of the cyclonic gyres in the western and the northwestern region of the East Sea.