• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.809-816
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• 2014

Ocean Color products have been used to understand marine ecosystem. In high latitude region, ice melting optically influences the ocean color products. In this study, we assessed optical properties in fjord around Svalbard Arctic sea, and estimated distribution of chlorophyll-a and suspended sediment by using high resolution satellite data, Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI). To estimate chlorophyll-a and suspended sediment concentrations, various regression models were tested with different band ratio. The regression models were not shown high correlation because of temporal difference between satellite data and in-situ data. However, model-derived distribution of ocean color products from OLI showed a possibility that fjord and coastal areas around Arctic Sea can be monitored with high resolution satellite data. To understand climate change pattern around Arctic Sea, we need to understand ice meting influences on marine ecosystem change. Results of this study will be used to high resolution monitoring of ice melting and its influences on the marine ecosystem change at high latitude. KOPRI (Korea Polar Research Institute) has been operated the Dasan station on Svalbard since 2002, and study was conducted using Arctic station.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.519-527
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• 2013

The Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea set up 'the $2^{nd}$ Fundamental Plan for Wetlands Conservation' to facilitate systematic surveys and management of various national wetlands and to promote sustainable conservation and use of those wetlands. The mid-term fundamental plan was established in accordance with the Article 5 of the Wetland Conservation Act, which spans 5 years from 2013 to 2017 and covers national wetlands including inland wetlands and coastal wetlands stated in the Act. The fundamental plan aims to promote the wise use of wetlands through establishing policies for sustainable conservation based on the assessment of implementation of the $1^{st}$ Fundamental Plan, setting up a scientific framework for establishment and implementation of national wetland policies by improving wetland survey systems and enhancing basis wetland data, improving the ecological health of wetlands and securing biodiversity conservation of wetlands by strengthening conservation and management system of national wetlands, and through raising public awareness and diversify education and promotion tools. The main objectives of the $2^{nd}$ Fundamental Plan is to revise the entire Wetland Conservation Act, to create a new monitoring system of national inland wetlands, to upgrade the national wetlands inventory, to reflect the 'Ecological Map' for promoting precautionary management of wetlands, to improve the 'Wetland Restoration and Management' system to build wetlands resilience, and to systematize the wise use of wetlands that benefits local people. As the Ministry of Environment plans to establish its other master plan for wetland conservation based on the $2^{nd}$ Fundamental Plan, this document introduces the $2^{nd}$ Fundamental Plan to stakeholder and wetland professions.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.199-207
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• 2015

In ports of Korea, the marine traffic flow is congested due to a large number of vessels coming in and going out. In order to improve the safety and efficiency of these vessels, South Korea is operating with a Vessel Traffic Service System, which is monitoring its waters for 24 hours. However despite these efforts of the VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) officers, collisions are occurring continuously, the risk situation is analyzed that occurs once in about 20 minutes, the risk may be greater. It investigated to reduce these accidents by providing a safety standard for collision danger in a timely manner. Thus, this study has developed a risk prediction module to predict risk in advance. This module can avoid collision risk to adjust the speed and course of ship using a risk evaluation model based on ship operator's risk perspective. Using this module, the ship operators and VTS officers can easily be identified risks in complex traffic situations, so they can take an appropriate action against danger in near future including course and speed change. To verify the effectiveness of this module, this paper predicted the risk of each encounter situation and confirmed to be capable of identifying a risk changes in specific course and speed changes at Busan coastal water.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.121-128
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• 2012

High resolution intertidal DEM is a basic material for science research like sedimentation/erosion by ocean current, and is invaluable in a monitoring of environmental changes and practical management of coastal wetland. Since the intertidal zone changes rapidly by the inflow of fluvial debris and tide condition, remote sensing is an effective tool for observing large areas in short time. Although radar interferometry is one of the well-known techniques for generating high resolution DEM, conventional repeat-pass interferometry has difficulty on acquiring enough coherence over tidal flat due to the limited exposure time and the rapid changes in surface condition. In order to overcome these constraints, we tested the feasibility of radar interferometry using Cosmo-SkyMed tandem-like one-day data and ERS-ENVISAT cross tandem data with very short revisit period compared to the conventional repeat pass data. Small temporal baseline combined with long perpendicular baseline allowed high coherence over most of the exposed tidal flat surface in both observations. However the interferometric phases acquired from Cosmo-SkyMed data suffer from atmospheric delay and changes in soil moisture contents. The ERS-ENVISAT pair, on the other hand, provides nice phase which agree well with the real topography, because the atmospheric effect in 30-minute gap is almost same to both images so that they are cancelled out in the interferometric process. Thus, the cross interferometry with very small temporal baseline and large perpendicular baseline is one of the most reliable solutions for the intertidal DEM construction which requires very accurate mapping of the elevation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.353-361
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• 2015

The area of red tides occurences, which brings enormous damages every year, have been expanded to the coastal waters across the nation. Regarding to this trend, the development of red tide detection technology by using the GOCI (Geostationary Ocean Color Imager) of COMS lauched in 2010 has been drawn attentions of researchers. This study purposed on analyzing the frequency and density of red tides occurence by using the GOCI for detecting the southern sea, whereas targeted area. The observation has brought over the last three years (2012, 2013, and 2014) before the analysis was conducted. Followingly, the study could be resulted in extracting and revealing the hot spots of the red tides from two of analysis in the overlay and density. The distribution patterns of red tide occurrences according to those observed years has been shown in irregular characteristics and various changes. However, the analysis of hot spots, based on the frequency of the red tide occurrence, has revealed that the frequency of red tide occurences is continuously increased in the specific sea area. Therefore, it is concluded in that the continuous monitoring can contribute to predict accurate movements of red tides, so as establish systematic plans for preventing disasters.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.497-512
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• 2017

Temporal and spatial variations in surface water temperature were studied using data from temperature monitoring buoys deployed at 47 stations around Boryeong from 2011-2012 off the west coast of Korea. Temperature fluctuations are predominant at diurnal and semidiurnal periods for all seasons, and their amplitudes are large in spring and summer but small in autumn. The maximum annual change in air temperature takes place on August 2nd and August 22th for water temperature, which means the phase for air temperature precedes water temperature by 20 days. The diurnal period of water temperature fluctuation is predominant around Daecheon and Muchangpo Harbors, with the semidiurnal period around Wonsan Island, and the shallow water constituent period on the estuary around Daecheon River. On the whole, air and water temperatures fluctuate with wind. Spectral analyses of temperature records show significant peaks at the 0.5, 1 and 15 day marks with 7-10 day periods of predominant fluctuations. Cross-correlation analyses for the temperature fluctuation show that the waters around Boryeong can be classified into four areas: a mixed water zone around the southeast side of Wonsan Island, an off-shore area to the west, an off-shore area to the south and a coastal area along the shore from Song Island to Muchangpo Harbor.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.247-258
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• 2015

Exposure of high concentration of ground-level ozone (GLO) can trigger a variety of health problems including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, asthma, bronchitis and congestion. There are substantial human and animal toxicological data that support health effects associated with exposure to ozone and associations have been observed with a wide range of outcomes in epidemiological studies. The aim of the present study is to estimate the spatial distributions of GLO using geostatistical method (ordinary kriging) for assessing the exposure level of ozone in the eastern part of Texas, U.S.A. GLO data were obtained from 63 U.S. EPA's monitoring stations distributed in the region of study during the period January, 2012 to December, 2012. The descriptive statistics indicate that the spatial monthly mean of daily maximum 8 hour ozone concentrations ranged from 30.33 ppb (in January) to 48.05 (in June). The monthly mean of daily maximum 8 hour ozone concentrations was relatively low during the winter months (December, January, and February) and the higher values observed during the summer months (April, May, and June). The higher level of spatial variations observed in the months of July (Standard Deviation: 10.33) and August (Standard Deviation: 10.02). This indicates the existence of regional variations in climatic conditions in the study area. The range of the semivariogram models varied from 0.372 (in November) to 15.59 (in April). The value of the range represents the spatial patterns of ozone concentrations. Kriging maps revealed that the spatial patterns of ozone concentration were not uniform in each month. This may be due to uneven fluctuation in the local climatic conditions from one region to another. Thus, the formation and dispersion processes of ozone also change unevenly from one region to another. The ozone maps clearly indicate that the concentration values found maximum in the north-east region of the study area in most of the months. Part of the coastal area also showed maximum concentrations during the months of October, November, December, and January.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.79-89
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• 2007

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the present status of several environmental problems caused by emerging toxic substances such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and arsenic in various environmental media in Vietnam. Monitoring data reported during the 1990s demonstrated elevated contamination of DDTs in most of these compartments in Vietnam. Studies in frame of the Asia-Pacific Mussel Watch Program revealed that fish, mussels and resident birds from Vietnam contained higher concentrations of DDTs as compared to other countries in region, suggesting the role of Vietnamese environment as a significant emission source of DDT in the Southeast Asian region. The estimated dietary intakes of PCBs and DDTs for Vietnamese were relatively high among Asian developing countries, suggesting potential risk for humans posed by thesechemicals. Widespread contamination of some endocrine active compounds such as alkylphenols and phthalates was observed at various sites along the coasts of northern and middle Vietnam. The presence of significant source of bisphenol-A along Red River estuary was revealed with the concentrations comparable to those reported for developed nations. A case study on seasonal variation of alkylphenols and phthalates in surface water of river delta and estuary of north and middle Vietnam indicated the differences in distribution of these compounds between dry and rainy seasons. Higher concentrations of alkylphenols and phthalates were found in dry season in estuary; while the contrasting pattern was observed in the river delta, showing elevated residues in rainy season. This result suggests the different behavior of alkylphenols and phthalates in river delta and coastal environment. From ecotoxicological perspectives, concentrations of bis-phenol A and di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalates [DEHP] in surface water from some locations in Vietnam exceeded the guideline values for Ecotoxicological Effects and the Environmental Risk Limit, respectively, suggesting potential for toxic implications on aquatic wildlife. Widespread and elevated arsenic contamination was discovered inour recent surveys in groundwater in a large area of suburban areas of Hanoi city, the capital of Vietnam. The most recent investigation in 4 villages showed about more than 50 % of groundwater samples contained As concentrations exceeding 50 g/L (the WHO and Vietnamese standard). In particular, in Son Dong villages, 58 % of samples analyzed contained As concentrations higher than 200 g/L. Good correlations were found in As concentrations in water and hair and urine of peoples in corresponding families, suggesting the chronic exposure to As by people living in As-contaminated ground water areas. In Son Dong village, As levels in hair (mean: 1.7 mg/kg dry wt) and urine (g/g creatinine) exceeding the reference values recommended by WHO, suggesting potential for human risk posed by long term accumulation of As in human body. Future studies should be focused on the time trends of POPs and EDCs in biota in Vietnam in order to predict future trend of contamination and to reveal new clues for understanding possible toxic impacts on aquatic organisms. The issues of arsenic contamination in groundwater and their chronic toxic implications on human health should be systematically investigated in the future.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2014

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of cadmium (Cd) exposure on biochemical factors in the hemolymph and hepatopancreas of the abalone, Haliotis discus hannai. The abalone were exposed to 0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 ${\mu}g/L$ Cd for 4 weeks. The phenoloxidase (PO) activity was decreased in hemolymph of abalone exposed to 40 Cd ${\mu}g/L$ for 4 weeks compared to the control (P < 0.05). The hemolymph enzymes, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities were markedly elevated in 40 Cd ${\mu}g/L$ after 4 weeks. The hemolymph calcium concentrations were significantly decreased in 20 and 40 Cd ${\mu}g/L$ for 4 weeks. Hepatopancreas superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities were significantly increased by Cd. SOD was increased in both 20 and 40 Cd ${\mu}g/L$ and CAT, in 40 Cd ${\mu}g/L$ after 2 weeks (P < 0.05). These results suggested that the abalone SOD and CAT including PO may serve as a protective mechanism against oxidative stress by Cd. We conclude that a Cd concentration, 40 ${\mu}g/L$ in water may curtail hemolymph homeostasis and anti-oxidative reactions in abalone hepatopancreas. From these results, these biochemical factors may represent a convenient method of monitoring heavy metal pollution in coastal areas.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.75-86
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• 2007

In Korea, it is significantly deficient in the study about tourism geology, which is a new branch of applied geology that would support the growth of ecotourism world-wide. The objectives of this study include (1) the promotion in geodiversity of tourism geology using the data for type and distribution patterns of geological and geomorphological landscape resources and (2) the redoubling of diversity in the environmental interpretation programs offered by the Korea National Parks Service (KNPS). Our field study discovered 212 geological and geomorphological landscape resources distributed in the area of Taean seashore national park. Coastal topography is the most discovered type followed by weathering topography. It is our belief that the aforementioned resources can be utilized as a tourism geological site in assisting the public to understand geological science and to draw their attention and interests after sorting and filtering it out through discussions with geologists and geomorphologists of a consortium. Furthermore, in order to promote the activation of developing user-oriented geotourism sites, it is recommended to keep monitoring on demographical characteristics of geotourists, behavioral characteristics of geotouconrists within the geotourism site and ducting analysis for developing geotourism program and events. And, the research support of geological engineering dealing with the estimation of weathering degree and the development of conservation techniques for the object of geotourism along with the research of environmental science aspects will improve the activation of tourism geology.