• 한국방재학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.02a
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• pp.451-454
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• 2008

Potential tsunamis which may occur near Ryukyu Islands were simulated. Propagation characteristics of the potential tsunamis over the southwestern sea and the influence of tsunamis on the southwestern coast of Korean Peninsula were analyzed. The shallow water area in the east sea of China and the deep water Okinawa Trough play an important role in wave transformation and propagation of the potential tsunamis. The propagation characteristics of the potential tsunamis generated near Ryukyu Islands can be described as in followings : In the first stage after generation, the tsunamis propagate with high speed both northeastward and southwestward along the Okinawa Trough. As a result the waves are elongated and the tsunami height is significantly reduced. The elongated crest of tsunamis spans the whole distance of the Okinawa Trough and lines up toward the edge of the continental shelf of East China Sea. Then, the tsunamis are propagating towards the southeast coast of China. Thus, the influence of tsunamis on the Korean coasts becomes weak.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.271-279
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• 2015

After the reversion of Okinawa (Ryukyu Islands) to Japan in 1972, extensive urban and agricultural development resulted in a significant increase in sediment discharge to coastal waters. The release of sediment has caused the degradation of freshwater and coastal ecosystems and biodiversity. A consideration for catchment-to-reef continua, as well as agricultural (socioeconomic) factors is necessary to establish proper land-based management plans for the conservation of the island environment. We have set up a framework to integrate biophysics and socioeconomics: 1) setting a conservation target and threshold, 2) identifying the sources and processes, and 3) examining cost-effectiveness and management priorities. The framework may be applicable to other tropical and subtropical islands with similar characteristics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Entomolohy Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.43-43
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• 2002

• Strategy21
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• s.30
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• pp.177-199
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• 2012

As is generally known, the sovereignty dispute over the Senkaku Islands between China/Taiwan and Japan was triggered by a report commissioned by the UN in 1968, which reported the possibility of a substantial amount of petroleum and natural gas buried in the South China Sea. When the administrative authority over the Ryukyu Islands was transferred from the US to Japan in 1972, jurisdiction over the Senkaku Islands was also transferred. A dispute ensued between China (Taiwan) and Japan over the Senkaku Islands except during the period in which formal relations were established between the two states. This paper will take a look particularly at the events that occurred in the 2000's and discuss their recent trends and aspects of the dispute. Though China and Japan agreed to joint resource development in 2008, the agreed zone was a very small area adjacent to the Korea-Japan Joint Continental Shelf Development Zone, and the points of agreement have not been implemented. China has been developing four oil fields including Chunxiao in its waters adjacent to the median line asserted by Japan. However, China also has been excluding the participation of Japan, while Japan has been strongly objecting to the unilateral development of oil fields by China. If indeed the oil fields on China's side are connected past the median line asserted by Japan, then China's unilateral development will infringe upon the potential sovereign rights of Japan, thereby violating international law.

• 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.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.155-182
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• 2003

An annotated listing of bivalve mollusks collected at 31 sampling sites in Yeongil Bay (eastern coast of Korea) at a depth of 0-52m is presented here. A total of 98 species belonging to 75 genera and 36 families are enumerated; all species are provided with habitat data (bathymetric distribution and bottom sediments character), given separately far living and dead (empty shells) specimens, and some with taxonomic and zoogeographic comments. Fifty-six species are illustrated with photographs. Astarte hakodatensis Yokoyama, 1920 (Astartidae), Nitidotellina pallidula (Lischke 1871) (Tellinidae) and Lyonsia nuculanoformis Scarlato in Volova et Scarlato, 1980 (Lyonsiidae) are found to be new to the Korean fauna, and the genus Salaputium Iredale, 1924 (Crassatellidae) with one species Salapurium Iredale, 1924(Crassatellidae) with one species Salaputium cf. unicum Hayami and Kase, 1993, previously described as being found only from submarine caves in the Ryukyu Islands, is recorded as being found in the East Sea(Sea of Japan) for the first time.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.66-76
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• 2012

The effect of bathymetry near the south sea area of Korea on the propagation of 2011 East Japan Tsunami is analyzed based on the numerical simulation using the finite difference dispersion-correction model. It is found that the bathymetry from the source to Korean Peninsula, such as Nankai Trough, Ryukyu Islands and the topographical lens in the East China Sea, plays an important role to reduce the tsunami height along the south coast of Korea. The mechanism involved in the transformation of tsunamis over those topographies is discussed.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.643-654
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• 2023

The West Philippine Basin, an oceanic basin half the size of the Philippine Sea Plate, lies in the western part of the plate and south of the Korean Peninsula on the Eurasian Plate. It subducts beneath the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Islands bordering the Ryukyu Trench and the Philippine Trench with 25-50% of this basin already consumed. However, the history of the opening of the basin's southern region has been a topic of debate. The non-transform discontinuity formed during the seafloor spreading is similar to the transform fault boundaries normally perpendicular to mid-ocean ridge axes; however, it was created irregularly due to ridge propagations caused by variations of mantle convection attributable to magma supply changes. By analyzing high-resolution multi-beam echo-sounding data, we confirmed that the non-transform discontinuity due to the propagating rift evolved in the entire basin and that the abyssal hill strike direction changed from E-W to NNW-SSE from the fossil spreading center. In the early stage of basin extension, the Amami-Sankaku Basin was rotated 90 degrees clockwise from its current orientation, and it bordered the Palau Basin along the Mindanao Fracture Zone. The Amami-Sankaku Basin separated from the Palau Basin while the spreading of the West Philippine Basin began with a counter-clockwise rotation. This indicates that the non-transform discontinuities formed by a sudden change in magma supply due to the drift of the Philippine Sea Plate and simultaneously with the rapid changes in the spreading direction from ENE-WSW to N-S. The Palau Basin was considered to be the sub-south of the West Philippine Basin, but recent studies have shown that it extends into an independent system. Evidence from sediment layers and crustal thickness hints at the possibility of its existence before the West Philippine Basin opened, although its evolution continues to be debated. We performed a combined analysis using high-resolution multi-beam bathymetry and satellite gravity data to uncover new insights into the evolution of the West Philippine Basin. This information illuminates the complex plate interactions and provides a crucial contribution toward understanding the opening history of the basin and the Philippine Sea Plate.