• 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.21 no.2
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• pp.149-157
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• 1999

Surface sediment samples collected from the eastern half of the Yellow Sea proper in 1998 were analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), ubiquitous pollutants. Total PAHs concentrations varied from 1.0 to $320.5ng\;g^{-1}$ dw. Relatively high concentrations of PAHs were found in the muddy central part of the Yellow Sea. Sedimentary total PAHs concentrations in the Yellow Sea proper were similar to those of Californian offshores and the central Mediterranean Sea, albeit an order of magnitude lower than the Yellow Sea nearshore areas. Phenanthene/Anthracene concentration ratio of PAHs in bottom sediments suggested that pyrolytic PAHs might be dominant over petrogenic ones in the eastern Yellow Sea. Downcore depth distributions of PAHs from the relatively undisturbed core samples of the central Yellow Sea showed decreasing PAHs concentrations with core depths and suggested that the Yellow Sea has been increasingly exposed to PAH for decades. Annual total PAH flux to these sediments was estimated to be $166{\mu}gm^{-2}yr^{-1}$ in the central part of the Yellow Sea for the recent decade.

• 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.35 no.4
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• pp.161-169
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• 2000

A seasonal circulation in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea and its possible cause have been studied with CSK data during 1965-1989. Water mass distributions are clear in winter, but not in summer because the upper layer waters are quite influenced by atmosphere. To solve the problem, a water mass analysis by mixing ratio is used for the lower layer waters. The results show that the distribution of Tsushima Warm Current Water expands to the Yellow Sea in winter and retreats to the East China Sea in summer. It means that there is a very slow seasonal circulation between the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea: Tsushima Warm Current Water flows into the Yellow Sea in winter and coastal water flows out of the Yellow Sea in summer. By the circulation, the front between Tsushima Warm Current Water and coastal water moves toward the shelf break in summer so that the flow is faster in the deeper region. The process eventually makes the transport in the Korea Strait increase. The Kuroshio does not seem to influence the process. A possible mechanism of the process is the seasonal change of sea surface slope due to different local effects of surface heating and diluting between the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea.

• 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.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.87-95
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• 2024

The giant jellyfish, Nemopilema nomurai, is an endemic species found in Northeast Asian waters and their population structures, such as size and genetics, and their environmental characteristics were investigated. N. nomurai was obtained from the Yellow and Northern East China Seas during the summers of 2006, 2007, and 2009. In the northern Yellow Sea, small-sized jellyfish were found to be dominant and towards the southern seas, the size of the jellyfish increased. In the northern East China Sea, only one mode of jellyfish was found in May, and the number of modes increased up-to five in July. However, at the center of the Yellow Sea, one or two modes were found in July, 2007. Thus, different jellyfish populations were present in the northern East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. However, based on first appearance and a cohort analysis using the bell diameter, the jellyfish population in the northern Yellow Sea might be recognized as a distinct group that differed from those found in the northern East China Sea. Furthermore, mitochondrial DNA sequences (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) of N. nomurai were, determined and compared with genetic structures obtained from jellyfish in the Yellow Sea. The genetic diversity of N. nomurai was highest in the regions around the northern East China Sea and at the center of the Yellow Sea and was the lowest around the northern Yellow Sea. Thus, N. nomurai populations in the Yellow Sea and northern East China Sea might be different concerning their seeding places.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.125-133
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• 2002

Water and salt budgets in the Yellow Sea and Bohai are analyzed based on the historical data and CTD data collected recently using box models. The amounts of volume transport and of water exchange across the boundary between the Yellow and East China Seas are estimated to be 2,330-2,840 $\textrm{km}^3$/yr and 109-133 $\textrm{km}^3$/yr, respectively, from the one-layer box model. Corresponding water residence time is 5-6 years. In the Bohai, water residence time is twice as long as that in the Yellow Sea, suggesting that the Yellow Sea and Bohai cannot be considered as a single system in the view of water and salt budgets. The results indicate that water and salt budgets in the Yellow Sea depend almost only on the water exchange between the Yellow and East China Seas. The computation with the coupled two-layer model shows that water residence time is slightly decreased to 4-5 years for the Yellow Sea. In order to reduce uncertainties for the budgeting results the amount of the discharge from the Changjiang that enters into the Yellow Sea, the vertical advection and vertical mixing fluxes across the layer interface have to be quantified. The decreasing trend of the annual Yellow River outflow is likely to result that water residence time is much longer than the current state, especially for the Bohai. The completion of the Three Gorges dam on the Changjiang may be change the water and salt budgets in the Yellow Sea. It is expected that cutting back the discharge from the Changjiang by 10% through the dam would increase water residence time by about 10%.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.165-165
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• 2003

A borehole core ECSDP-102 (about 68.5 m long) has been investigated to get information on paleoenvironmental changes in response to the sea-level fluctuations during the period of late Quaternary. Several AMS $\^$14/C ages show that the core ECSDP-102 recorded the depositional environments of the northern East China Sea for approximately 60 ka. The Yangtze River discharged huge amounts of sediment into the northern East China Sea during the marine isotope stage (MIS) 3. In particular, $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values reveal that the sedimentary environments of the northern East China Sea, which is similar to the Holocene conditions, have taken place three times during the MIS 3. It is supported by the relatively enriched $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values of -23 to -21$\textperthousand$ during the marine settings of MIS 3 that are characterized by the predominance of marine organic matter akin to the Holocene. Furthermore, we investigated the three Holocene sediment cores, ECSDP-101, ECSDP-101 and YMGR-102, taken from the northern East China Sea off the mouth of the Yangtze River and from the southern Yellow Sea, respectively. Our study was focused primarily on the onset of the post-glacial marine transgression and the reconstructing of paleoenvironmental changes in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea during the Holocene. AMS $\^$14/C ages indicate that the northern East China Sea and the southern Yellow Sea began to have been flooded at about 13.2 ka BP which is in agreement with the initial marine transgression of the central Yellow Sea (core CC-02). $\delta$$\^$18/O and $\delta$$\^$13/C records of benthic foraminifera Ammonia ketienziensis and $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values provide information on paleoenvironmental changes from brackish (estuarine) to modem marine conditions caused by globally rapid sea-level rise since the last deglaciation. Termination 1 (T1) ended at about 9.0-8.7 ka BP in the southern and central Yellow Sea, whereas T1 lasted until about 6.8 ka BP in the northern East China Sea. This time lag between the two seas indicates that the timing of the post-glacial marine transgression seems to have been primarily influenced by the bathymetry. The present marine regimes in the northern East China Sea and the whole Yellow Sea have been contemporaneously established at about 6.0 ka BP. This is strongly supported by remarkably changes in occurrence of benthic foraminiferal assemblages, $\delta$$\^$18/O and $\delta$$\^$13/C compositions of A. ketienziensis, TOC content and $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values. The $\delta$$\^$18/O values of A. ketienziensis show a distinct shift to heavier values of about 1$\textperthousand$ from the northern East China Sea through the southern to central Yellow Sea. The northward shift of $\^$18/O enrichment may reflect gradually decrease of the bottom water temperature in the northern East China Sea and the Yellow Sea.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Navigation
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.41-52
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• 1992

It is, as everyone knows, very important for human beings to protect and conserve marine environment. We has believed the ocean is so wide and deep that it cannot be polluted. But it has begun to doubt the capacity of self-purification of the ocean due to pollution arising from marine casualities. It has proved that semi-enclosed sea is likely to be polluted and cannot be restored easily once pollution occurs. Therefore, first of all it is important to take preventive measures for prevention of marine pollution in the semi-enclosed sea like the Yellow Sea. Many of regional conventions for prevention of marine pollution have come into existence. this dissertation was set out for the fact that the Yellow Sea is semi-enclosed sea which is vulnerable to marine pollution. It is desirable not to deal with marine preservation of the Yellow Sea by a single exclusively but to deal with it by cooperation of all coastal states under the present circumstances. I proposed a program of regional cooperation to protect and conserve the Yellow Sea. This program must be progressed with gradual arrangements. First, they must establist a basic cooperation committee to work basic affairs on the protection of marine environment within the Yellow Sea. The Committee Mainly play parts of study and research concerned with pollution of the Yellow Sea in the non-governmental side and consist of legal and scientific experts. Second, they must establish the control Committee to prevent marine pollution of the Yellow Sea substantially. There is a reason that regional cooperation cannot be directly concluded with the regional tready. Because there is a problem of Recognition of States left. In principle, a subject of tready must be a state in the International Law. But they have not made Recognition of State which is demanded by International Law between North and South Koreas. Therefore, the Control committee must play a substantial part of prevention from pollution instead of the treaty. Finally, we concluded tentatively named $\ulcorner$Convention on Regional Cooperation for Protection of Marine Environment of the Yellow Sea from Pollution$\lrcorner$ if the matter is settled which is related to Recognition of States in the International Law.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.279-300
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• 1992

The Korean marine hydrioid fauna identified up to data consists of 120 species of 55 genera in 17 families. Of which Abientiunaria filicula (Ellis and Solander, 1786) is new to the Korean fauna, and the dominant species of hydroids in Korean water is Sertularella miurensis Stechow, 1921 which is collected from 33 points of 96 localities. The coastal waters of Korea are divided into four regions : the East Sea, the South Sea, the Yellow sea and the Chejudo. Concerning the total number of species occured in each region, 43 species in the East Sea, 52 species in the Yellow Sea, 73 species in the South Sea and 83 species in the Chejudo and its vicinity. From the results above described it can be salid that the Chejudo region shows the most diversity of the Korea hydroids. The community coefficient of the East Sea-the Yellow Sea is 0.444, that of the East Sea-the South Sea 0.553, that of the East Sea-Chejudo 0.519, that of the Yellow Sea-the Sea 0.682, that of the Yellow Sea-the Chejudo 0.533 and that of the South Sea-the Chejudo 0.642. So that the zoogeographical relatinship between the Yellow Sea and the South Sea is the highest and between the East Sea and the Yellow Sea is the lowest on the hydroids distribution.