• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.41 no.5
• /
• pp.504-519
• /
• 2020

Oceanic fronts, which are areas where sea water with different properties meet in the ocean, play an important role in controlling weather and climate change through air-sea interactions and marine dynamics such as heat and momentum exchange and processes by which properties of sea water are mixed. Such oceanic fronts have long been described in secondary school textbooks with the term 'Jokyung water zone (JWC hereafter) or oceanic front', meaning areas where the different currents met, and were related to fishing grounds in the East Sea. However, higher education materials and marine scientists have not used this term for the past few decades; therefore, the appropriateness of the term needs to be analyzed to remove any misconceptions presented. This study analyzed 11 secondary school textbooks (5 middle school textbooks and 6 high school textbooks) based on the revised 2015 curriculum. A survey of 30 secondary school science teachers was also conducted to analyze their awareness of the problems. An analysis of the textbook contents related to the JWC and fishing grounds found several errors and misconceptions that did not correspond with scientific facts. Although the textbooks mainly uses the concept of the JWC to represent the meeting of cold and warm currents, it would be reasonable to replace it with the more comprehensive term 'oceanic front', which would indicate an area where different properties of sea water-such as its temperature, salinity, density, and velocity-interact. In the textbooks, seasonal changes in the fishing grounds are linked to seasonal changes in the North Korean Cold Current (NKCC), which moves southwards in winter and northwards in summer; this is the complete opposite of previous scientific knowledge, which describes it strengthening in summer. Fishing grounds are not limited to narrow coastal zones; they are widespread throughout the East Sea. The results of the survey of teachers demonstrated that this misconception has persisted for decades. This study emphasized the importance of using scientific knowledge to correct misconceptions related to the JWC, fishing grounds, and the NKCC and addressed the importance of transferring procedures to the curriculum. It is expected that the conclusions of this study will have an important role on textbook revision and teacher education in the future.

• International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Korean Journal of Geophysical Research
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.17-30
• /
• 1993

The basic processes responsible for the generation of oceanic fronts were reviewed. In particular the process of a shelf sea front produced by tidal stirring was identified from the one dimensional model of the water column in the coastal area, which incorporates the microscale process for the formation of a tidal front. Also a new criterion to predict its location was suggested. The time evolutions of the distributions of density and turbulent kinetic energy calculated from the model show that the criterion for the formation of a thermocline can be predicted as $R{\delta}^4$~ constant for large $\delta$ ($\delta$＞0.5), but the dependence on $\delta$ decreases as $\delta$ goes to O, where $R=H^4Q/{K_b}^3$,{\;}{\delta}=1-Do/H$, Q is the buoyancy flux at the surface, $K_b$ is the eddy diffusivity maintained at the bottom and Do is the depth of a thermocline in the absence of bottom mixing. The depth of a thermocline was found to decrease as the bottom mixing increases for a given value of Do. The results were interpreted in comparison with the previous studies.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
• /
• 2003.11a
• /
• pp.1124-1126
• /
• 2003

The processes of regional scales in the East Korean coastal waters were investigated by analysis of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images taken by the European Research Satellites ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat. More than 500 quick look frames taken in 1991-2003 were examined to detect the frames with clearly surface expressions of oceanic phenomena. 26 ERS-1/2 SAR and 11 Envisat wide swath Advanced SAR (ASAR) frames were selected and obtained from the European Space Agency in a form of the precision high-resolution images. The following oceanic phenomena and processes were evident in the radar imagery through the Korean costal waters: fronts, currents, eddies, internal waves, island and ship wakes, oil pollution, etc. They manifested themselves in the field of sea surface roughness, their scale ranged from several tens meters to about 100 km. The most common morphology of these phenomena was a series of contrast dark or light curvilinear lines and bands. The joint analysis of the discussed SAR images with other satellite and in situ data supported and enhanced our interpretation of SAR signatures.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.65-69
• /
• 2007

The processes of regional scales in the East Korean coastal waters were investigated by analysis of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images taken by the European Research Satellites ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat. More than 500 quick look frames taken in 1991-2003 were examined to detect the frames with clearly surface expressions of oceanic phenomena. 26 ERS-1/2 SAR and 11 Envisat wide swath Advanced SAR (ASAR) frames were selected and obtained from the European Space Agency in a form of the precision high-resolution images. The following oceanic phenomena and processes were evident in the radar imagery through the Korean costal waters: fronts, currents, eddies, internal waves, island and ship wakes, oil pollution, etc. They manifested themselves in the field of sea surface roughness, their scale ranged from several tens meters to about 100 km. The most common morphology of these phenomena was a series of contrast dark or light curvilinear lines and bands. The joint analysis of the discussed SAR images with other satellite and in situ data supported and enhanced our interpretation of SAR signatures.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.331-341
• /
• 2005

Distribution of anchovy (Engraulis japonica) eggs and larvae was studied in the southwestern sea of Korea in July and November, 2001. Anchovy eggs were found mainly in the oceanic fronts of the northern sea area which were formed in the offshore area of Chuja Is. Bogil Is. and Chungsan Is. from west to east. Anchovy eggs were also found in the surrounding sea of Cheju Is. in the southern sea front area. The waters were highly heterogeneous and the water masses were bordered based on temperature $(10.8-26.4^{\circ}C)$ and salinity (28.9-33.7 psu). The anchovy eggs were mostly found outside of the China Coastal Water, where salinity was below 31 psu. The anchovy eggs were not found in November. Abundance of the anchovy larvae were higher in July than November. Temperature ranged from $10.8^{\circ}C\;to\;25.9^{\circ}C\;and\;15.9^{\circ}C\;to\;20.5^{\circ}C$, and salinity ranged from 28.9psu to 34.1psu and 33.2psu to 34.1psu in July and November, respectively. Non-swimmable larvae were found throughout the whole area of the southwestern sea of Korea. The area beyond the oceanic front had anchovy eggs dispersed from the spawning grounds to offshore. Dispersion pattern showed that the eggs were transported from the spawning grounds with a process of advection and diffusion based on the flow pattern which were caused by winds. Distribution pattern of the anchovy eggs and larvae may be used for the prediction of oceanic currents in each area.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Fisheries Technology Conference
• /
• 2000.05a
• /
• pp.181-182
• /
• 2000

Due to the instability of the EKWC, the oceanic conditions in the East Sea are affected by the fluctuations of the moving paths of the TWC, polar fronts, and warm eddies. In particular, warm eddies play an important role in spreading the surface water of the East Sea from its southern coastal region to its interior region (Isoda, 1994). However, the fluctuation characteristics of the meandering TWC and the warm eddies in the East Sea are not yet known due to the instability of the TWC. Hideaki(1999) showed that the moving paths and features of the TWC in the coastal regions of Japan were not constant. (omitted)

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.280-289
• /
• 2008

An extensive set of both in-situ and satellite data regarding oceanic sea surface temperatures in Northeast Asian seas, collected over a 10-year period, was collocated and surveyed to assess the accuracy of satellite-observed sea surface temperatures (SST) and investigate the characteristics of satellite measured SST errors. This was done by subtracting insitu SST measurements from multi-channel SST (MCSST) measurements. 845 pieces of collocated data revealed that MCSST measurements had a root-mean-square error of about 0.89$^{\circ}C$ and a bias error of about 0.18$^{\circ}C$. The SST errors revealed a large latitudinal dependency with a range of $\pm3^{\circ}C$ around 40$^{\circ}N$, which was related to high spatial and temporal variability from smaller eddies, oceanic currents, and thermal fronts at higher latitudes. The MCSST measurements tended to be underestimated in winter and overestimated in summer when compared to in-situ measurements. This seasonal dependency was discovered from shipboard and moored buoy measurements, not satellite-tracked surface drifters, and revealed the existence of a strong vertical temperature gradient within a few meters of the upper ocean. This study emphasizes the need for an effort to consider and correct the significant skin-bulk SST difference which arises when calculating SST from satellite data.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.34 no.6_2
• /
• pp.1179-1192
• /
• 2018

In order to detect the Antarctic Polar Front (PF) among the main fronts in the Southern Ocean, this study is based on the combinations of satellite-based sea surface temperature (SST) and height (SSH) observations. For accurate PF detection, we classified the signals as front or non-front grids based on the Bayesian decision theory from daily SST and SSH datasets, and then spatio-temporal synthesis has been performed to remove primary noises and to supplement geographical connectivity of the front grids. In addition, sea ice and coastal masking were employed in order to remove the noise that still remains even after performing the processes and morphology operations. Finally, we selected only the southernmost grids, which can be considered as fronts and determined as the monthly PF by a linear smoothing spline optimization method. The mean positions of PF in this study are very similar to those of the PFs reported by the previous studies, and it is likely to be well represents PF formation along the bottom topography known as one of the major influences of the PF maintenance. The seasonal variation in the positions of PF is high in the Ross Sea sector (${\sim}180^{\circ}W$), and Australia sector ($120^{\circ}E-140^{\circ}E$), and these variations are quite similar to the previous studies. Therefore, it is expected that the detection approach for the PF position applied in this study and the final composite have a value that can be used in related research to be carried out on the long term time-scale.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.227-238
• /
• 2006

Line density index(LDI) was developed to quantify a densely isothermal line rate as standard index in the ocean environment. Theoretical background on the LDI development process restricting index range 0 to 100 was described. And validation test was done for the LDI application condition that total line length is not greater than 1/10 of unit area. NOAA SST(Sea Surface Temperature) data were used for the experimental application of LDI in the South Sea of Korea. Using GIS, $0.1^{\circ}C$ isothermal lines were linearized as vector data form SST raster data, and unit area were built as polygon data. For the LDI calculation, spatial overlapping(line in polygon) was implemented. To analyze the effect of unit area size for the LDI distribution, two cases of unit area size were designed and descriptive statistics was calculated including performing normality test. The results showed no change of LDI's essential characteristics such as mean and normality except for the range of value, variance and standard deviation. Accordingly, it was found that complex structure of thermal front and even smaller scale of front width than unit area size could influence on the LDI distribution. Also, correlation analysis performed between LDI and difference of temperature(${\Delta}T^{\circ}C$), and horizontal thermal gradient(${\Delta}T^{\circ}C/km$) on the front was obtained from linear regression model. This obtained value was compared with the results from previous researches. Newly developed LDI can be used to compare the thermal front regions changing spatio-temporally in the ocean environment using absolute index value. It is considered to be significant to analyze the relationship between thermal front and marine environment or front and marine organisms in a quantitative approach described in this study.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.223-233
• /
• 2009

Three-dimensional (3-D) optimally-interpolated sea surface temperature (SST) field was produced by using AQUA/AMSR-E satellite data, and its limitations were described by comparing the temporal average of sea surface temperatures. The 3-D OI (Optimum Interpolation) SST showed a small error of less than $0.05^{\circ}C$ in the central North Pacific, but yielded large errors of greater than $0.4^{\circ}C$ at the coastal area where the satellite microwave data were not available. OI SST composite around pixels with no observation due to heavy rainfall or cloudy pixels had estimation errors of $0.1-0.15^{\circ}C$. Comparison with temporal means showed a tendency that overall OI SSTs were underestimated around heavy cloudy pixels and smoothed out by reducing the magnitude of SST fronts. In the low-latitude areas near the equator, OI SST field produced discontinuity, originated from the window size for the OI procedure. This was mainly caused by differences in the spatial scale of oceanic features. Infernal Rossby deformation radius, as a measure of spatial stale, showed dominant latitudinal variations with O(1) difference in the North Pacific. This study suggests that OI SST methodology should consider latitudinally-varying size of window and the characteristics of spatial scales of oceanic phenomena with substantial dependency on latitude and vertical structure of density.