Antioxidant efficacy of extracts from a variety of seaweeds in a cellular system

As a part of an ongoing search for antioxidants frodm marine sources, antioxidant activities of 24 kinds of seaweeds (4 green algae, 8 brown algae, and 12 red algae) were investigated. The seaweeds were extracted by acetone/ dichloromethane and methanol, respectively. The antioxidant properties of both extracts were evaluated using four different activity tests, including degree of occurrence of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), NO, lipid peroxidation, and GSH (glutathione) in mouse macrophage Raw 264.7 cells. The levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and GSH were measured using 2’,7’-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCF-DA) and monobromobimane as fluorescence probe, respectively. Moreover, the generation of NO and lipid peroxidation products were determined by each method based on the Griess reaction and TBARS assay. Solvent extracts from seaweeds such asScytosiphon lomentaria, Prionitis cornea, Laruencia okamurae,Callophyllis japonica, Sargassum horneri, Dictyopteris divaricat a,Lomentaria catenata, Corallina confuse, Ishige okamurae, andAhnfeltiopsis flabelliformi exhibited high antioxidant activities in cellular oxidizing systems.     

Resource Utilization of Three Copepods Along Salinity Gradient in the Seomjin River Estuary,Revealed by Stable Isotope Analysis

Ocean Science Journal - Estuaries are one of the most productive regions in ecosystems and serve as important nursery and recruitment habitats for various living resources. However, information on...     

Assessing the impacts of land use changes on watershed hydrology using MIKE SHE

A fully distributed, physically-based hydrologic modeling system, MIKE SHE, was used in this study to investigate whole-watershed hydrologic response to land use changes within the Gyeongancheon watershed in Korea. A grid of 200 × 200 m was established to represent spatial variations in geology, soil, and land use. Initial model performance was evaluated by comparing observed and simulated streamflow from 1988 to 1991. Results indicated that the calibrated MIKE SHE model was able to predict streamflow well during the calibration and validation periods. Proportional changes in five classes of land use within the watershed were derived from multi-temporal Landsat TM imageries taken in 1980, 1990 and 2000. These imageries revealed that the watershed experienced conversion of approximately 10% non-urban area to urban area between 1980 and 2000. The calibrated MIKE SHE model was then programmed to repeatedly analyze an artificial dataset under the various land use proportions identified in the Landsat TM imageries. The analysis was made to quantitatively assess the impact of land use changes (predominantly urbanization) on watershed hydrology. There were increases in total runoff (5.5%) and overland flow (24.8%) as a response to the land use change.     

Multi-decadal scenario simulation over Korea using a one-way double-nested regional climate model system. Part 2: future climate projection (2021–2050)

An analysis of simulated future surface climate change over the southern half of Korean Peninsula using a RegCM3-based high-resolution one-way double-nested system is presented. Changes in mean climate as well as the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events are discussed for the 30-year-period of 2021–2050 with respect to the reference period of 1971–2000 based on the IPCC SRES B2 emission scenario. Warming in the range of 1–4°C is found throughout the analysis region and in all seasons. The warming is maximum in the higher latitudes of the South Korean Peninsula and in the cold season. A large reduction in snow depth is projected in response to the increase of winter minimum temperature induced by the greenhouse warming. The change in precipitation shows a distinct seasonal variation and a substantial regional variability. In particular, we find a large increase of wintertime precipitation over Korea, especially in the upslope side of major mountain systems. Summer precipitation increases over the northern part of South Korea and decreases over the southern regions, indicating regional diversity. The precipitation change also shows marked intraseasonal variations throughout the monsoon season. The temperature change shows a positive trend throughout 2021–2050 while the precipitation change is characterized by pronounced interdecadal variations. The PDF of the daily temperature is shifted towards higher values and is somewhat narrower in the scenario run than the reference one. The number of frost days decreases markedly and the number of hot days increases. The regional distribution of heavy precipitation (over 80 mm/day) changes considerably, indicating changes in flood vulnerable regions. The climate change signal shows pronounced fine scale signal over Korea, indicating the need of high-resolution climate simulations     

The effect of capillary pressure on the saturation equation of two‐phase flow in porous media

A complete and accurate simulation of two‐phase flow in porous media requires knowledge of all the controlling physics (and values of physical parameters) that play a relevant role and an understanding of the effects of each one on the solution. Of particular concern here is the effect of capillary pressure and the length scale over which it is relevant. The goal of this paper is to provide guidance onto when to include the effects of capillary pressure in the model, and onto what are the resulting length scale restrictions if those effects are to be included. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Blunt ocean dynamical thermostat in response of tropical eastern Pacific SST to global warming

Using an intermediate ocean–atmosphere coupled model (ICM) for the tropical Pacific, we investigated the role of the ocean dynamical thermostat (ODT) in regulating the tropical eastern Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) under global warming conditions. The external, uniformly distributed surface heating results in the cooling of the tropical eastern Pacific “cold tongue,” and the amplitude of the cooling increases as more heat is added but not simply linearly. Furthermore, an upper bound for the influence of the equatorially symmetric surface heating on the cold tongue cooling exists. The additional heating beyond the upper bound does not cool the cold tongue in a systematic manner. The heat budget analysis suggests that the zonal advection is the primary factor that contributes to such nonlinear SST response. The radiative heating due to the greenhouse effect (hereafter, RHG) that is obtained from the multi-model ensemble of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project Phase III (CMIP3) was externally given to ICM. The RHG obtained from the twentieth century simulation intensified the cold tongue cooling and the subtropical warming, which were further intensified by the RHG from the doubled CO₂ concentration simulation. However, the cold tongue cooling was significantly reduced and the negative SST response region was shrunken toward the equator by the RHG from the quadrupled CO₂ concentration simulation, while the subtropical warming increased further. A systematic RHG forced experiment having the same spatial pattern of RHG from doubled CO₂ concentration simulation with different amplitude of forcing revealed that the ocean dynamical response to global warming tended to enhance the cooling in the tropical eastern Pacific by virtue of meridional advection and upwelling; however, these cooling effects could not fully compensate a given RHG warming as the external forcing becomes larger. Moreover, the feedback by the zonal thermal advection actually exerted the warming over the equatorial region. Therefore, as the global warming is intensified, the cooling over the eastern tropical Pacific by ODT and the negative SST response area are reduced.     

Long-term rates of sediment accumulation in the Tonle Sap,Cambodia: a threat to ecosystem health?

The Tonle Sap is an invaluable resource for the people of Cambodia, and is a globally significant ecological site. Much of the literature published on the environmental health and management of the lake suggests that its sustainability is threatened by accelerated rates of infilling related to unfettered land-use in the catchment. However, the evidence for supposedly increased sedimentation rates is confused and contradictory, and there have been very few studies that have attempted to actually measure the rate at which sediment is accumulating on the bed of the lake. This research measures long-term sedimentation rates in the Tonle Sap in an attempt to provide an empirically derived baseline against which more recent and allegedly accelerated sedimentation rates can be compared. Radiometric dating techniques (¹⁴C, ²¹⁰Pb, ¹³⁷Cs) reveal that sediment has been accumulating in the lake at an average long-term rate of less than 1 mm per year. There is a clear and consistent decline in the rate of sediment accumulation in the lake basin over time, with the highest rates recorded in the middle to early Holocene epoch. It is recommended that research be directed toward measuring changes in the morphology of the lake margin over time, rather than focus on changes in the bathymetry of the lake basins themselves, which are here shown to be effectively stable in terms of sediment accumulation.     

Development of atmospheric correction algorithm for Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI)

This paper describes an atmospheric correction algorithm for Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) and its early phase evaluation. This algorithm was implemented in GOCI Data Processing System (GDPS) version 1.1. The algorithm is based on the standard SeaWiFS method, which accounts for multiple scattering effects and partially updated in terms of turbid case-2 water correction, optimized aerosol models, and solar angle correction per slot. For turbid water correction, we used a regional empirical relationship between water reflectance at the red (660 nm) and near infrared bands (745 nm and 865 nm). The relationship was derived from turbid pixels in satellite images after atmospheric correction, and processed using aerosol properties derived for neighboring non-turbid waters. For validation of the GOCI atmospheric correction, we compared our results with in situ measurements of normalized water leaving radiance (nL _w ) spectra that were obtained during several cruises in 2011 around Korean peninsula. The match up showed an acceptable result with mean ratio of the GOCI to in situ nL _w (??), 1.17, 1.24, 1.26, 1.15, 0.86 and 0.99 at 412 nm, 443 nm, 490 nm, 555 nm, 660 nm and 680 nm, respectively. It is speculated that part of the deviation arose from a lack of vicarious calibration and uncertainties in the above water nLw measurements.     

Molecular characterization and morphology of the photosynthetic dinoflagellate Bysmatrum caponii from two solar saltons in western Korea

Species belonging to the genus Bysmatrum are peridinoid, thecate, photosynthetic dinoflagellates. The plate formula of Bysmatrum spp., arranged in a Kofoidian series, is almost identical to that of Scrippsiella spp. Bysmatrum spp., which were originally classified as Scrippsiella spp., but were transferred to the genus Bysmatrum spp. because of separation of the intercalary plates 2a and 3a by plate 3??. Whether this transfer from Scrippsiella spp. to Bysmatrum spp. is reasonable should be genetically confirmed. Dinoflagellates were isolated from 2 solar saltons located in western Korea in 2009?C2010 and 3 clonal cultures from Sooseong solar saltons and 2 clonal cultures from Garolim solar saltons were successfully established. All of these dinoflagellates were identified as Bysmatrum caponii based on morphology analysis by light and electron microscopy. The plates of all Korean strains of B. caponii were arranged in a Kofoidian series of Po, X, 4??, 3a, 7??, 6c, 4s, 5?, 0 (p), and 24??. When properly aligned, the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences of the 3 Sooseong strains of B. caponii were identical, as were those of the 2 Garolim strains. Furthermore, the sequences of the 3 Sooseong strains were 0.01% different from those of the Garolim strains. However, the sequences of SSU rDNA of these Korean B. caponii strains were 9% different from that of Bysmatrum subsalsum and > 10% from that of any other dinoflagellate thus far reported. In the phylogenetic trees generated using SSU and LSU rDNA sequences, these Korean B. caponii strains formed a clade with B. subsalsum which was clearly divergent from the Scrippsiella clade. However, this Bysmatrum clade was phylogenetically close to the Protoperidinium and/or Peridinium clades. The results of the present study suggest that Bysmatrum spp. are markedly different genetically from Scrippsiella spp..