Distribution of small plastic debris in cross-section and high strandline on Heungnam beach, South Korea

The spatial distribution of small plastic debris on Heungnam beach in February 2011 was investigated. The abundances of small plastic debris over 2 mm in size along the high strandline and cross-sectional line of the beach were determined. The mean abundances of small plastics were 976 ± 405 particles/m² at the high strandline in the upper tidal zone along the shoreline and 473 ± 866 particles/m² at the cross-section perpendicular to the shoreline. Specifically, styrofoam (expanded polystyrene) spherules accounted for 90.7% of the total plastic abundance in the high strandline and 96.3% in the cross-section. The spatial distribution patterns of small plastic debris differed between the high strandline and cross-sectional line. The cross-sectional distribution of small plastic abundance differed among plastic types, indicating that representative sampling of small plastic debris on a beach is necessary.     

Effect of magnetic field on a shock-induced thermal instability

The effect of a magnetic field on a thermal instability has been studied in a radiatively cooling region behind an interstellar shock of moderate propagation velocity ( 10 km s^–1). It is shown that the presence of a magnetic field of a few microgauss is very effective in preventing the thermal instability from building-up density concentrations. In the absence of the magnetic field, the shock-induced thermal instability will amplify a pre-shock density inhomogeneity by more than an order of magnitude. However, in the field's presence, the amplified density contrast is shown to be only a factor 2. Implications for the trace of a sweeping broom in the Pleiades nebula are discussed.Paper presented at the IAU Third Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting, held in Kyoto, Japan, between 30 September–6 October, 1984.     

Spatial and temporal aspects of phytoplankton blooms in complex ecosystems off the korean coast from satellite ocean color observations

Complex physical, chemical and biological interactions off the Korean coast created several striking patterns in the phytoplankton blooms, which became conspicuous during the measurements of ocean color from space. This study concentrated on analyzing the spatial and temporal aspects of phytoplankton chlorophyll variability in these areas using an integrated dataset from a Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), Advanced Very High Resolution (AVHRR) sensor, and Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) sensor. The results showed that chlorophyll concentrations were elevated in coastal and open ocean regions, with strong summer and fall blooms, which appeared to spread out in most of the enclosed bays and neighboring waters due to certain oceanographic processes. The chlorophyll concentration was observed to range between 3 and 54 mg m^-3 inside Jin-hae Bay and adjacent coastal bays and 0.5 and 8 mg m^-3 in the southeast sea offshore waters, this gradual decrease towards oceanic waters suggested physical transports of phytoplankton blooms from the shallow shelves to slope waters through the influence of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) along the Tsushima Strait. Horizontal distribution of potential temperature (θ) and salinity (S) of water off the southeastern coast exhibited cold and low saline surface water (θ<19°C; S<32.4) and warm and high saline subsurface water (θ>12°C; S>34.4) at 75dBar, corroborating TWC intrusion along the Tsushima Strait. An eastward branch of this current was called the East Korean Warm Current (EKWC), tracked with the help of CTD data and satellite-derived sea surface temperature, which often influenced the dynamics of mesoscale anticyclonic eddy fields off the Korean east coast during the summer season. The process of such mesoscale anticyclonic eddy features might have produced interior upwelling that could have shoaled and steepened the nutricline, enhancing phytoplankton population by advection or diffusion of nutrients in the vicinity of Ulleungdo in the East Sea.     

Variations of amplitude, wavelength and phase velocity of plane progressing waves over uniformly sloping beaches

The mysterious variation of the amplitude of waves progressing towards the shore over sloping beaches has been clarified explicitly by linear theory. The phase velocity of the waves increases rapidly as the waves travel across the surf zone towards the shore, as does the wavelength. The phase of the waves near shore is nearly stationary if the beach slope is small. Hence the waves are not sinusoidal near shore but surge towards the shore if the slope is small.     

Distribution and Acoustic Characteristics of Shallow Gas in the Korea Strait Shelf Mud off SE Korea

Shallow gas in the Korea Strait shelf mud (KSSM) off SE Korea, revealed by high-resolution subbottom profiles, is associated with acoustic blanking, acoustic turbidity, seepages with plumes in the water column, and seafloor depressions. The acoustic blanking, characterized by strong, consistent top reflection and wipeout below, is most dominant. The seaward edge of the acoustic blanking zone generally coincides with the 100-m water-depth contour, suggesting that the water depth (the pressure) may control the distribution of shallow gas. The acoustic turbidity, characterized by diffuse top reflection, is a dark smear, partially blanking the data below. The seepages with plumes, characterized by vertical smearing and disturbed seafloor, are seen only along the shallowest, landward edge of the acoustic blanking zone. This may suggest that the decreased gas solubility at shallow water depths, caused by the lowered pressure, increases the volume of free gas in the sediments, facilitating the gas escape. The seafloor depressions, interpreted as pockmarks, are accompanied by cone-shaped acoustic masking, which is probably the reflection from a narrow vent of gas. The gas-related acoustic anomalies appear to occur mostly in the upper, recent mud of the KSSM. Neither permeable beds nor faults, which can act as vertical migration pathways for deep thermogenic gas, are evident in the recent mud. We interpret that the bacterial degradation of organic matter in situ is the main source for the gas in the KSSM. The upwelling off SE Korea may be an important source for the increased organic matter in the area.     

Three-dimensional hydrodynamic-eutrophication model (HEM-3D): application to Kwang-Yang Bay, Korea

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to describe the water quality model of Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic-Eutrophication Model (HEM-3D) and to present an application of HEM-3D to a coastal system in Korea. HEM-3D, listed as a tool for the development of Total Maximum Daily Load by US Environmental Protection Agency, is a general-purpose modeling package for simulation of the flow field, transport, and eutrophication processes throughout the water column and of diagenetic processes in the benthic sediment. This paper describes the water quality model of HEM-3D with emphasis on its unique features. Excessive loadings of organic wastes have significantly deteriorated water quality conditions of Korean coastal waters. This paper presents an application of HEM-3D to Kwang-Yang Bay, a coastal system in Korea, which is one of the first water quality modeling efforts for Korean coastal waters accompanied by a relatively comprehensive field program. The current status of data availability for water quality modeling in Korea is discussed.     

Characterization of proteins in the muscle of<Emphasis Type="Italic">limanda yokohamae</Emphasis> from the masan bay,Korea

Increasing industrial development in the Masan Bay area of Korea over the past decades increased the risk for the survival of marine organisms in the bay area by the deterioration of the water quality. Since living organisms have the ability to adapt contamination-associated stimuli by the alteration of gene expression, changes in proteins can be used as an important criterion for assessing the levels of environmental conditions. In this study, therefore, alterations of the expression of proteins in the muscle ofLimanda yokohamae from Dukdong and Dotsum in the bay area were surveyed and characterized as compared with Haegumgang, which served as a control site. The results demonstrated that the twenty spots detected from Dukdong and Dotsum were similar to each other. Fifteen proteins were found to be predicted or undefined proteins, while five proteins were identified as heavy polypeptide 11 of myosin, apolipoprotein A-I, fibroblast growth factor 17b precursor, G protein-coupled receptor kinase 1 b and bonnie and clyde. These data suggest that local fish in the bay area have dysfunction in muscle physiology including contraction, lipid metabolism, proliferation and differentiation and nervous system.     

Probabilistic approach for active control based on structural energy

This paper presents an active control algorithm using the probability density function of structural energy. It is assumed that structural energy under excitation has a Rayleigh probability distribution. This assumption is based on the fact that the Rayleigh distribution satisfies the condition that the structural energy is always positive and the occurrence probability of minimum energy is zero. The magnitude of the control force is determined by the probability that the structural energy exceeds the specified target critical energy, and the sign of the control force is determined by the Lyapunov controller design method. The proposed control algorithm shows much reduction of peak responses under seismic excitation compared with the LQR controller, and it can consider the control force limit in the controller design. Also, the chattering problem which sometimes occurs in the Lyapunov controller can be avoided. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Operational Implementation of the ATOVS Processing Procedure in KMA and Its Validation

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) has processed the data from the advanced TOVS(ATOVS) onboard NOAA-16 satellite since May 2001. The operational production utilizes the AAPP(ATOVS and AVHRR Processing Package) of EUMETSAT and IAPP (International ATOVS ProcessingPackage) of the University of Wisconsin. For the initial guess profiles, the predicted fields (usually 6 to 12hour forecasted fields) from the global aviation model of NOAA/NCEP are used. The average number ofprofiles retrieved from the ATOVS data is about 1,300 for each morning and afternoon orbit at about 18 and06 UTC, respectively. The retrieved temperature and dew point temperatures are provided to forecastersin real time and used for initialization of prediction models. With the advanced microwave sensor (AMSU;Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit), accuracy of the ATOVS products is expected to be better than thatof the TOVS products, especially in cloudy conditions. Indeed, the preliminary results from a validationstudy with the collocated radiosonde data during a 8-month period, from May to December 2001, for theEast Asia region show an improved accuracy of the ATOVS products for cloudy skies versus the TOVS,especially for higher altitudes. The RMS (Root Mean Square) difference between the ATOVS productsand radiosonde data is about 1.3℃ for both clear and cloudy conditions, except for near the ground and athigher altitudes, at around 200 hPa. There is no significant temporal variation of the error statistics at allpressure levels. In case of the water vapor mixing ratio, the largest difference is shown at lower altitudes,while the accuracy is much better for the clear sky cases than the cloudy sky cases. The bias and RMSEat lower altitudes is about 0.557 g kg-1 and 2.5 g kg-1 and decrease significantly with increasing altitude.     

Characteristics of alkenones synthesized by a bloom of emiliania huxleyi in the Bering Sea

We investigated the characteristics of the alkenones produced by a bloom of Emiliania huxleyi in the eastern Bering Sea in 2000. Alkenones were detected in surface waters between 57°N and 63°N, where phosphate concentrations were low and the ammonium/nitrate ratio was high. The total alkenone content (C_37:2, C_37:3, and C_37:4) ranged from 22.0 to 349 μg g⁻¹ in suspended particles and from 0.109 to 1.42 μg g⁻¹ in surface sediments. This suggests that a large proportion of the particulate alkenones synthesized in the surface water rapidly degraded within the water column and/or at the water-sediment interface of the Bering Shelf. The change in the stable carbon isotopic composition (δ¹³C) of C_37:3 alkenone could not be explained only by variation in [CO₂(aq)] in the surface water but also depended on the growth rate of E. huxleyi. The alkenone unsaturation index (U^K′₃₇) was converted into an alkenone “temperature” with three equations [Prahl et al 1988], [Sikes et al 1997] and [Müller et al 1998]; Sikes et al.’s (1997) equation gave the best correlation with the observed sea surface temperature (SST) in the eastern Bering Sea. However, some temperatures estimated by Sikes et al.’s (1997) equation from the U^K′₃₇ varied from the observed SST, possibly because of the rapidly changing rate of alkenone synthesis in the logarithmic growth stage or the low rate of alkenone synthesis when nutrients were limiting. Temperatures estimated from U^K′₃₇ in the surface sediments (6.8-8.2°C) matched the observed SST in September (7-8°C) but differed from the annual average SST of 4 to 5°C, suggesting that most of the alkenone in the eastern Bering Sea was synthesized during limited periods, for instance, in September. The relative amounts of C_37:4 alkenone as proportions of the total alkenones (referred to as C_37:4%) were high, ranging from 18.3 to 41.4%. Low-salinity water (<32 psu) within the study area would have contributed to the high C_37:4% because a negative linear relationship between C_37:4% and salinity was found in this study.