Perturbation of regional ocean tides due to coastal dikes

The tidal regime modeling system for ocean tides in the seas bordering the Korean Peninsula is designed to cover an area that is broad in scope and size, yet provide a high degree of resolution in coastal development areas, including the Saemangeum area in the eastern Yellow Sea and the Ariake Sea in Japan, where serious environmental problems have occurred after the completion of interior tidal dikes. With this simulation system, we have estimated the changes in tidal regime due to barriers at Saemangeum and Isahaya Bay in the Ariake Sea. Some results in terms of perturbations in tidal elevations due to the construction of coastal dikes are presented and discussed.     

Interbasin freshwater,heat and salt transport through the boundaries of the East and South China Seas from a variable-grid global ocean circulation model

It has long been recognized that the circulation in the East China Sea (ECS) and Japan/East Sea (JES) is closely related with that in Pacific, especially with the Kuroshio (e.g., Nitani[1], Hi-daka[2]). Based on current measurements in the Taiwan Strait a…     

Characteristics of carbonatites from the northern part of the Korean Peninsula: A perspective from distribution,geology and geochemistry

The present study introduces the carbonatite in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula for the first time.Recent exploration and development of the phosphorus-bearing carbonate rocks in the area have accumulated new geological data which gave us an opportunity to study origin of the carbonate rocks.We conducted geological survey,geochemical analyses of trace elements and rare earth elements,and carbon and oxygen isotope analyses for the carbonatites from Ssangryong,Pungnyon,Yongyu and Puhung districts of the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.This research confirms that the phosphorus-bearing carbonate rocks are carbonatite originating from the mantle.The studied carbonatites are distributed at the junctions of ring and linear structures or around their margins and contain a greater amount of REEs,Y,and Sr than carbonate rocks.The carbonatites in Yongyu and Puhung area show evidence that they were formed from mantle plume generated at the lower mantle and display similar fractionation characteristics to carbonatites in Barrado Itapirapua in Brazil and Kalkfeld and Ondurakorume in Namibia.REE patterns of the carbonatites are typical of carbonatites and the carbon and oxygen isotope analyses demonstrate that the carbonatites were originated from mantle.The carbonatites from the northern part of the Korean Peninsula have a great potential for sources of REE,Y,PGE(platinum group elements),copper,and gold.     

Summer Variations of Macrobenthic Community Structures in Gwangyang Bay,Korea

Ocean Science Journal - We investigated the structure change of the macrobenthic community in Gwangyang Bay (Korea) in response to habitat alteration, using the summer fauna data collected between...     

Initial validation of GOCI water products against in situ data collected around Korean peninsula for 2010–2011

This paper provides initial validation results for GOCI-derived water products using match-ups between the satellite and ship-borne in situ data for the period of 2010?C2011, with a focus on remote-sensing reflectance (R _rs ). Match-up data were constructed through systematic quality control of both in situ and GOCI data, and a manual inspection of associated GOCI images to identify pixels contaminated by cloud, land and inter-slot radiometric discrepancy. Efforts were made to process and quality check the in situ R _rs data. This selection process yielded 32 optimal match-ups for the R _rs spectra, chlorophyll a concentration (Chl_a) and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), and with 20 match-ups for suspended particulate matter concentration (SPM). Most of the match-ups are located close to shore and thus the validation should be interpreted limiting to near-shore coastal waters. The R _rs match-ups showed the mean relative errors of 18?C33% for the visible bands with the lowest 18?C19% for the 490 nm and 555 nm bands and 33% for the 412 nm band. Correlation for the R _rs match-ups was high in the 490?C865 nm bands (R²=0.72?C0.84) and lower in the 412 nm band (R²=0.43) and 443 nm band (R²=0.66). The match-ups for Chl_a showed a low correlation (<0.41) although the mean absolute percentage error was 35% for the GOCI standard Chl_a. The CDOM match-ups showed an even worse comparison with R²<0.2. These match-up comparison for Chl_a and CDOM would imply the difficulty to estimate Chl_a and CDOM in near-shore waters where the variability in SPM would dominate the variability in R _rs . Clearly, the match-up statistics for SPM was better with R²=0.73 and 0.87 for two evaluated algorithms, although GOCI-derived SPM overestimated low concentration and underestimated high concentration. Based on this initial match-up analysis, we made several recommendations -1) to collect more offshore under-water measurements of the R _rs data, 2) to include quality flags in level-2 products, 3) to introduce an ISRD correction in the GOCI processing chain, 4) to investigate other types of in-water algorithms such as semianalytical ones, and 5) to investigate vicarious calibration for GOCI data and to maintain accurate and consistent calibration of field radiometric instruments.     

Organohalogen contaminants in finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) from Korean coastal waters: Contamination status, maternal transfer and ecotoxicological implications

Information on the occurrence of organochlorine compounds (OCs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in marine mammals from Korea is scarce. In this study, OCs and PBDEs were determined in the blubber of 52 finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) from Korean coastal waters. The highest contamination was found for DDTs, followed by PCBs, PBDEs, HCHs, CHLs and HCB. Concentrations of OCs in finless porpoises were lower than those reported worldwide, but PBDE contamination was comparable to other studies, due to ongoing use of PBDE products in Korea. Significant gender-specific differences were found for concentrations and accumulation profiles of OCs and PBDEs, due to maternal transfer and lactation of mature females. The BDEs 49 and 66 comprised 4-16% of total PBDEs in finless porpoises, which seems to be associated with debromination of higher BDEs. The DDT levels in Korean finless porpoises have almost reached the levels associated with immunosuppression in marine mammals.     

Assessment of regional drought risk under climate change using bivariate frequency analysis

Since water supply failure is one of the primary impacts of drought, drought risk should be quantified in the context of a lack of available water. To assess the drought risk, water supply system performance indices such as reliability, resiliency, and vulnerability are usually introduced as they correspond to primary drought characteristics, i.e., frequency, duration, and magnitude. In this study, we developed a drought risk index (DRI) through weighted averaging the performance indices derived using bivariate drought frequency analysis. We suggested two types of DRI: observed DRI (DRI_O) and designed DRI (DRI_D). DRI_O was calculated using an observed (or synthesized) time series of water shortages. DRI_D was estimated from the bivariate drought frequency curves, which are the probabilistic magnitudes of water shortages corresponding to a particular duration. The historical maximum drought event that represents the maximum DRI_O has generally been used as the target security level. However, we could establish a practically applicable target security level considering that the future water supply failure risk is represented by DRI_D. We defined regional drought safety criteria in this study by comparing DRI_O and DRI_D. Application of the criteria to the Nakdong river basin in South Korea showed that W1 (Byeongseongcheon) and W4 (Hyeongsangang) had the lowest and highest drought risk, respectively, and the drought safety criteria showed an average range of 5–20 years.     

Variations in thickness of fault‐controlled dikes and its implications: A case study of Gosung area,South‐East Korea

Dikes are natural records that can be used to understand the way magma flows in the crust. Coastal platform outcrops in Gosung, South Korea, show clear evidences that their intrusion took place along pre‐existing fractures. We analyzed outcropping dikes, measuring variations in dike thickness as well as fracture density (cumulative number of fractures along strike) and geometry around the dikes. The geometry and thickness variations of dikes intruded along pre‐existing fractures can be interpreted to understand the effect of pre‐existing fractures to evolution on magma flow, especially related with fault damage zones. This helps us to gain a better understanding of magma and fluid flow along pre‐existing fractures. Magma flow is greater along planes that strike perpendicular to the direction of least compressive horizontal stress, and along well connected fractures that show a high degree of connectivity. At the fault tip and linkage damage zone, there is a concentration of extensional fractures; in these areas injected dikelets can form. As faults become linked, the fracture density increases, until they become fully linked and act as one through‐going fault plane. As faults evolve, the boundary conditions of the faults vary and this has an impact on dike characteristics. Fracture geometry around dikes that intruded pre‐existing faults can be used as a record of fault evolution and this can give insights into how the maturity of a fault system can affect to the related magma or fluid flow characteristics.     

A Novel Testing Apparatus for Hydromechanical Investigation of Rocks: Geo-Sequestration of Carbon dioxide

This paper presents the design, development and application of a new multi-phase high-pressure and elevated temperature rock hydromechanical testing apparatus for the investigation of reservoir and cap rock behaviour in carbon geo-sequestration projects. The triaxial apparatus is designed to support high confining stress, injection pressures and higher temperatures to imitate the natural thermo-hydro-geomechanical conditions of deep underground geological formations. The apparatus also includes an acoustic emission device for the study of the mechanical failure behaviour of rocks under compression. The apparatus is designed to support a range of different rock specimen sizes from 34 to 54?mm in diameter. Since sequestration projects involve the injection of supercritical carbon dioxide, which is extremely sensitive to temperature and pressure, and is highly corrosive in nature, special precautions were taken in the design and manufacture of the apparatus. The data acquisition system is powered and calibrated in accordance with each of the sensors and is guided by a series of in-house developed and commercial softwares for data storage and analysis. The methodology for conducting advanced testing on cap rock and reservoir rocks with the injection of water and supercritical CO₂ is presented with the appropriate theory. Some preliminary tests have been carried out on sandstone specimens sourced from the Melbourne region using the newly designed apparatus and the results are presented in this paper.