Long-term comparison of satellite and in-situ sea surface temperatures around the Korean Peninsula

Ocean Science Journal - Satellite remotely sensed sea surface temperature (SST) was compared with in-situ SST in the seas around the Korean Peninsula from 1984 to 2013. A matchup dataset between...     

Modeling of mesoscale coupled ocean–atmosphere interaction and its feedback to ocean in the western Arabian Sea

Observations of the western Arabian Sea over the last decade have revealed a rich filamentary eddy structure, with large horizontal SST gradients in the ocean, developing in response to the southwest monsoon winds. This summertime oceanic condition triggers an intense mesoscale coupled interaction, whose overall influence on the longer-term properties of this ocean remains uncertain. In this study, a high-resolution regional coupled model is employed to explore this feedback effect on the long-term dynamical and thermodynamical structure of the ocean.The observed relationship between the near-surface winds and mesoscale SSTs generate Ekman pumping velocities at the scale of the cold filaments, whose magnitude is the order of 1 m/day in both the model and observations. This additional Ekman-driven velocity, induced by the wind-eddy interaction, accounts for approximately 10–20% of oceanic vertical velocity of the cold filaments. This implies that Ekman pumping arising from the mesoscale coupled feedback makes a non-trivial contribution to the vertical structure of the upper ocean and the evolution of mesoscale eddies, with obvious implications for marine ecosystem and biogeochemical variability.Furthermore, SST features associated with cold filaments substantially reduce the latent heat loss. The long-term latent heat flux change due to eddies in the model is approximately 10–15 W/m² over the cold filaments, which is consistent with previous estimates based on short-term in situ measurements. Given the shallow mixed layer, this additional surface heat flux warms the cold filament at the rate of 0.3–0.4 °C/month over a season with strong eddy activity, and 0.1–0.2 °C/month over the 12-year mean, rendering overall low-frequency modulation of SST feasible. This long-term mixed layer heating by the surface flux is approximately ±10% of the lateral heat flux by the eddies, yet it can be comparable to the vertical heat flux. Potential dynamic and thermodynamic impacts of this observed air–sea interaction on the monsoons and regional climate are yet to be quantified given the strong correlation between the Somalia upwelling SST and the Indian summer monsoons.     

Identification of Albula sp. (Albulidae: Albuliformes) Leptocephalus Collected from the Southern Coastal Waters of Korea using Cytochrome b DNA Sequences

A single specimen ofAlbula leptocephalus (55.7 mm SL) was collected from the southern coastal waters of Korea using an aquatic lamp. It is characterized by having a ribbonlike body with a small head and a well-forked caudal fin. Although the general appearance was similar to the leptocephalus ofA. vulpes including myomere counts and fin ray counts, the melanophore deposition was different from that ofA. vulpes. This leptocephalus specimen was confirmed withA. forsteri using the cytochrome b mtDNA (Cytb) analysis. The genetic distance ofCytb between the present leptocephalus andA. forsteri is 0.006-0.038, which falls into the cutoff point separatingAlbula species into eight deep lineages including the four valid species. Its genetic characteristic have more similarities to those of Fiji than those of Hawaii and the Northern territory of Australia.     

Physiological differences in the growth and maturation of Eisenia bicyclis and Ecklonia cava gametophytes in Korea

The objective of this study was to examine the ef fects of temperature and light intensity on growth of female gametophytes of Eisenia bicyclis and Ecklonia cava and responses of these female gametophytes to Fe addition and daylength. Female gametophytes of each species were cultured at four temperatures(10, 15, 20, and 25°C) and under a combination of four light intensities(10, 20, 40, and80 μmol photons/(m 2 ·s)) with two temperatures(15 and 20°C for E i. bicyclis; 20 and 25°C for E c. cava) to clarify their optimal growth conditions. Growth and maturation of female gametophytes of these two species under a combination of five Fe-EDTA concentrations(0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 μmol/L) and three daylengths(10,12, and 14 h) were also examined. The growth of E i. bicyclis gametophyte was maximal at approximately15–20°C, 20 μmol photons/(m 2 ·s), Fe-EDTA concentration of 8 μmol/L and daylengths of 12–14 h. While E c. c ava gametophytes showed optimal growth at approximately 20–25°C, 20 μmol photons/(m 2 ·s), FeEDTA concentration of 8 μmol/L and daylength of 14 h. Maturation of gametophytes was enhanced at Fe-EDTA concentration of 4 μmol/L for E i. bicyclis and at 2 μmol/L for E c. c ava. In conclusion, optimal growth temperatures and Fe-EDTA concentrations for maturation of E i. bicyclis and E c. c ava gametophytes were dif ferent. Higher optimal growth temperature for E c. c ava gametophytes may contribute to its wider geographical distribution compared to E i. bicyclis which has restricted habitats in Korea. This suggests that addition of Fe ion could be used to recover beds of these two species in barren grounds of Korea.     

Real-time assimilation of streamflow observations into a hydrological routing model: effects of model structures and updating methods

This paper comparatively assesses the performance of five data assimilation techniques for three-parameter Muskingum routing with a spatially lumped or distributed model structure. The assimilation techniques used include direct insertion (DI), nudging scheme (NS), Kalman filter (KF), ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) and asynchronous ensemble Kalman filter (AEnKF), which are applied to river reaches in Texas and Louisiana, USA. For both lumped and distributed routing, results from KF, EnKF and AEnKF are sensitive to the error specification. As expected, DI outperformed the other models in the case of lumped modelling, while in distributed routing, KF approaches, particularly AEnKF and EnKF, performed better than DI or nudging, reflecting the benefit of updating distributed states through error covariance modelling in KF approaches. The results of this work would be useful in setting up data assimilation systems that employ increasingly abundant real-time observations using distributed hydrological routing models.     

A study of igneous rocks related to Zn–Pb mineralization in the Shinyemi and Gagok deposits of the Taebaeksan Basin,South Korea

The Shinyemi and Gagok deposits, located in the Taebaeksan Basin, South Korea, display Zn–Pb mineralization along a contact between Cretaceous granitoids and Cambrian–Ordovician carbonates of the Joseon Supergroup. The Shinyemi mine is one of the largest polymetallic skarn‐type magnetite deposits in South Korea and comprises Fe and Fe–Mo–Zn skarns, and Zn–Cu–Pb replacement deposits. Both deposits yield similar Cretaceous mineralization ages, and granitoids associated with the two deposits displaying similar mineral textures and compositions, are highly evolved, and were emplaced at a shallow depth. They are classified as calc‐alkaline, I‐type granites (magnetite series) and were formed in a volcanic arc. Compositional variation is less in the Shinyemi granites and aplites (e.g., SiO₂ = 74.4–76.6 wt% and 74.4–75.1 wt%, respectively) than in the Gagok granites and aplites (e.g., SiO₂ = 65.6–68.0 wt% and 74.9–76.5 wt%, respectively). Furthermore, SiO₂ vs K/Rb and SiO₂ vs Rb/Sr diagrams indicate that the Shinyemi granitoids are more evolved than the Gagok granitoids. Shinyemi granitoids had been already differentiated highly in deep depth and then intruded into shallow depth, so both granite and aplite show the highly evolved similar chemical compositions. Whereas, less differentiated Gagok granitoids were separated into two phases in the last stage at shallow depth, so granite and aplite show different compositions. The amounts of granites and aplite are similar in the Shinyemi deposit, whereas the aplite appears in an amount less than the granite in the Gagok deposit. For this reason, the Shinyemi granitoids caused not only Fe enrichment during formation of the dolomite‐hosted magnesian skarn but also was associated with Mo mineralization in the Shinyemi deposit. Zn mineralization of the Gagok deposit was mainly caused by granite rather than aplite. Our data suggest that the variation in mineralization displayed by the two deposits resulted from differences in the compositions of their associated igneous intrusions.     

KISAP: A new In situ seafloor velocity measurement tool

The KISAP (Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources Seafloor Acoustic Probe) was developed to obtain in situ compressional wave velocity and attenuation profiles for seafloor sediments. The instrument comprises recording channel receivers, and an acoustic source, and can be attached to a corer or a probe. Here, we report experiments comparing KISAP in situ velocity to laboratory velocity of colocated piston cores. KISAP data matched laboratory data (corrected for temperature and pressure) reasonably. KISAP can be used to collect in situ acoustic data and can be effectively used to calibrate previous laboratory data to in situ data.     

Acidification at the Surface in the East Sea: A Coupled Climate-carbon Cycle Model Study

This modeling study investigates the impacts of increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration on acidification in the East Sea. A historical simulation for the past three decades (1980 to 2010) was performed using the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model (version 2), a coupled climate model with atmospheric, terrestrial and ocean cycles. As the atmospheric CO₂ concentration increased, acidification progressed in the surface waters of the marginal sea. The acidification was similar in magnitude to observations and models of acidification in the global ocean. However, in the global ocean, the acidification appears to be due to increased in-situ oceanic CO₂ uptake, whereas local processes had stronger effects in the East Sea. pH was lowered by surface warming and by the influx of water with higher dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from the northwestern Pacific. Due to the enhanced advection of DIC, the partial pressure of CO₂ increased faster than in the overlying air; consequently, the in-situ oceanic uptake of CO₂ decreased.     

Assimilation of sea surface temperature in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and its marginal seas using the ensemble Kalman filter

Satellite-borne sea surface temperature (SST) data were assimilated with the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) in a Northwest Pacific Ocean circulation model to examine the effect of data assimilation. The model domain included the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean and its marginal seas, such as the Yellow Sea and East/Japan Sea. The performance of the data assimilation was evaluated by comparing the simulated ocean state with that observed. Spatially averaged root-mean-squared errors in the SST and sea surface height (SSH) decreased by 0.44 °C and 4 cm, respectively, by the assimilation. The results of the numerical experiments substantiated the effectiveness of the SST assimilation via the EnKF for all marginal seas, as well as the Kuroshio region. The benefit of the data assimilation depended on the characteristics of each marginal sea. The variation of the SST in the East/Japan Sea and the Kuroshio extension (KE) region were improved 34% and those in the Yellow Sea 12.5%. The variation of the SSH was improved approximately 36% in the KE region. This large improvement was achieved in the deep-water regions because assimilation of SST data corrected the separation point of the western boundary currents, such as the Kuroshio and the East Korea Warm Current, and the associated horizontal surface currents. The SST assimilation via the EnKF also improved the subsurface temperature profiles. The effectiveness of SST assimilation was seasonally dependent, with the improvement being relatively larger in winter than in summer, which was related to the seasonal variation of the vertical mixing and stratification in the ocean surface layer.