Glaciomarine sedimentation and palaeo-glacial setting of Maxwell Bay and its tributary embayment, Marian Cove, South Shetland Islands, West Antarctica

High-resolution (3.5 kHz and multi-channel) seismic profiles and piston cores were collected from Maxwell Bay and its tributary embayment, Marian Cove, in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, during the Korea Antarctic Research Program (1992/93 and 1995/96) to elucidate the glaciomarine sedimentation processes and recent glacial history of the area. Seismic data from Maxwell Bay reveal a rugged bay margin and flattened basin floor covered with well-stratified hemipelagic muds. On the base-of-slope, acoustically transparent debris flows occur, indicating downslope resedimentation of glaciomarine sediments. Despite the subpolar and ice-proximal settings of Marian Cove, the seafloor is highly rugged with a thin sediment drape, suggesting that much of the area has been recently eroded by glaciers. Sediment cores from the cove penetrated three distinct fining-upward lithofacies: (1) basal till in the lower part of the core, accumulated just seaward of the grounding line of the tidewater glacier; (2) interlaminated sand and mud in the middle part, deposited in ice-proximal zone by a combination of episodic subglacial meltwater inflow and iceberg dumping; and (3) pebbly mud in the upper part, deposited in ice-distal zone by both surface meltwater plume and ice-rafting from the glacier front. A reconstruction of the glacial history of these areas since the late glacial maximum shows an ice sheet filling Maxwell Bay in late Wisconsin time and grounding of the tidewater glacier in Marian Cove until about 1300 yr BP.     

Description of the post larva of star pipefish,halicampus punctatus (syngnathidae, gasterosteiformes) first found in the southwestern east sea, Korea

Larval specimens ofHalicampus punctatus were collected off Ulsan and Uljin in December 2002 (three specimens) and off Ulsan in December 2003 (one specimen). These specimens are characterized by the following morphological characteristics: rings, 14 + 35 = 49; subdorsal rings, 1 + 3 = 4; dorsal fin rays, 19 – 20; pectoral fin rays, 14 – 15; anal fin rays, 9; head length (HL), 5.8 – 6.7 in the standard length; snout length, 1.9 in HL; snout depth, 3.7 – 5.2 in snout length. The number of caudal fin rays 9 is less than those of the other species in the same genus 10. Wide stripe bands composed of small pigments are shown in the trunk and the tail. Melanophores are not found in the dorsal fin, the pectoral fin, and the anal fin except the caudal fin. The supraoccipital crest is on the head. The frontal ridge is on the dorsal side of front trunk. The blanched ridges on the opercular are fused with a main ridge like a tree branch. A few branched ridges that are small and narrow on the trunk and the tail are fused with the main ridges. We report these specimens as the first record in Korea and name them ‘Byeol-silgo-ki’ in Korean.     

Evaluation of the ocean governance system in Korea

Considering the small land, dense population and poor natural resources, the oceans are important to Korea, but the recognition of oceans has been weak in Korean society. So ocean governance was fragmented in both institution and policies, which resulted in serious problems in the coastal waters and oceans. However, a series of maritime accidents and failures of policies increased the recognition of the coastal waters and resources and led to the establishment of one single ocean-related governmental agency in 1996. Over the last decade, the ocean governance in Korea has been successful and strong.     

Study on the kinetics of iron oxide leaching by oxalic acid

The presence of iron oxides in clay or silica raw materials is detrimental to the manufacturing of high quality ceramics. Although iron has been traditionally removed by physical mineral processing, acid washing has been tested as it is more effective, especially for extremely low iron (of less than 0.1% w/w). However, inorganic acids such as sulphuric or hydrochloric acids easily contaminate the clay products with SO₄²⁻ and Cl⁻, and therefore should be avoided as much as possible. On the other hand, if oxalic acid is used, any acid left behind will be destroyed during the firing of the ceramic products. The characteristics of dissolution of iron oxides were therefore investigated in this study.The dissolution of iron oxides in oxalic acid was found to be very slow at temperatures within the range 25–60 °C, but its rate increases rapidly above 90 °C. The dissolution rate also increases with increasing oxalate concentration at the constant pH values set within the optimum range of pH2.5–3.0. At this optimum pH, the dissolution of fine pure hematite (Fe₂O₃) (105–140 μm) follows a diffusion-controlled shrinking core model. The rate expression expressed as 1 − (2 / 3)x − (1 − x)^2 / 3 where x is a fraction of iron dissolution was found to be proportional to [oxalate]^1.5.The addition of magnetite to the leach liquor at 10% w/w hematite was found to enhance the dissolution rate dramatically. Such addition of magnetite allows coarser hematite in the range 0.5–1.4 mm to be leached at a reasonable rate.     

Tectonic relation between northeastern China and the Korean peninsula revealed by interpretation of GRACE satellite gravity data

The major continental blocks in northeastern Asia are the North China block and the South China block, which have collided starting from the Korean peninsula. Geologic and geophysical interpretations reveal a well defined suture zone in northeastern China from Qinling through Dabie to Jiaodong. The discovery of high-pressure metamorphic rocks in the Hongseong area of the Korean peninsula, prominent evidence for the collision zone, indicates extension of the collision zone in northeastern China into the Korean peninsula. Interpretation of the GRACE satellite gravity dataset shows two prominent structural boundaries in the Yellow Sea. One extends from the Jiaodong Belt in eastern China to the Imjingang Belt in the Korean peninsula. The other extends from near Nanjing, eastern China, to Hongseong. Tectonic movement in or near the suture zone may be responsible for seismic activity in the western Korean peninsula and the development of the Yellow Sea sedimentary basin.     

Effects of natural and calcined poultry waste on Cd, Pb and As mobility in contaminated soil

The reuse of waste materials as soil additives could be a welcome development in soil remediation. The mobility of Cd, Pb and As in a contaminated soil was investigated using natural and calcined poultry wastes (eggshell and chicken bone), CaCO₃ and CaO at different application rates (0, 1, 3 and 5 %). The chemical composition accompanied with mineralogical composition indicated that CaCO₃ and CaO were the major components in natural and calcined eggshells, respectively, while hydroxyapatite (HAP) dominated the natural and calcined chicken bones. The results showed that soil pH tended to increase in response to increasing application rates of all soil additives. The effectiveness of the additives in reducing Cd, Pb and As mobility was assessed by means of chemical extractions with 0.1 N HCl for Cd and Pb or 1 N HCl for As, according to Korean Standard Test (KST) method. Both calcined eggshell and chicken bone were equally effective with CaO or CaCO₃ in reducing the concentration of 0.1 N HCl-extractable Cd from 6.17 mg kg^?1 to below warning level of 1.5 mg kg^?1, especially at the highest application rate. The application of calcined eggshell, CaO and CaCO₃ also decreased the concentration of 0.1 N HCl-extractable Pb from 1,012 mg kg^?1 to below warning level of 100 mg kg^?1. The Pb concentration decreased significantly with an increasing application rate of chicken bone, but remained above warning level even at the highest application rate. On the contrary, natural and calcined chicken bones led to a significant increase in the mobility of As when compared with the control soil. These findings illustrate that calcined eggshell in particular is equally effective as pure chemical additives in stabilizing Cd and Pb in a contaminated agricultural soil. The presence of As in metal-contaminated soils should be taken into consideration when applying phosphate-containing materials as soil additives, because phosphate can compete with arsenate on adsorption sites and result in As mobilization.     

Temperature trends in the skin/surface, mid-troposphere and low stratosphere near Korea from satellite and ground measurements

Various types of satellite (AIRS/AMSU, MODIS) and ground measurements are used to analyze temperature trends in the four vertical layers (skin/surface, mid-troposphere, and low stratosphere) around the Korean Peninsula (123–132°E, 33–44°N) during the period from September 2002 to August 2010. The ground-based observations include 72 Surface Meteorological Stations (SMSs), 6 radiosonde stations (RAOBs), 457 Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs) over the land, and 5 buoy stations over the ocean. A strong warming (0.052 K yr^?1) at the surface, and a weak warming (0.004～0.010 K yr^?1) in the mid-troposphere and low stratosphere have been found from satellite data, leading to an unstable atmospheric layer. The AIRS/AMSU warming trend over the ocean surface around the Korean Peninsula is about 2.5 times greater than that over the land surface. The ground measurements from both SMS and AWS over the land surface of South Korea also show a warming of 0.043～0.082 K yr^?1, consistent with the satellite observations. The correlation average (r = 0.80) between MODIS skin temperature and ground measurement is significant. The correlations between AMSU and RAOB are very high (0.91～0.95) in the anomaly time series, calculated from the spatial averages of monthly mean temperature values. However, the warming found in the AMSU data is stronger than that from the RAOB at the surface. The opposite feature is present above the mid-troposphere, indicating that there is a systematic difference. Warming phenomena (0.012～0.078 K yr^?1) are observed from all three data sets (SMS, AWS, MODIS), which have been corroborated by the coincident measurements at five ground stations. However, it should also be noted that the observed trends are subject to large uncertainty as the corresponding 95% confidence intervals tend to be larger than the observed signals due to large thermal variability and the relatively short periods of the satellitebased temperature records. The EOF analysis of monthly mean temperature anomalies indicates that the tropospheric temperature variability near Korea is primarily linked to the Arctic Oscillation (AO), and secondarily to ENSO (El Niño and Southern Oscillation). However, the low stratospheric temperature variability is mainly associated with Southern Oscillation and then additionally with Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO). Uncertainties from the different spatial resolutions between satellite data are discussed in the trends.     

Projections of high resolution climate changes for South Korea using multiple-regional climate models based on four RCP scenarios. Part 1: surface air temperature

We projected surface air temperature changes over South Korea during the mid (2026-2050) and late (2076-2100) 21st century against the current climate (1981-2005) using the simulation results from five regional climate models (RCMs) driven by Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model, version 2, coupled with the Atmosphere- Ocean (HadGEM2-AO), and two ensemble methods (equal weighted averaging, weighted averaging based on Taylor’s skill score) under four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios. In general, the five RCM ensembles captured the spatial and seasonal variations, and probability distribution of temperature over South Korea reasonably compared to observation. They particularly showed a good performance in simulating annual temperature range compared to HadGEM2-AO. In future simulation, the temperature over South Korea will increase significantly for all scenarios and seasons. Stronger warming trends are projected in the late 21st century than in the mid-21st century, in particular under RCP8.5. The five RCM ensembles projected that temperature changes for the mid/late 21st century relative to the current climate are +1.54°C/+1.92°C for RCP2.6, +1.68°C/+2.91°C for RCP4.5, +1.17°C/+3.11°C for RCP6.0, and +1.75°C/+4.73°C for RCP8.5. Compared to the temperature projection of HadGEM2-AO, the five RCM ensembles projected smaller increases in temperature for all RCP scenarios and seasons. The inter-RCM spread is proportional to the simulation period (i.e., larger in the late-21st than mid-21st century) and significantly greater (about four times) in winter than summer for all RCP scenarios. Therefore, the modeled predictions of temperature increases during the late 21st century, particularly for winter temperatures, should be used with caution.