Abstract

Hydrographic survey in the Korea Strait has long history that has begun in August 1917 at the Busan - Tsushima cross section, still continues to date. However, chemical properties of bottom cold water found exclusively in the western channel of the Korea Strait during summer did not receive much scientific attention. The aim of the study is to decipher the enigmatic origin of the Korea Strait Bottom Cold Water (KSBCW) in terms of chemical properties. The physicochemical properties of the KSBCW are extracted from the CREAHS II hydrographic data. OMP method was applied to analyze origin of the KSBCW quantitatively. The KSBCW is well defined by low temperature below . The cold waters exhibited the local presence near the coast at about 120m depth with a thickness of 20m to 30m. The cold water was characterized by relatively cold, saline and higher chemical concentrations than adjacent waters. The KSBCW seems to have different origin kom that of the coastal upwelled waters at the Ulgi-Gampo because it is saline, denser and contains considerably less dissolved oxygen than upwelled waters. The physicochemical properties are reported to have noticeable annual variations which suggest the complex origin of the KSBCW. OMP analysis show that the KSBCW is a mixture of three water types; TMW (24%), ESIW (36%) and ESPW (40%). Relationship between the KSBCW and the east Sea circulation is traced by mapping the water masses that have similar T, S and DO of KSBCW. The result showed that the KSBCW is most possibly an extension of southward flowing coastal intermediate waters. Front these results, we expect that the monitoring KSBCW will provide us valuable information about the East Sea circulation.

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