SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS AND SEA SURFACE CIRCULATIONS IN THE KOREAN SEAS BY SATELLITE ALTIMETER DATA

Abstract

Sea level variations and sea surface circulations in the Korean seas were observed by Topex/Poseidon altimeter data from 1993 through 1997. In sea level variations, the West and South Sea showed relatively high variations with comparison to the East Sea. Then, the northern and southern area in the West Sea showed the range of 20~30cm and 18~24cm, and the northern west of Jeju island and the southern west of Tsushima island in the South Sea showed the range of 15~20 cm and 10~15 cm, respectively. High variations in the West Sea was results to the inflow in sea surface of Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC) and bottom topography. Sea level variations in the South Sea was due to two branch currents (Jeju Warm Current and East Korea Warm Current) originated from Kuroshio Current (KC). In sea surface circulations, there existed remarkably three eddies circulations in the East Sea that are mainly connected with North Korea Cold Current (NKCC), East Korea Warm Current (EKWC) and Tushima Warm Current (TWC). Their eddies are caused basically to the influence of currents in sea surface circulations; Cyclone (0.03 cm/sec) in the Wonsan bay off shore with NKCC, and anticyclone (0.06 cm/sec) in the southwestern area of Ulleung island with EKWC, and cyclone (0.01 cm/sec) in the northeastern area of Tushima island with TWC, respectively