Re-initiation of bottom water formation in the East Sea (Japan Sea) in a warming world

Revisiting elemental geochemistry in surface sediments of the Ulleung Basin, East/Japan Sea: Signals from ocean dumping materials

A total of 222 surface sediments were collected in the Ulleung Basin, southwestern East/Japan Sea, from the coast to the basin and analyzed for grain size, total organic carbon, biogenic silica and major and trace elements. The metal concentrations of the surface sediments were highly spatially variable, and their distributions were grouped into four types by factor analysis: waste dumping materials (Cr, Cu, Zn, Sn, Sb, and Pb); detrital materials (Al, Fe, and Cs); suboxic diagenetic materials (Mn, Mo, Co, and Ni); and anoxic diagenetic materials (Cd and U). From core samples collected near the dumping site, approximately the top 10 cm was well mixed in the 210Pbex profiles and highly enriched in the above metals related to dumping materials. The enrichment factor of Sn indicates dumping materials well, and its distribution can be used to estimate the dispersion range of the dumped material in this basin.

Distribution and assessment of heavy metal concentrations in the East Sea-Byeong ocean dumping site, Korea

Sediment cores were collected from three sites, the Control, Dumping, and Resting sites in the East Sea-Byeong ocean dumping site, Korea, and the enrichment and degree of accumulation of heavy metals were investigated. Further, to assess the level of heavy metal pollution and understand the potential effects of the ocean dumping activities that began in 1993, the results obtained corresponding to the different sampling sites were compared, and various criteria were employed. Indices, including the enrichment factor and the modified contamination degree, demonstrated that the sediments were contaminated with various heavy metals at different contamination levels. The results also indicated a significant upward enrichment in heavy metals, with the uppermost 0-10 cm sediment layer showing relatively high concentrations. Overall, this study confirmed that anthropogenic heavy metal contamination at the study sites, and the implementation of continuous monitoring, alongside the application of proper management tools, is recommended.

90Sr and 137Cs as tracers of oceanic eddies in the sea of Japan/East sea

Vertical distributions of ⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs in Sea of Japan/East Sea (SOJ/ES) water in the period of 1977-2010 exhibited a typical diffusion shape with surface/subsurface maxima and decreasing values with increasing depth. Apparent vertical diffusion coefficients (AVDCs) and apparent initial surface fluxes (AIFs) of ⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs, which were estimated using a curve-fitting method from a vertical diffusion model, showed temporal and spatial variability. A diffusion depth introduced for understanding of vertical movements of ⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs in the SOJ/ES well correlated with corresponding AIFs, suggesting that spatial variations of the ⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs inventories have been governed by oceanic conditions such as changes in AVDCs, which may be related with eddy field, characterizing the SOJ/ES. The temporal changes of the AVDCs suggest that the production of eddies increased during the 2000s comparing with that in the 1990s. These observations represent the first applications of radionuclides as tracers in production of oceanic eddies.

Change in the Recent Warming Trend of Sea Surface Temperature in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) over Decades (1982–2018)

Long-term trends of sea surface temperature (SST) of the East Sea (Sea of Japan, EJS) were estimated by using 37-year-long satellite data, for the observation period from 1982 to 2018. Overall, the SST tended to increase with time, for all analyzed regions. However, the warming trend was steeper in the earlier decades since the 1980s and slowed down during the recent two decades. Based on the analysis of the occurrence of events with extreme SST (high in the summertime and low in the wintertime), a shift toward the more frequent occurrence of events with extremely high SST and the less frequent occurrence of events with extremely low SST has been observed. This supports the observations of the consistent warming of the EJS. However, seasonal trends revealed continuous SST warming in the summertime, but frequent extreme SST cooling in the wintertime, in recent decades. The observed reduction in the warming rates occurred more frequently in specific regions of the EJS, where the occurrence frequency of events with extremely low SST was unusually high in the recent decade. The recent tendency toward the SST cooling was distinctively connected with variations in the Arctic Oscillation index. This suggests that changes in the Arctic Ocean environment likely affect the recently observed SST changes in the EJS, as one of the marginal seas in the mid-latitude region far from the polar region.